How To Patent A Product

Episode 9: Why dates and deadlines are important in patenting a product

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:49:43 +0000

Let’s start with a simple understanding. If you have even the slightest suspicion that you want to patent a product, you need to hire and get legal advice from a patent lawyer or a patent agent. This blog is not legal advice. I am not your lawyer or your agent. I am not providing you with any legal advice, representation, or counsel. You and I have no attorney-client relationship. The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to the vocabulary that you will need when you got to a patent attorney and ask him to help you patent your product.

In the process of patenting a product, dates and deadlines can be critically important. This can kill you. It can mean that you don’t get a patent or your patent on your product is not enforceable if you miss a deadline.

The first reason that dates and deadlines are important in patenting a product is that the patent system tends to recognize the first inventor and it’s easier to prove that you are the first inventor if you filed the patent application first. I realize that it is possible for the second filer to be the first inventor, but it is always easier if you filed before the other guy.

The second reason that dates are critical is that the United States Patent and Trademark Office can decide, if you miss a deadline, that your application to patent your product has gone abandoned, and they can refuse to let you patent your product. In the process of patenting a product, there are all sorts of dates and deadlines. They range from deadlines to pay fees to deadlines to respond to correspondence from the USPTO. You need to be aware of these dates and make sure that they are handled.

There are fees during the process of patenting a product. There are also maintenance fees after you have your patent. You need to pay these fees in a timely fashion, or all of the time and expense that you have invested in patenting your product can vaporize.

Episode 8: What to do with a patent after you have successfully finished the process of patenting your product

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:48:02 +0000

The main thing that you do with your patent, after the process of patenting your product, is that you use the patent to convince other people not to make, sell or use your product without your consent. Stated otherwise, you convince people to pay you for your product.

When someone infringes your patent by making, selling or using your product without paying you or otherwise securing your consent, you have a variety of options to stop them. The fact that you have patented your product can be very helpful in stopping the product pirates from destroying or your market and undercutting your price.

Let’s talk about a hypothetical business named “Pasquale’s Pizza Ovens.” For this example, let’s assume that “Pasquale’s Pizza Ovens” sells a pizza oven from Austin, Texas and has completed the process of patenting the pizza oven product. Pasquale’s Pizza Ovens has been wildly successful and is the leading name in Pizza Ovens. Let’s assume, for this example, that Pasquale has done the right thing and hired a lawyer to successfully complete the process of patenting his pizza oven.

Because the buzz around Pasquale’s Pizza Oven is so great, some sleazy rip-off artist in New Jersey subsequently starts selling second-rate copies of an oven that infringes Pasquale’s patent. So, people get on the Internet and search for pizza ovens and they end up buying from the rip-off artist in New Jersey rather than the real deal from Austin, Texas because the rip-off artist is selling at a lower price. He has no R&D cost for developing the oven. This is a problem for Pasquale. To make matters worse, the rip-off artist in New Jersey makes bad pizza ovens. They infringe the patent on the product, and they are no good. So, he is not only stealing from Pasquale by undercutting his price but also harming the faith of the market in the new form of pizza oven.

Because Pasquale went to the trouble of patenting a product, he has many options for dealing with the rip-off artist in New Jersey. Pasquale will go to the lawyer who handled patenting his product. The lawyer will then send a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the rip-off artist in New Jersey quit making the infringing oven. Let’s assume, for the sake of this discussion, that the sleazy rip-off artist in New Jersey refuses to quit making the infringing oven.

What probably happens next is that Pasquale will file suit for patent infringement. His lawyer will file a law suit alleging that sleazy rip-off artist in New Jersey is making an oven that infringes the patent on Pasquale’s product. Because Pasquale has taken the time and gone to the expense of patenting his product, his chances of winning the lawsuit and stopping the sleazy rip-off artist in New Jersey are significantly enhanced. This is the key. Patenting a product helps you resolve disputes without having to break some guy’s legs.

Episode 7: How Patents are Different from Trademarks and Copyrights

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:45:41 +0000

There are essentially four types of intellectual property: patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret.

