Expert: George H. Morgan, P.E., Patent Agent - 5/4/2010

Question
Hello,
 
 I have a question concerning CAD and getting a proto-type built. I think I am on to something pretty nice..but made a mistake by giving my idea to worldwide patent assistance. I didn't do my homework and found negative reviews all over the web about them. I am curious if a trade school or a vo-tech school would be an option for developing a proto-type? Also, have other questions. I'm hoping this "scam" place didn't steal my idea! I'd like to correspond with you concerning this if you get any time.

Best Regards,
Ryan

Answer
There was a court ruling, some years back, that disclosure to a firm such as the above, with the expectation of privacy on the inventor's part, was, for legal purposes, a confidential disclosure and not considered an open disclosure. Also, the above firm's gig is getting money for their expected "services"....stealing their ideas is only worthwhile if they invest a lot of their time and effort in making it pay off. That is not a part of their business plan, usually.  So,  you are probably safe on that point.

Often there are retired or free lance technical people, or even employed technical people, that can be quite helpful. The trade school or vocational school instructors might be interested in a side gig. You can always inquire.

There is an excellent "cookbook", "Patent It Yourself" by David Pressman, published by Nolo Press of Berkeley, California, available in your local free public library with a lot of good info, including a lot of legal forms, with his permission to reproduce for your own purposes, including one that covers work by subcontractors.

When you have help developing your prototype, it has to be clearly understood that it is a work of hire, and that any inventive developments by the contractor are your property & the contractor will cooperate with you in securing a patent. Ownership & inventorship are two different issues. i.e. All inventors must be named in the application, and only those inventors.

My website has a considerable amount of free information including a book review with very helpful texts on intellectual property, creativity, books for creative people, books for parents afflicted with creative children, etc.

My  web site:  http://www.evansville.net/biz/patagent
It has a link to my email address. I will correspond, as time permits, on your questions, when I can.

There are a lot of doubtful enterprises out there, as you may be will aware. Unfortunately, some seem very respectable. Ron Riley Caution Site has a link on my web site's "Inventor Resources" page, where you can check out many of them. I believe the site includes UIA, Inventors Digest, Absolutely New, Invent Tech, Invention Submission Corporation, and many others. Too many are intertwined or linked together. Birds of a feather flock together. One red flag is if they are endorsing "Patent Reform". "Patent Reform" is not in the interest of the independent inventors. They speak of "harmonizing" with the rest of the world. However, only harmonizing with the features undesirable from the inventor's standpoint are included. For example, employees in Germany get a cut of the pie. That feature, of course, is never mentioned in those beating the drums for reform.

I hope that helps.

Best wishes on your project.

George H. Morgan
Professiona Engineer (since 1959)
Patent Agent (since 1973)