Frank can you make me an OUTSIDER tea shirt i think you are onto a winner. Medium please. Just joking

Julie: If it weren’t for that “Blind Faith”, none of us would even be here today… we’d still be playing it safe, dwelling on the “what if it doesn’t work out” fears that keep so may in cages, all their life!

Darwin: Congratulations on the Grill Buster!! Absolutely; sincerity and treating/speaking to others as you would like for them to be with you is such a valuable asset. Some see it as yet another avenue to fool people, but people aren’t stupid and they’ll eventually exposed… then where do they stand?

Frank, I just finished a trademark on my own, they had a couple questions about my colors, I had enhanced them so much they changed basic colors,,,lol, I resubmitted, they had given me the option to change my wording to match the color or vice-versa.

I did a little teddy bear selling just for anyhow, I told them my 13 year old daughter made it for me so I wanted it exactly the way she did it,,,,,Oh and I some how figured out to compliment their site as one of the best Gov sites I have visited.

I got my approval email a week later and the offical posting and such within the month. I say, never stop selling, when you can be sincere.

I will put it on my profile but you can look it up “Grill*Buster” tm

I used Legal Zoom for one of my trademarks: used an attorney for the first one and that was more expensive.

Frank, scrolling down 7 posts, you wrote “no visible means of support”: that’s the future I see every time I dig into my retirement money – but then I truly believe that everything WILL work out. Ah, ain’t blind faith wonderful – it seems to be my backbone.

Thanks Darwin,

Yes, Legal Zoom also does NonProvisional Applications minus the attorney fees, and they are really good about answering your questions and keeping you updated. You can also secure Trademarks & Copyrights through them.

Saves some MAJOR bucks!!

Franh

Thanks for a very informative post. I never thought of using legal zoom.

Orrrrrrr,

you can get lucky like these accidental inventors. This showed up on my MSN start page last night.

http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/08/31/famous...

here’s some steps for starting out on your patent search.

http://www.edisonnation.com/forums/patents/topi...

thanks Frank for the feedback.

Carrie: Had I known about EN at the time, I would have more than likely used them.

kamala: LOL The moral of the “do it yourself” book would be: Once you’ve studied and feel you have a firm grasp on the rules (and their multiple references), THEN it’s time to start studying the rules (and their multiple references)!!
I hadn’t built any prototypes to show the concept when I filed the Provisional. It was originally geared toward plastic scale modelers (hobbiest) as a method allowing them to display their model airplanes as if they are floating on thin air with no visible means of support, but while building the prototypes and “refining” the process to achieve to affect, I discovered it would also make for great “Craft” projects… then while “refining” the craft applications, I came upon a third use which is to make holiday ornaments with a floating centerpiece/subject. It is an “Instruction Manual” (method) for Hobbiest and Crafters, but for the Ornaments it’s manufactured finished products (much broader audience); three applications but the protected “Concept” is the same.

Roger Brown has outlined the steps in a blog too, over in the inventor’s blog thread. http://www.edisonnation.com/forums/other/topics...

I don’t really have the resources or time to handle the entire process myself. So, I prefer EN.

There are lots of good opinions on options outside of EN. Personally, I think the first step is to determine if there is a market/demand for the end product. I would do that before I invested in a patent.

Another option is to pursue a licensing deal. That also has a step learning curve, but can be good if you don’t want to handle the actual product development, manufactoring, etc. Roger Brown and Stephen Key both have websites that discuss that option.

Finally, there are recommendations for several good books throughout the forums. I think a good book is a GREAT place to start.

HTH. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for such insight and wonderful advice!!!

I appreciate it!!!!!!!!!!