Patenting a product enables you to prevent other people from making, using or selling your product in the United States. Patenting a product, however, does not actually secure for you the right to make use and sell your invention in the United States, because the invention might contain parts that are somebody else’s patent product. The term of the patent is roughly 20 years from the date of filing of a patent application, though the actual calculation of the term is possible only after the product is patented and the calculation is complex.

Patenting a product is different from registering a trademark in that patents protect your exclusive right to make the things or perform the processes that are your business, while trademarks merely protect your business name. A patent helps you protect yourself from having some knock-off artist manufacture goods or provide services identical to the ones that you have developed, a trademark protects you from that same rip-off artist using your name to sell his rip-off product.

Copyright is different from patenting a product in that copyright protects a particular expression fixed in a tangible medium. Copyright prevents people from reproducing your ideas as they are expressed in print or recording or other tangible form. There may be some overlap in patent cases where computer software is used and there is copying of the software by a rip-off artist also creates a product that infringes the patent on your product.

Trade secrets are the things that you don’t tell other people, whether those are your customer list or your secret formula for blueberry pie. Patents are public, once they issue, and you can choose to have them published during the process of patent prosecution. Registering a trademark, applying for a patent, or registering a copyright all involve very public conduct. Trade secrets are about protecting yourself from a competitor hiring an employee and learning the things that you don’t tell anyone.

Episode 6: How to Select a Lawyer to Handle Patenting Your Product.

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:44:00 +0000

Once you’ve made the right decision and hired a patent lawyer to handle patenting your product, the next trick is to hire the right lawyer to handle patenting your product.

Patents are not like most other legal matters. For most legal matters, any idiot with a law degree is licensed to represent you in the legal matter. In patents, a lawyer has to have a science or engineering degree and take a separate registration exam in order to represent clients who are applying for patents. In patents, only a select subset of lawyers (probably around 45,000 of the million or so lawyers in America) is technically capable of patenting a product for you. But the mere fact that someone is a registered patent attorney doesn’t mean that you can trust them.

You need to go to a specialist in patents on the type of product that you want to patent. If you are getting a patent on a system for polishing gems, you don’t want to hire a patent lawyer who specializes in computer software. Just like you may not know all of the small details that are necessary to properly accomplish the task of patenting a product, a lawyer who handles patents on products that are nothing like yours may not know of all of the details that are necessary to get things right in the process of patenting your product.

Note: A lawyer really doesn’t know the details of patenting a product until he has written a hundred patent applications or practiced patent law for at least five years. Until then, he will tend to make rookie mistakes in patenting a product that will tend to cost you time and money.

So, here are some questions to ask in selecting a lawyer to handle patenting your product:

1.) How much of your practice is dedicated to patenting products and resolving patent disputes?

The answer needs to be more than 70%.

2.) How many patent applications have you written?

You are looking for an attorney who has written more than 100 patent applications.

3.) How many of your patent applications have issued as patents?

You are looking to hear “more than a dozen.” Honestly, you just want to be sure that you’re not buying a parachute from a guy who has never jumped out of a plane.

4.) Do you have specialized docketing software to handle the calendaring and docketing of product deadlines?

The answer needs to be “yes, we have software that automatically calculates and sends reminders for everything from extension of time dates to post-allowance maintenance fees.” Microsoft Outlook is not “specialized software” for handling the process of patenting a product.

5.) Have you ever been the subject of a grievance or a malpractice suit?

If the answer is yes, you don’t want the guy patenting your product.

6.) Do you have malpractice insurance?

The answer needs to be, “Yes.” If a patent lawyer screws up the process of patenting your product, and his negligence costs you money, there needs to be an insurance policy standing behind his work to make you whole.

Episode 5: Why You Should Pay a Patent Lawyer to Patent Your Product

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:41:26 +0000

1. The stakes are very high

The reason that you want to patent a product is that you feel that your product has great value and you want to protect that value from being stolen by rip-off artists. There is a great deal of potential money on the table that has to be protected by patenting a product, and you really can’t afford mistakes.

2. Patenting a product is hard.

I am not going to give you any false impressions about how difficult it is to patent a product. It is frequently the case that, even when an experienced and expert attorney handles the process of patenting a product, the process of patenting a product can take a quarter of a year (500) of man hours and that time can be spread out over 5-10 years of arguments and negotiations with the patent and trademark office.

