Patents for entrepreneurial ideas
Author of this post: Jean Perwin | About Blog Authors »
You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.
Hello Jean,
I am a certified HTML CSS Developer, and own and operate a registered company. I have an entrepreneurial idea. The problem is this, when I publish the idea as a completed idea, it would be very easy to reproduce. Is there any way to prevent or make unlawful the activity of duplication of my concept? It is, I am quite certain a situation of information ownership, but might I be able to get a patent for a constructed product that would limit (or reduce completely) the copying of it by others as well?
Paul
Paul–Unfortunately, ideas and concepts presented to the public are very difficult to protect unless they are in a form in which the law will allow you to protect it. If the product is of a type that is patentable, a patent will protect it for 17 years. If it is in copyrightable form–fixed in a tangible medium, like software or music, you can protect it by copyright. To determine if something is patentable, consult a patent attorney who will most likely run a patent search to determine patentability. To determine whether your idea can be protected by copyright in some way — consult an intellectual property attorney. There are often ways to do it, but without knowing what it is, it’s impossible to advise you.
Best,
Jean
September 19th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Embodiments of ideas such as business methods and ideas may be protected here in the U.S. under both patent and copyright law. Also, regarding Jean’s comments about 17 years, U.S. patent rights in the past were granted for 17 years from the date of issuance of the granted patent so long as the maintenance fees were paid timely. Now, the rights granted in an issued patent are typically in force for 20 years from the date of filing of the patent application with some reductions or extensions in certain situations that allow time to be added or deducted from the the granted patent rights time frame. Some companies also ask Congress to grant an extension of time to the 20 year time period particularly if the patent grant is valuable, such as patents issued in the pharmaceutical field. A patent search is a very valuable tool to determine not only whether or not your invention is new, but to determine what is similar so you can avoid the known areas and expand your idea as much as possible into the unknown areas.
Regards,
Michael
May 1st, 2008 at 12:37 pm
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