Florida Intellectual Property Law Blog

On a hot South Florida summer night, two years ago, two inventors worked busily in their garages refining their inventions. They were very much alike, these two inventors. Both were hard-working. Both had great ideas that could benefit mankind. And both stood to profit wildly from their inventions.

Recently, these two men visited a Fort Lauderdale Patent Attorney to file a patent and protect their ideas.

They were still very much alike. Both had invested their life-savings in their idea. Both had perfected their designs. And both had a finished product that would sell like hotcakes on the open market.

But there was a problem. For both men, patents for products just like theirs had already been applied for. While one inventor had to walk away, the other inventor took specific steps that allowed him to win the patent, even though he wasn't the first to apply for the patent.

Protecting Your Idea: What Made The Difference

Did you know that you can be granted a patent for an idea even if someone else applied for a patent for the same idea before you?

It's true because the U.S. is known as a first to invent country, NOT a first to patent country. This means if your patent attorney can prove you came up with the idea first, then you have a good chance at gaining exclusive rights to your idea even if you were late to file the patent application.

How to Help Your Patent Attorney

As an inventor, there are a few specific steps you can take to help your patent attorney prove the idea is rightfully yours.

• Intellectual Property Protection Step #1: Keep an inventors notebook. An inventors notebook is simply a place for you to log progress from mental idea to physical invention. Inventor logbooks sell for hundreds of dollars. But, yours does not have to be fancy. The only requirements is that the pages are permanently bound (meaning you can't easily add loose pages).
• Intellectual Property Protection Step #2: Keep detailed notes: As you come up with new processes, systems or tools brining your invention to life, make sure to write down everything
• Intellectual Property Protection Step #3: Verify your notes: Having an expert or notary periodically sign your notebook gives you powerful proof of the timeline of your idea. If you can show how your idea progressed before anyone else, you'll have a strong argument that you deserve the patent.

The absolute best way to secure legal rights to your idea is to file your patent application first.  In the case that this does not happen, your notebook just may be enough to help you if someone else beats you in the race to the Patent Office.  

Posted By John Rizvi In Invention & Patent Basics , Choosing a Patent Attorney in Florida , Inventor's Notebook , Patenting Misconceptions , Patents 0 Comments Permalink

    A great majority of the news on patents deals with patent infringement, patent law, and, not coincidentally, it brings to mind the overriding importance of ethics in protecting intellectual property--and profits. As a Florida patent attorney, the long term growth of my business depends on the integrity of the patent applications I file, and recent news underlines its significance.
    In a recent online edition of the International Herald-Tribune, Robert Pear wrote an article on just this issue. Currently, patent law dictates that patents held by companies or individuals who have engaged in "inequitable conduct" are subject to having those patents revoked. A pretty severe penalty--maybe, and the subject of hot debate in today's courtrooms.

    Patent laws, which affect Florida patent attorneys and patent seekers (and interested parties everywhere), are at the crossroads, with some lobbying for "the biggest changes in U.S. patent law in more than 50 years." Very nearly every industry is represented.

    On the one hand, opponents of current patent law wonder if the law is too severe for what senior VP and general counsel for Eli Lilly calls "relatively minor acts of misconduct." According to the article, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has found inequitable conduct in "at least 40 cases, including 14 that involved pharmaceutical or health care products." Types of misconduct have included submitting false statements to the patent office, a lack of accuracy in describing experiments, and concealing information contradicting their claims. Brand name drug companies and the companies who support them report that accusations are frequent and, often simply "honest mistakes."

    On the other hand, I wonder: In patenting, particularly medical patenting, is there really any room for mistakes--honest or otherwise? Florida patent attorneys and patent attorneys everywhere who are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office know that protecting their clients requires the utmost in meticulous attention to detail (after detail after detail). The better the application, the more quickly it passes, the more secure the received patent is from attack, and the more the client is free to profit from it. With patent infringement and other litigation costing us into the billions of dollars, can we really afford misinformation and mistakes?

    Consumer groups think not, though recent patent legislation threatens to make it a little easier to make "mistakes." The House of Representatives approved a bill making it more difficult to prove inequitable conduct, and the Senate Judiciary Committee are "haggling over a companion bill." That bill may reach the floor this summer.

    The need to stop unfounded accusations notwithstanding, this Florida patent attorney is hopeful that the backbone of integrity that supports the patent system will win out and grow in strength in years to come.

Posted By John Rizvi In Invention & Patent Basics , Choosing a Patent Attorney in Florida , Patent Cases, News & Updates , Patenting Misconceptions , Patents 0 Comments Permalink

       Recently, I posted a blog about Apple's patent pending idea to sell a keyboard with dynamically shifting keys. (A number of keys on the keyboard have the ability to change according to the user's needs.) They're not the only ones who want to patent ideas to make things more fluid for users.

       Samsung has filed a patent application for a cell phone with interchangeable keypads(HT Lounge, January 28, 2008). There is one keypad for regular phone dialing, and one with a QWERTY keyboard for text messaging and other word processing functions. The patent includes a gaming pad, music controls, etc.

       As a Florida Patent Attorney, I've seen a lot of ideas--in this category and more. I think the concept of a cell phone keypad that changes to suit what the user is doing at the moment is great. I know how fast some of us can text message on a regular cell phone keypad; however, it is a lot more convenient to type on a QWERTY keyboard.

    That said, Samsung's patent is for physical keypads you have to change manually, and, well, I think you're just trading convenience. Is it more or less convenient to text on a cell phone than to have to physically change the keypad. And, I don't know who would have the inclination to take the time to do it, or even the storage space to tote all those keypads around.

       Anyone else want to weigh in here? (Florida Patent Attorneys included.) I'm curious. Posted By John Rizvi In Invention & Patent Basics , Patent Cases, News & Updates , Patenting Misconceptions , Patents 0 Comments Permalink

If life were like the popular board game Monopoly ®, obtaining meaningful patent protection would be as simple as buying up Boardwalk and Park Place. In the board game, you simply purchase the property you want, place houses or hotels on them over time, and eagerly collect a continual revenue stream from the successful venture.

The rules governing monopolies on ideas, however, are significantly more complex. As you mull over the unique features of your newly discovered invention or method of doing business, I want to dispel a number of common, yet potentially dangerous, misconceptions about patents:

Misconception No. 1: All of the good ideas have already been patented.

Fact: In 1899, U.S. Commissioner of Patents Charles H. Duell reportedly stated that "everything that can be invented has been invented." His statement, as we all know, was followed by the invention of the airplane, television, radio, cars, computers, biotechnology, space travel, microwave ovens, cellular phones, digital cameras, the artificial heart, and the internet! The line of thinking that all the good ideas are gone is as wrong today as it was back then. Major pioneering inventions, such as the development of the internet, are being made on a daily basis and there appears to be no end in sight.

Misconception No. 2: It is necessary to include a working model of your invention along with an application for a patent.

Fact: This is a very common misconception. Working models, prototypes, or exhibits are very rarely required for most patent applications. Even the Wright Brothers had not flown when they applied for their groundbreaking aeronautical patents. Their famous Kitty Hawk adventure did not occur until March 23, 1903, a full nine months after the filing of their patent.

Although a working model is not generally required, the description of the invention in the specification and the drawings does have to be sufficiently clear and complete to permit the invention to be understood by someone familiar with the field of the technology.

Continue Reading Posted By John Rizvi In Invention & Patent Basics , Advanced Patent Issues , Patenting Misconceptions 0 Comments Permalink