Let me say that again. Even when done by an expert, it can take 500 man hours over the course of 5-10 years to complete the process of patenting a product. As you can imagine, if it takes so many hours over so many years for an expert to handle the process of patenting a product, the process is complex and difficult.

Processes that are complex and difficult, even for experts, are prone to be screwed up badly by people who are trying them for the first time and are mostly focused on other things.

3. You don’t want to mess up when you patent a product

You can probably patent a product without the help of a lawyer. It can be done. You can also cut out your own appendix, but I don’t recommend it. In patenting a product, there are MANY small details that can be incredibly destructive if you get them wrong. It’s better to have a surgeon handle the process of removing your appendix. It’s better to have a registered patent lawyer handle the process of patenting your product. In either case, the work is more likely to get done right by someone who has done it hundreds of times and knows the small details that have to be carefully observed to make sure that everything works. In the case of cutting out your appendix, getting things right is the difference between life and death. In the case of patenting a product, doing things right may the difference between securing the exclusive right to make and use your product or having your product ripped off by some lowlife copycat.

4. If something does get messed up, you want to have somebody who will stand behind the work.

The other big advantage in hiring a patent lawyer to patent your product for you is that hiring a lawyer to handle patenting a product means that there will be somebody to stand behind the work. If you make a mistake in your patent application that costs you the right to exclusive manufacture and use of your product, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you hire a patent lawyer to patent your product for you, and the lawyer makes a mistake in patenting your product, your patent lawyer has a large number of incentives, the least of which is the value of his own good name, to see to it that the mistake is fixed for you.

At the end of the day, if you end up with some sort of colossal mistake that costs you the exclusive right to make and use your product, that mistake can cost you a lot of money. When you hire a lawyer to handle patenting your product, and the mistake is made by the patent lawyer, his malpractice insurance may be available to help you pay those costs.

5. It just isn’t worth the inconvenience.

The final big advantage to hiring a patent lawyer to handle patenting your product is convenience. Patenting a product is handled by a part of the government called the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO is famous for long delays in responding to patent applications submitted by applicants for patents. When you file your patent application, rather than waiting on the USPTO to respond by yourself, having a patent lawyer handle the patenting of your product means that you have made the patent lawyer responsible for remembering that the USPTO is expected to respond. You’ve made the patent lawyer responsible for following up if he doesn’t hear anything. Patent lawyers who spend a lot of their time patenting products will have computerized calendaring systems specifically designed to remind them to follow up on the patent applications that they are registering for their clients.

Episode 4: The Benefits of Patenting a Product

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:38:05 +0000

People patent products for essentially 3 reasons:

1.) Validation – Many people view having a patent on a product as a validation that the product is a significant contribution to the state of the art in the are of the product that they are patenting. I don’t ever argue with people who want patents for that reason. When the government grants you a patent on your product, many people see the patent as an official pronouncement that the product appears to be useful, appears to be novel, and appears to be a non-obvious improvement. An inventor that I know, who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has a plaque on the wall of his study with the numbers of his patents on the products that his company sells. He is justifiably proud of the patents on his products, and a patent serves as a celebration of the products on which he has received patents.

2.) Market Value – Many people believe that patented products have higher value than non-patented products. The holders of this belief range from consumers, who see the patent as a form of proof that serious scientific and engineering thought went into the product to venture capitalists, who don’t want to get involved in a business that has no inherent barrier to entry. Either of those may be a perfectly legitimate business reason to patent a product, depending on your particular market.

3.) The right to exclude – The main reason to get a patent is to get the legal right to prevent others from making or using the product on which you get a patent. Before you spend the money to get your product from development to production, you need to be sure that you have the exclusive right to make and use the product that you seek to patent. Essentially, you don’t want to spend all of the time and money developing your product, only to have some rip-off artist start selling the same or a similar product at a lower cost because the rip-off artist has no research and development costs.

