Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - ozraven - Tweakers' Asylum

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Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office

In Reply to: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office posted by bdiament on August 16, 2001 at 06:52:59:

Just make sure you place a warning note in the Patent app, that certain volatile lubricating fluids will actually have the reverse effect and attract pink pachys. Don't want anyone to sue you.
My solicitor told me several years ago that patents were a WOFTAM (waste of f... time and money), when I presented him with a proposal for so ideas I had developed.One of his partners had a lot of experience in patents. His logic was that for a small guy,all they did was tell everyone else how to do exactly what you were trying to acheive, and they were very expensive to enforce. Money that I did not have, and still dont. The advice given was to either develop it fully, and spring it on the market, hopefully becoming the "name" for the product like Hoover is for vacuums.Or go through with the patent, and try to sell it to a company to make/market it etc. And hope they didn't just steal and subtly modify the idea, calling it their own.He offered this advice as my friend.
He also said that the people who processed them were not scientists/engineers (no Einsteins lurking), and that it was ultimately up to me to ensure that the idea's philosophy and application had real merit, or when the time came to defend my rights in court I may not win.There was lots of extra legal gobbledegook added at this piont that I didn't understand.
Not withstanding this, I don't see how you could patent a sandbox / roller bearing / inner tube isolator (perhaps copyright an individual design though) as these have surely been used in laboratories for years. Therefore not a new idea or worthy of exclusivity of the right to the idea. Magistrates are [usually] not stupid.
An example I can think of would be the single sided rear swing arm on motorcycles. Honda uses these ( I have a VFR400 ) and bought a patent for them off ELF racing. But the idea and several applications of this technology had been around for years. Ducati, Triumph, Benelli and others now use near identical designs with impunity. I think Honda would have defended them if they thought they could, especially against Ducati who have been a thorn in their side for a decade in Superbikes. My personal opinion is that patents are marketing and legal weapons ( if you have $$$ ) only.
Have a go and see if you can patent the coffee cup as an elephant deterent. Or filled with a special mix of rare and sacred ingredients, and a personally signed picture of you fave Audio Guru [ siitng naked in lotus, chanting] on it you could make a fortune selling it to gullible 'philes, as the tweak that will finally bring them sonic nivana. Until you sell them one in a different colour, or made of rare exotic timber next year.
And I get my 35% for thinking of it.
Off topic, thanks for all your input on the DIY rollerballs. When I am well I'm going to get a friend to machine some out of 6061-T6 and use them wherever they make an improvement, trying some different ball compositions. A good local Audio store near here uses a variety of similar designs to great effect under many components, even speakers. But do they cost $$$!
Ciao
oR

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - bdiament 06:52:59 08/16/01 (5)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - ozraven 09:27:07 08/16/01 (4)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - Jon T 04:33:16 08/17/01 (0)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - bdiament 10:59:53 08/16/01 (1)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - john curl 16:35:50 08/16/01 (0)

Good advice... - Monolith 09:50:05 08/16/01 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - ozraven 09:27:07 08/16/01 (4)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - Jon T 04:33:16 08/17/01 (0)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - bdiament 10:59:53 08/16/01 (1)

Re: Mechanical diodes, pink elephants and the U.S. Patent Office - john curl 16:35:50 08/16/01 (0)

Good advice... - Monolith 09:50:05 08/16/01 (0)

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