[ale] OT: Manufacturing an idea....

Wed May 14 23:41:34 EDT 2003

Thanks for the confirmation Bob!

However, I have to take issue with 2 points you made (with all due 
respect of course):

If you have a patent, someone else _could_ conceiveably produce the 
product.  That person would, however, have to prove that they owned 
prior art (that the patent agent wasn't aware of) AND the court would 
have to rule that they had rights to the product/design.  This could 
occur in a joint development or one hell of a coincidence.  These days, 
though, since you have provide not only the idea, but what inspired the 
idea, and how you thought of it (ie: I was playing with a rubber band 
while watching a show about area 51 on the discovery channel and they 
were talking about how plane xxx does yyy, ...); the odds of that 
happening are pretty nil.  I'm just pointing out the opposing view to 
illustrate the detail and magnitude of possibilities involved with IP.  
This also highlights the importance of having a professional IP attorney 
represent you - to cover all of the little loopholes, etc...

Also, you can get a patent for less than $5,000...  _You_ will have to 
do your homework (as I've maintained), and know what your attorney is 
talking about.  If you ask the right questions, and know the subject 
matter (in general), you can probably do quite a bit of the leg-work 
yourself, and only use the attorney for the important points.  Like I 
stated in my first point, there are a lot of minute details to address.  
However, if you're willing to work hard at understanding it thoroughly, 
you can save yourself a significant amount of quid...

Ultimately though, Bob is absolutely correct (my advice is excellent? 
Thanks Bob!).  There is a lot of work involved, and if you're sold on 
your idea, your own motivation will see you through the project's 
completion.

Only _you_ can decide how badly you want to see your idea a success...

Regards,
-CB

Transam wrote:

>On Wed, May 14, 2003 at 07:59:59AM -0400, John Wells wrote:
>  
>
>>As I know at least one of you (Bergeron) is going through this right
>>now...
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
>>Say you have an idea for particular invention/product, but this product
>>would require numerous electrical components and assembly, or even
>>possibly custom component manufacture...where do you start tracking down
>>suppliers/manufacturers?  What are the steps involved in taking your
>>product from paper to prototype?
>>    
>>
>
>Chris Bergeron's advice is excellent.
>
>Secrecy is paramount here.  Keep your idea very secret and require NDAs
>before discussing with anyone and still be very careful who you share it
>with.  A lot of companies that claim to help inventors are scams designed
>either to extract money from you for doing nothing or to steal your idea
>and patent it themselves.  Under the law there are three types of
>protection available to inventors and artists:
>
>  1. Patent protection
>  2. Copyright protection
>  3. Trade secrets
>
>For inventors, usually patent protection is the only suitable form.  It
>is expensive and time-consuming and usually requires lots of money to
>a Patent attorney.  Use only an attorney who specializes in patents.
>If you don't have $5,000-$20,000 to throw at him, don't plan on getting
>a patent.  Once you have a patent, nobody else is allow to make the same
>thing, EVEN IF THEY THOUGHT UP THE IDEA INDEPENDENTLY.  The idea must be
>unique, non-obvious, and not a fact of science.  You cannot patent
>the speed of light but you can patent the use of certain radio frequences
>for television.  (The latter is why television frequencies are so high,
>btw.)  It is very hard for an individual to obtain a patent.  I've only
>met one person who succeeded and he was very bright and very crazy, IMHO.
>
>
>Copyright protection applies only to the printed word and the creative
>arts (paintings and possibly sculptures, music, and video).  Once
>copyrighted, nobody else can make copies of the exact thing.  I.e.,
>they cannot photocopy your book or sheet music or make or sell videotapes
>of your movie.
>
>Copyright protection does NOT protect you from someone creating their own
>work of art independently.  While notarizing descriptions of one's idea
>might provide some evidence that you thought of it first, this would be
>useful only for the arts, i.e., your book, etc. that you are protecting
>via copyright law.  It would not protect you against someone seeing a
>copy of your description, building the device, and getting a patent that
>then PREVENTS YOU from selling it.  Again, the copyright would prevent
>them only from publishing copies of your drawings and descriptions word
>for word and line for line.
>
>
>A Trade Secret is just that.  You gotta keep it secret and require NDAs
>of anyone subsequently allowed to be privy to it.  If anyone breaches
>that security, you lose protection.
>
>  
>
>>Thanks,
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
>>John
>>    
>>
>
>Bob Toxen
>bob at verysecurelinux.com               [Please use for email to me]
>http://www.verysecurelinux.com        [Network&Linux/Unix security consulting]
>http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com [My book:"Real World Linux Security 2/e"]
>Quality Linux & UNIX security and SysAdmin & software consulting since 1990.
>
>"Microsoft: Unsafe at any clock speed!"
>   -- Bob Toxen 10/03/2002
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>
>  
>

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