When you successfully patent a product, the government grants you a right to stop others in the United States from making, using or importing into the United States without your permission. When you patent your product, you buy for yourself the right to go to court and demand that a judge stop others from making the product on which you have a patent. When you patent your product, you buy for yourself the right to go to court and demand that the customs service seize at the border the product on which you have a patent. When you patent your product, you buy for yourself the right to go to court and demand that a judge stop others from using the product on which you have a patent unless those people have your consent.

Episode 3: The Parts of an Application for a Patent on your Product

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:36:02 +0000

Again, let’s start with a simple understanding. If you have even the slightest suspicion that you want to patent a product, you need to hire and get legal advice from a patent lawyer or a patent agent. This blog is not legal advice. I am not your lawyer or your agent. I am not providing you with any legal advice, representation, or counsel. You and I have no attorney-client relationship. The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to the vocabulary that you will need when you got to a patent attorney and ask him to help you patent your product.

Most patent applications have the same basic parts, though some will have additional parts not listed here.

1.) Background – when you write an application for a patent on your product, you start with a background section that attempts to explain the problem that your product is designed to solve. It is easier to get a patent on your product if the examiner understands why the product is useful.

2.) Summary – This section is a short description (often less than 200 words) that gives a rough outline of the product that you are trying to patent. Frequently, a patent lawyer who is trying to patent your product will write the summary toward the end of the process.

3.) Drawings – Drawings are critical to the process of getting a patent on your product. A picture is worth a thousand words in the process of getting a patent on your product, and you’ll know that you have enough drawings when it is easy to talk your way through the drawings and explain the invention to someone who is not familiar with the invention but is familiar with products similar to the one that you are trying to patent.

4. ) Description of the drawings – When the examiner is trying to decide whether to grant a patent on your product, he will read the application, and the description of the drawings gives him a basic idea of the components that make your product work

5.) Detailed description – The detailed description is the longest part of the application. As you work on the patent for your product, you will write a description, which walks through the drawings, and tells the patent examiner everything that someone of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains would need to know to make and use the invention.

6.) Claims -- The claims are a legal definition of the product that you are trying to patent. While the detailed description should describe the product in the fullest detail possible, the claims should seek to describe the product in the minimum number of words and elements necessary to distinguish the product that you are trying to patent over the things that have come before it.

7.) Abstract -- The abstract is a description of the product that you are trying to patent in under 150 words.

Episode 2: How the Patent Process Works

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:33:37 +0000

Most people who want to patent a product approach the process of patenting a product with no real sense of how the process of patenting a product works. There are essentially three phases of the process of patenting a product:

1. Application preparation and filing

The first phase of patenting a product is preparing a patent application for your product. How long this takes depends on how much time you have to devote to the process of patenting your product and how much you are willing to spend on getting the work done by a patent lawyer or a patent agent.

2. The long wait

The process of patenting a product involves two real misfortunes. The first of those misfortunes is that the process almost always takes longer than anyone believes to be possible. It is not uncommon in some technology areas for the patent applicant who is trying to patent a product to be forced to wait two or three years between the filing of his application and the first time that the United States Patent and Trademark Office offers an opinion on whether the applicant should be able to patent the product.

How long you will have to wait to patent your product depends on the type of product. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has very large backlogs of applications from people who are trying to patent products in software and computer systems. There are significantly shorter wait times in many of the mechanical technology areas. Your experience will depend considerably on what product you are trying to patent.

3. Patent prosecution

Sometime after your patent application is filed, the process patent application prosecution begins. When you are trying to patent a product, you prepare an application describing your invention and making “Claims” that are statements of what parts or aspects of your product you believe are patentable. The United States Patent and Trademark Office then takes a look at the other products that are related to your product and sends you a decision on whether your product is patentable. This decision on whether or not your product is patentable is called an “Office Action.” If the patent and trademark office decides not to grant a patent on your product, then there is a negotiation between you (or your lawyer) and the patent examiner. You have the choice to make adjustments to the claims in your application (called an amendment) or to argue with the examiner that he was wrong in denying you a patent on your product. This process can go several rounds and last anywhere from six months to five years.

how to patent something – How Much Does a Patent Cost?

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:03:43 +0000

If you have come up with an invention and you believe it to be something that you want to protect others from taking advantage of, then you may be considering filing a patent. One of the questions in your mind may regard how much does a patent cost. The costs of a patent can vary greatly, depending on what all is involved and undertaken during the process.