Frank, great insight on going it alone. This is very helpful for those considering the same. It sounds like your hard work is paying off. Must be a great idea. Good luck down the road.

great list Frank, “how not to file a patent” lol.
One question, how did you file a provisional (step 5) and then refine. Didn’t the re-defined invention change your application? Were you able to alter the original provisional patent application quite a bit?

razzers,

I will share with you the process I went through when I done my first one…
1) Had the brainstormn
2) Searched the internet, library, and self patent search on the USPTO site
4) Consulted with a Patent Attorney and had the 1st Patent Search done, $500.
5) Concluding it was unique, I filed a Provisional application though Legal Zoom, which included a second Patent Search, $399.
6) During the first 3/4ths of the 12 months, I refined, built prototypes,read/studied… refined, built prototypes, read/studied… refined, built prototypes, read/studied….
7) I started the Non Provisional Application with 3.5 months left; having built 12 prototypes, I knew the process/pitfalls intimately and had buried myself in how to file, so I elected to do the Application Pro-Se, including the drawings. Certainly came to appreciate why the attorneys charge so much for their services!! I still have the 4.2" stack of papars I had to re-do (my wife told me I could use them to write a book on how NOT to file a patent application!)
8) I put my application in registered mail (along with the small entity $540) with only TWO DAYS left, and after the USPTO reviewed it for examination, the only correction I had to make was two of the black & white photo copies had to be darker!!

14 months later and the Application is published and docketed for examination. I also have licensed TWO aspects of it to two manufacturers
who are within a few months of putting it on the market… I also sold an article to a subject related magazine which has aligned their publication date with the companies release date. Still searching for licensing for the THIRD aspect, which has a much broader target than the first two so I’m really trying to line that deal up with a company who has a legendary & trusted reputation.

Doing it on your own is not only time consuming, but as was mentioned, the “learning curve” will test you to the core! It’s MUCH less expensive to do it on your own, but there’s a price you pay and a risk you take by doing it that way.

I don’t ever want to tell someone what the would, could, or should do. But, from the little that you said, it sounds like if you go forward you will be in for a really steap learning curve going it alone. With steep learning curves, that means you will need to take a break once and a while, take a look around to make sure that you are making progress. Knowing what I know now, I would find a trusted mentor and disclose a little about what you would like to do with this great Idea. Write out exactly what you want to do with it, and try to determine the sequence that will get you there. Then show that to your mentor. If you still believe it’s worth going thru, I wish you the best of luck and please only work with trusted business associates. If EN has a LPS that is suitable, that could be a good easy out and a LOT less painful

When I started inventing, there was only one way to get an idea to market: patent it. Without a patent application, investors or companies wouldn’t even talk to you. Two reasons: they need to know your idea is original and they need to protect themselves from lawsuits in case they are working on the same idea. A third reason is that a patent protects your idea but I don’t agree with that assessment at all. The patent road is long and expensive and full of danger but with the risk, comes reward. If you do want to go it alone, a self-written patent application is relatively cheap, gets your foot in the door and gives you the ultimate patent search (even better than an expensive patent attorney would get you but you have to wait 2 years for the results). There are also self-patent searches through google patents or other patent search websites listed on EN by gizmo.
Before you even start the patent route, you need to find out if your idea is original or even good. If you can’t google, you can get Edison Nation to do both the patent search and evaluation for $25. You’ll soon find out that your good ideas were neither good nor original. TV shows like Everyday Edisons, Shark Tank, Pitchmen or Dragons’ Den is also a good way to evaluate your product if you can get on. Quirky.com is yet another option. So now there are alternatives to the patent model that won’t bankrupt your family.

Good suggestion Bob. But just a precaution. I did what i thought was a thorough search on several sites and didn’t find anything. My experienced brother told me then to have a professional search done and lo and behold there were several similar, luckily none exactly the same. But if you don’t find it on your own doesn’t mean it isn’t out there, even the pros sometimes miss.

Before spending money on a attorney for a patent search, I would recommend that you do one yourself at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/search/ind....

(That link works but I have no idea why it says “ind…” when it is clearly index.jsp)

Very easy to do and in the unfortunate event that your idea is already covered by an existing patent, you could save a lot of time and money.

Razzers…if you use that green search button here on EN (top right), you’ll probably find a couple thousand versions of responses to your query.

Well, maybe only several hundred. And I bet somewhere in at least one of them they’ll say use the resources in EN…and do your research.

If you haven’t already, I would strongly suggest hiring a Patent Attorney to conduct a “Patent Search” on your idea.

I would say, become an Edison Nation insider and submit your idea to an open search. As far as I’m concerned, it is far too much hassel to do it on your own. But I’m sure others here will have much better advice to give than this! But that’s my 2 cents.