Patents Archives

Biz Resource: Inventor’s Handbook

An online handbook created for independent inventors and entrepreneurs to address questions concerning the protection of intellectual property, raising capital, applying for patents, and other steps to protect and commercialize ideas. The handbook was created by the Lemelson-MIT Program to address the independent inventor’s and aspiring entrepreneur’s most frequently asked questions regarding United States patents. […]

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What You Need to Know About Provisional Patents

Inventions

According to John Calvert at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, A provisional patent application (PPA) is a patent application that can be used by a patent applicant to secure a filing date while avoiding the costs associated with the filing and prosecution of a non-provisional patent application. More specifically, if a non-provisional application

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Patent Office Snuffs Out High Hopes For Marijuana Sellers

Ideas

For three months, ending last week, legalized marijuana dealers had something that they could have only dreamed of before, the apparent approval of the patent office reports the Wall Street Journal. On April 1, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office created a new trademark category: “Processed plant matter for medicinal purposes, namely medical marijuana.” The

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What is Patent Trolling?

Ideas

Erich Spangenberg makes a fortune by buying patents and then suing large corporations that are infringing on them. Good.is takes a look at his unusual and vilified profession: Trolling works something like this: First a shell company, which is incorporated but has no significant assets or operations, is created. Orion IP is one of Spangenberg’s

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New University Patents Database

Ideas

According to The Patent Librarian’s Notebook, FreePatentsOnline has partnered with Technology Transfer Tactics, a website for university tech transfer professionals, to provide a resource for searching university-owned patents. Data for about 150 universities (mostly American) is available. Clicking on a name of a university will retrieve a list of US patents and published applications assigned

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Patent Office Proposes Expedited Review For A Price

Inventions

Reuters reports that companies and inventors who pay extra would be able to get a quicker review of their patent applications under a proposal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. How much extra, the PTO isn’t saying. The proposal — which is being put out for public comment — is part of the patent

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Confidentiality Without a Patent

Ideas

In my line of work, I’m often asked to sign confidentiality agreements before someone will tell me about their business or invention. Most often, I refuse. Not because I’m interested in stealing their idea (ideas are easy, execution is hard) but because it’s very possible for someone to share information with me about their project,

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Patent Pending: The Fast Track

Inventions

The United States Patent and Trademark Office struggles with a major backlog of patent applications. According to a story in The New York Times, inventors of green technology may have a leg up. Under a program that started in December, they can request that their patents be put through an accelerated queue. The purpose of

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Inventor Turned Patent Entrepreneur

Inventions

Charlotte Business Journal: Fred Wagner III has a nifty drilling apparatus he would like to sell to the highest bidder. Called Tool-Pusher, it’s similar to a portable drill press for accurately making holes in steel, concrete and other products on a job site. So he’s taking it to the Invention and New Product Exposition near

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Does Patent Office Snub Inventors Who File Without Attorney?

Ideas

As reported by Inventors Digest, the independent inventor community is an industrious American subculture that has produced everything from the Segway to Snuggies. Yet according to a recent study by Auburn University business professor Paul Swamidass, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office can be hostile to those who file patent applications pro se, that is,

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