If you are considering filing a patent for your invention, one of the first steps is to perform a patent search to see if a similar patent has been filed prior to your search. You want to do this to avoid infringing on other people's patent rights.

Once you determine that no similar patents have been filed, you can proceed. It would be wise to know how much does a patent cost before proceeding. The costs of filing a patent can increase greatly if you hire a patent lawyer to assist you in your quest.

If you are considering not hiring a patent lawyer, be advised that unless you are experienced in the process of filing for a patent, your money will be well spent by hiring a patent attorney. If you are still concerned about how much does a patent cost, then you need to know that you are most likely not going to be successful unless you hire an attorney who knows the ins and outs of filing for patents. The patent application is a very difficult document to successfully fill out. If it is not filled out correctly, it will be rejected and sent back to to you for corrections.

The costs of filing a patent can vary. You will certainly have to pay to perform a patent search. A search can cost you from one thousand to two thousand dollars or more. If you choose to hire a patent attorney to assist you, you will pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees. Then, there is the matter of filing fees which can cost you several hundred dollars.

In answer to the question of how much does a patent cost, the answer is not easy. The truth of the matter is that it could cost you up to twenty five thousand dollars to obtain a patent. However, this figure is more like a worst case scenario. Yet, be advised that it will cost several thousand dollars at best.

Louis Zhang, Patentstepsinc dot com

For complete answers to questions such as - how much does a patent cost and how to patent an invention, go to Patentstepsinc dot com, a free guide to patent application.

How Do Inkjet Printers Work

The printers utilizing inkjet technology were first introduced in the late 1980s and since then have gained much popularity while growing in performance and dropping in price. They are the most common type of computer printers for the general consumer due to their low cost, high quality of output, capability of printing in vivid color, and ease of use. Each printer which works on inkjet technology places extremely small droplets of ink onto paper to create a text or an image.

In the personal and small business computer market, inkjet printers currently predominate. Inkjets are usually inexpensive, quiet, reasonably fast, and many models can produce high quality output. Like most modern technologies, the present-day inkjet is built on the progress made by many earlier versions. Among many contributors, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Canon can claim a substantial share of credit for the development of the modern inkjet technology. In the worldwide consumer market, four manufacturers account for the majority of inkjet printer sales: Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Epson, and Lexmark.

The typical inkjet printer usually includes inkjet printhead assembly, paper feed assembly, power supply, control circuitry and interface ports.

The inkjet printhead assembly contains several components. One of them is the printhead which is the core of the inkjet printer and contains a series of nozzles that are used to spray drops of ink. Another printhead component is the inkjet cartridge or inkjet tank. Depending on the manufacturer and model of the printer, ink cartridges come in various combinations, such as separate black and color cartridges, color and black in a single cartridge or even a cartridge for each ink color. The cartridges of some inkjet printers include the print head itself. The printhead along with the inkjet cartridge/s are moved back and forth across the paper by device called a stepper motor using a special belt. Some printers have an additional stepper motor to park the print head assembly when the printer is not in use which means that the print head assembly is restricted from accidentally moving. The print head assembly uses a stabilizer bar to ensure that movement is precise and controlled.

One of the paper feed assembly components is the paper tray or/and paper feeder. Most inkjet printers have a tray that the paper is loaded into.
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The feeder typically snaps open at an angle on the back of the printer, allowing the paper to be placed in it. Feeders generally do not hold as much paper as a traditional paper tray. A set of rollers pull the paper in from the tray or feeder and advance the paper when the print head assembly is ready for another pass after which another step motor powers the rollers to move the paper in the exact increment needed to ensure a continuous image is printed.

While earlier printers often had an external transformer, most printers sold today use a standard power supply that is incorporated into the printer itself.

A small but sophisticated amount of circuitry is built into the printer to control all the mechanical aspects of operation, as well as decode the information sent to the printer from the computer. It is connected to the computer by a cable through the interface port. The interface port can be either parallel port, USB port or SCSI port. The parallel port is still used by many printers, but most newer printers use the USB port. A few printers connect using a serial port or small computer system interface (SCSI) port.

