Inventions, new ideas...

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[congalou]

Hello guys !!

Leedy, No problem, I'm not miff ! It's interesting to share opinions, and you know, I'm a stickler too, about drums !!!!! I think, that's a good way for improve !!!

Shure my technique is not clean.... but I'm working all days !!! When I wrote theses words, my drum is on my right, and I'm working my hand technique As I notice in my work on drum making, somes tones come from the skin (you must have good technique to control them) and some tones come from the shell (You can't do anything with technique).

We had already talk about that in another topic, here it is : viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4534

Galou.

[Ernesto Pediangco]

GREAT INFO....If its truly Patent worthy, then its worth protecting if the products application to marketable goods actualy will generate enough prospective sales and the % of profitability after all the infrastructure and middle men take their %. It could take more years on the market to repay its orig investment cost before ever having a chance to earn a return.

Someone described earlier in this thread what is known as the "poor man's patent." I don't think that terminology was used in this thread, but the process of mailing yourself a description of your invention hoping to use the postmark and sealed envelope as proof of invention is called just that. That process is generally held as laughable in legal circles. I wouldn't count on that process to help you in any way.

Here are some facts (with just a bit of opinion thrown in for flavor):

One year from any printed publication anywhere (website forum posts probably count) describing your invention, offer for sale of your invention in the U.S., or public use of your invention in the U.S., any right you might otherwise have for a U.S. patent to your invention is lost if you have not filed a patent application of some sort. So, if you are interested in gaining U.S. patent protection for your invention, keep it quiet or know that once you let the cat out of the bag, you must take action within one year to gain a formal "priority date" or you may lose all legal hope of obtaining a patent. An NDA (non-disclosure agreement) probably does not protect you from this one-year expiration of rights if you offer to sell your invention in the U.S.

The U.S. patent system is a complicated mess of laws and regulations. The patent office will take some special care in dealing with individuals who represent themselves. The office calls such inventors "pro se" applicants. However, patent examiners will only go so far in helping you understand the mess you will likely find yourself inhabiting. They may even make well intended suggestions to help you gain a patent, but their suggestions may only gain you such hopelessly limited protection that you'll never be able to enforce your patent. Patent attorneys and patent agents are available to help you. Expect to spend $6000 to $10000 to gain even a modestly valuable utility patent if you hire a representative. Expect the process, from filing a patent application to gaining a patent, to take several years.

If you are sincerely interested in initiating the patent process by yourself, you can start by filing a provisional patent application. Type up a description of your invention. Take some photographs or make some sketches. Refer to the photographs/sketches in your typed description. Use little arrows with numbers if you can manage that to clarify what features you are describing. Concentrate on what your invention is. Concentrate on describing its structure. Describing its advantages is okay to give some context to your descriptions, but be sure to describe what it is, not just what it does. Describe bolts and rods and pads and hardware and such. Don't just type about your love of drumming and how your invention makes you feel. Bear in mind that your photographs/sketches need to look good in black and white reproduction. Don't use color. If you're using photographs, make photocopies and look to see if you can still discern details. Put everything on white 8.5 by 11 printer/copier paper. The Patent Office will ultimately scan everything for electronic storage and will throw away the original. So everything needs to be capable of black and white scanning. Make up a title for your invention, just a few words, and type "Provisional Patent Application for" followed by the title you make up at the top of the front page of your description document.

Include your name and address below the title or provide your name and address on a separate page in front of your description document. Include the name and address of anyone else who helped you invent the thing.

Write a check or get a money order, for example a U.S. Postal money order, for $110. The dollar amount may change at any time. You can look for the updated amount by finding the "Provisional application filing fee" at:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ ... htm#patapp
(or look for the current fee schedule at http://www.uspto.gov)

Put it all in an envelope and mail it to:

Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

Keep a copy of everything.

You'll receive a "filing receipt" for your provisional patent application within a few weeks. The receipt will indicate your filing date (the day the Patent Office received your mailing). At that point, you can legally say you have patent pending status for one year from the filing date. If you take no further action to gain a patent, stop claiming patent pending status after one year passes.

Your provisional patent application will not be examined and will not become a patent. The Patent Office will only keep it on record electronically. Within one year of the date indicated on your filing receipt as your filing date, if you file a more formal utility patent application claiming the benefit of priority of your provisional patent application, the Patent Office will generally treat your utility patent application as if it were filed on the provisional filing date. This is a good thing, patent applications are considered according to priority. So by filing a provisional patent application, you get one year to get together the money to hire a professional, or change your mind, or find an investor, or sell your idea to a company ... etc ... all while boasting that you have patent pending status. If you do intend to hire a patent agent or patent attorney, approach them as far in advance as possible. They may not be able to do a good job if you give them only a few days before the one year anniversary of you provisional filing date. If you intend to write a utility patent application on your own, then I can only say "May God help you friend."

You shouldn't expect a company representative to take you very seriously if you haven't at least filed a provisional patent application. Their time is worth money. If you don't invest something in your invention, why should they?

Be skeptical of any company that promises to help you develop and commercialize your invention. There are more scams out there in the invention development industry than you want to know. You'll need to formulate your own business plan. Be skeptical of any company who tells you they'll handle everything, from prototyping, to patenting, to commercializing, if you'll just pay them $$$. The only thing you can be sure of when you pay them that $$$, is that your money will be spent. Whether you ever see any of it back or not will be much in question.

Most importantly, don't believe everything you read on the internet. In fact, everything I've just typed may just be a bunch of lies. I might just be an imaginative twelve year old. Nothing here constitutes legal advice. I'm just typing. In fact, you never should have read it. Excuse any spelling or grammar errors, I didn't get paid to write this.

Cheers,
BMac

[busyflyin]

This is a great thread! I work for a small company of about 65 employees. We had a product called "SuperDuty" that we had been selling for decades. One day Ford Motor Company sent us a letter telling us to cease and desist because of their truck "SuperDuty". We understood that Ford has financial and legal resources that could bury us if we held our ground and we had obvious proof of art that dated back many years before their truck. Later we had another company that claimed they held a patent on a design (that questionable) that we were using. Again, we had ample proof of prior art, but this other company created a strategy to gain market share by employing an attorney who's task was to challenge other companies designs. Similarly, we recognized that the effort to defend ourselves would choke our organization and would cost us more than paying a royalty to continue to sell our products. It's not about the patent, it's about the ability to defend the patent if challenged.

The foam product really looked interesting, but I couldn't find it on the site that was given. What ever happened to the dampener?

[congalou]

You're totally right Busyflyin.

The Dampener is here : http://www.artcustomdrums.com/DiversShop.html
For congas and for snare drums too.
But it's just for Europe, don't send to US.

G.