eronova wrote:Please be aware that any disclosure on a public forum prior to submitting a patent application will affect your ability to obtain a patent.
I must stab this trope in the heart.
Everyone has been taught from early childhood, "If you have a great idea, you patent it and then make lots of money."
This never works. As in, it has lower odds than buying lottery tickets.
A patent is a gun, that costs $5,000
But the bullets cost $1,000,000 each
A patent does not protect the small inventor.
It only provides you with the
permission to sue.
Further, if you sue to stop someone from producing and selling your invention, be prepared to:
- lose your patent - the defendent can "prove" that you shouldn't have been issued a patent, and so it is now gone.
- be required to pay the defendent's legal fees
- a little person like you will probably not get a cease & desist order
- so you will have to wait until the end of the trial to get them to stop manufacturing your invention (which they can drag on for years)
- the most likely thing that will happen is you win the case, after tons of money (spent on lawyers), the defendant files bankruptcy (you get nothing) and they open up business under a new name, and start copying your product again.
- which requires you to start all over again with a new lawsuit. (repeat)
The only thing a patent is good for is to keep other people from stopping you from making your product. If you have the patent, they can't sue you for patent infringement. However, all you really need is something with a time-stamp that says you had the idea back at this date. And that, is a good reason to use a forum.