Different types of inkjet printers exist based on the method they use to deliver the droplets of ink. There are three main inkjet technologies currently used by printer manufacturers. The thermal bubble technology used by manufacturers such as Canon and Hewlett Packard is commonly referred to as bubble jet. In a thermal inkjet printer, tiny resistors create heat, and this heat vaporizes ink to create a bubble. As the bubble expands, some of the ink is pushed out of a nozzle onto the paper. When the bubble collapses, a vacuum is created. This pulls more ink into the print head from the cartridge. A typical bubble jet print head has 300 or 600 tiny nozzles, and all of them can fire a droplet simultaneously. Thermal inkjet technology is used almost exclusively in the consumer inkjet printer market. The ink used is usually water-based, pigment-based or dye-based but the print head is produced usually at less cost than other ink jet technologies.

Contrary to the bubble jet technology, the piezoelectric technology, patented by Epson, uses piezo crystals. A crystal is located at the back of the ink reservoir of each nozzle. The crystal receives a tiny electric charge that causes it to vibrate. When the crystal vibrates inward, it forces a tiny amount of ink out of the nozzle. When it vibrates out, it pulls some more ink into the reservoir to replace the ink sprayed out.

The continuous inkjet method is used commercially for marking and coding of products and packages. The first patent on the idea is from 1867, by William Thomson. The first commercial model was introduced in 1951 by Siemens. In continuous inkjet technology, a high-pressure pump directs liquid ink from a reservoir through a microscopic nozzle, creating a continuous stream of ink droplets. A piezoelectric crystal causes the stream of liquid to break into droplets at regular intervals. The ink droplets are subjected to an electrostatic field created by a charging electrode as they form. The field is varied according to the degree of drop deflection desired. This results in a controlled, variable electrostatic charge on each droplet. Charged droplets are separated by one or more uncharged “guard droplets” to minimize electrostatic repulsion between neighboring droplets. The charged droplets are then directed (deflected) to the receptor material to be printed by electrostatic deflection plates, or are allowed to continue on undeflected to a collection gutter for reuse. Continuous inkjet is one of the oldest inkjet technologies in use and is fairly mature. One of its advantages is the very high velocity (~50 m/s) of the ink droplets, which allows the ink drops to be thrown a long distance to the target. Another advantage is freedom from nozzle clogging as the jet is always in use

When printing is started, the software application sends the data to be printed to the printer dr
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iver which translates the data into a format that the printer can understand and checks to see that the printer is online and available to print. The data is sent by the driver from the computer to the printer via the connection interface. The printer receives the data from the computer. It stores a certain amount of data in a buffer. The buffer can range from 512 KB random access memory (RAM) to 16 MB RAM, depending on the printer model. Buffers are useful because they allow the computer to finish with the printing process quickly, instead of having to wait for the actual page to print. If the inkjet printer has been idle for a period of time, it will normally go through a short cleaning cycle to make sure that the print heads are clean. Once the cleaning cycle is complete, the inkjet printer is ready to begin printing. The control circuitry activates the paper feed stepper motor. This engages the rollers, which feed a sheet of paper from the paper tray / feeder into the printer. A small trigger mechanism in the tray / feeder is depressed when there is paper in the tray or feeder. If the trigger is not depressed, the inkjet printer lights up the "Out of Paper" LED and sends an alert to the computer. Once the paper is fed into the inkjet printer and positioned at the start of the page, the print head stepper motor uses the belt to move the print head assembly across the page. The motor pauses for the merest fraction of a second each time that the print head sprays dots of ink on the page and then moves a tiny bit before stopping again. This stepping happens so fast that it seems like a continuous motion. Multiple dots are made at each stop. It sprays the CMYK (cyan / magenta / yellow / black) colors in precise amounts to make any other color imaginable. At the end of each complete pass, the paper feed stepper motor advances the paper a fraction of an inch. Depending on the inkjet printer model, the print head is reset to the beginning side of the page, or, in most cases, simply reverses direction and begins to move back across the page as it prints. This process continues until the page is printed. The time it takes to print a page can vary widely from printer to printer. It will also vary based on the complexity of the page and size of any images on the page. Once the printing is complete, the print heads are parked. The paper feed stepper motor spins the rollers to finish pushing the completed page into the output tray. Most inkjet printers today use inkjet inks that are very fast-drying, so that you can immediately pick up the sheet without smudging it.

Compared to earlier consumer-oriented printers, inkjet printers have a number of advantages. They are quieter in operation than impact dot matrix printers or daisywheel printers. They can print finer, smoother details through higher printhead resolution, and many inkjet printers with photorealistic-quality color printing are widely available. In comparison to more expensive technologies like thermal wax, dye sublimations, and laser printers, the inkjet printers have the advantage of practically no warm-up time and lower cost per page (except when compared to laser printers).

The disadvantages of the inkjet printers include flimsy print heads (prone to clogging) and expensive inkjet cartridges. This typically leads value-minded consumers to consider laser printers for medium-to-high volume printer applications. Other disadvantages include ink bleeding, where ink is carried sideways away from the desired location by the capillary effect; the result is a muddy appearance on some types of paper. Most inkjet printer manufacturers also sell special clay-treated paper designed to reduce bleeding. Because the ink used in most inkjet cartridges and ink tanks is water-soluble, care must be taken with inkjet-printed documents to avoid even the smallest drop of water, which can cause severe "blurring" or "running."

Besides the well known small inkjet printers for home and office, there is a market for professional inkjet printers; some being
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for page-width format printing, and most being for wide format printing. "Page-width format" means that the print width ranges from about 8.5" to 37". "Wide format" means that these are inkjet printers ranging in print width from 24" up to 15'. The application of the page-width inkjet printers is for printing high-volume business communications that have a lesser need for flashy layout and color. Particularly with the addition of variable data technologies, the page-width inkjet printers are important in billing, tagging, and individualized catalogs and newspapers. The application of most of the wide format inkjet printers is for printing advertising graphics; a minor application is printing of designs by architects or engineers.

By: Simon R.

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Simon Rogers is a marketing associate for PriceLess-InkJet Cartridges Co., a major reseller of inkjet cartridges, laser toner cartridge and other printing supplies. For more information on printer cartridges, printing technologies, alternative printer supplies and other related issues please visit PriceLess-InkJet Cartridges Co. or email us at Mail Room

applying for a patent – Tips To Get A Patent

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:28:18 +0000

Tips To Get A Patent

The best way to protect yourself and your plans is with a patent.Taking out a patent gives you the right to stop people from making, using, importing or selling your invention without your permission. A granted patent can remain in force for up to 20 years.

Obtaining a patent does not guarantee commercial success and is just one of the issues you should consider when looking to commercialise your ideas.

A Patent is an exclusive monopoly granted by the Government various countries to an inventor over his invention for limited period of time. It is one of the legal document explains about the new invention used to protect the inventors idea using various claims.
There are several different types of patents and its important to know which one to file. Utility patents are for machines or mechanical processes. Design patents cover a new design for a manufactured item. Finally a plant patent may be granted for someone who invents, discovers or reproduces a new variety of plant.

A patent also allows you to license others to use your invention - generating royalties, which can provide an important source of revenue for your business.

There are strict rules that determine what can and can't be patented and a patent may not always be the best way for you to protect your invention.

When you first invent something, it is important to write up a complete, dated description of the invention. Later, this record will provide evidence that the inventor possessed the invention on the date indicated. In the United States, a patent is given to the first to invent, not the first to apply for a patent. The inventor must sign and date the description and have one other witness sign and date it as well. The record can be simple and short, but should include enough details to convey clearly what the invention is. In most cases, it will utilize patent drawings or diagrams, which show how the invention works.

To apply for a patent, you must be the legal owner of your invention. If you created it as part of your work as an employee, you are unlikely to be the legal owner. Remember, the fact that you can get a patent doesn't necessarily make it worthwhile. You should carefully weigh up the pros and cons before deciding whether you should apply. Read a basic guide to patents on the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (C
1000
IPA) website.

Once your application is filed, it will be assigned to a patent examiner for analysis. This process typically takes about a year from the filing date. The examiner will do an independent search for existing patents. If they find something they believe is similar to your idea; they may reject the patent application.

You should never publicly disclose details of your invention before applying for a patent. If you must reveal information about your invention, you are strongly advised to consider entering into a non-disclosure agreement.

You usually then have 12 months to:

-File your claims - precise statements about the invention you want to protect.

Submit an abstract - a summary of your invention including its most important features.

-Pay a fee for a search to check whether any similar inventions have been published before.

If you think someone is infringing your patent, you should seek legal advice on how to proceed. It's possible that a carefully worded letter to the potential offender could be enough to rectify the problem and this may even lead to a mutually beneficial licensing arrangement.

If this doesn't work, you have the right to take legal action to defend your patent. The courts can grant injunctions to stop infringement and award damages which can be substantial.

Action is through civil law and you're likely to need the services of a patent attorney. Search the register of patent attorneys on the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) website.

By: Ekrem Gundogdu

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Ekrem Gundogdu writes articles about different subjects, including marka. To read his articles see his marka tescili website.

Do you have an invention you want to patent?

Do you want to learn how it is done?

* Have you ever heard of a "Provisional Patent"?

* Did you know it only costs $110 to get it? Older websites incorrectly show $105

* Did you know you can do it yourself?

* Did you know that a Provisional Patent can bolster the strength of your non-provisional patent?

* Did you know that the process can be easily demonstrated by an example?

* Did you know you can get the person who buys your invention to pay for your non-provisional patent?

* Did you know a provisional patent is the perfect solution for inventors wanting to protect their idea for the lowest cost?

* Want to get "Patent Pending"

I will assume you are a sharp individual, given that you found this article and you are willing to learn how you can get your idea to market and make money from your patent or patents.

All of the above questions are easily answered and are shown in videos and with explicit graphics. Because this article is in text format I will have to direct you to the link at the bottom of this article to see a video and graphics that explain how the patent process works. It is quick and easy to watch. You will be given an EXPLICIT example that anyone can relate to in order to determine if you want to pursue the path of getting your own patent.

Tthe link at the bottom of this article will direct you to a website that will take the mystery out of getting a provisional patent, using simple short videos, and will show you how you can do it yourself. You will gain access to a real live video along with graphics. You will learn what Patent Attorneys do not want you to know.

In any case you will be able to read and hear descriptions on how you can get a Provisional Patent, a non-provisional patent, how to get YOUR parts made in China as well as gaining access to over 400,000 manufacturing firms for every conceivable product you can dream of. I will go over why you should ALWAYS get a Provisional patent for anything you ultimately want to patent and or sell.

My name is Dave Korpi and I have been playing in the Patent game since I was 15.

I have always liked Patents. I think they are super cool! I like the "syntax", the drawings, and the "old fashion" look of them as well as what they represent.

I wrote my first "patent" (imagine a 15 year old writing it) in High School for a lock picking device for the 7 pin tumbler tubular "Ace" lock. I machined one in metal shop and went to a locksmith to show him how cool it was… Long story short, he told me I was a dope for making a lock pick that picked the lock in 45 seconds and allowed the lock pick to be put in a key cutting machine to make a new key in another 45 seconds.

He told me when someone loses a key to an Ace lock he made lots of money telling his customers that the locks were high security and could not be picked. Therefore, he had to use a $22.00 single use end mill to cut out the tumblers, ruin the $20 dollar lock, and install a new lock and cut 2 more keys for a total of $150 including the "service call". Or, should he have them watch him pick their lock in 45 seconds and cut new keys for only $12? Silly me! That was one locksmith's opinion. In the end someone REALLY did patent something like my idea.

Lesson: Get a provisional patent and believe in your idea. I will show you how it is done and you do not need hard to fill out PDF forms or "kits" to do it as I have seen discussed in various places.

What have YOU got to lose? Go for it and get it done now….Or someone else may do it before you and boy would that be a bummer!

Thanks,

Dave Korpi

About The Author

Dave Korpi is an EE and ME and holds over 12 patents for various fields of study and has written his 6 latest patents and 3 provisional patents for new inventions to be sold to various companies. Watch a short video about getting a provisional patent here: http://www.4lowprice.info/provisionalpatent.php