Turn Ideas Into Capital Through Patents

Presented here are tips and legal advice on how to turn simple ideas and inventions into millions of dollars through the use of patents and trademarks.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Kim T. Sanders, Managing Partner
PHAEDEAUX, LLC
Phone: 262-965-4832
Fax: 262-965-4823
sanders@phaedeaux.com
www.phaedeaux.com
Turn Ideas Into Capital Through Patents

Skokie, IL,(PRWEB) October 21, 2003 - Inventions made many people into millionaires. For example, an inventor was paid $200 million for inventing a special isolating shim for an oil drill. Every new company is based on someones novel concept, and backed by investors. Those investors receive millions of dollars for their investment and for bearing financial risk.

A patent is a government permit to maintain a monopoly over an invention. There are two types of patents: utility patents, for a particular construction or method, lasting for 20 years from the time of application, and design patents, for a particular external appearance of the device or object, lasting for 14 years. Patents allow their owners to monopolize the market, increase revenue, ask the government to block competitor products, and even to crush competition altogether. For example, Polaroid was able to close the $200 million instant camera business of its rival Kodak after winning a patent infringement lawsuit.

Owners of patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights can sell others the license to use them independently of the underlying goods or services. The license may include terms governing duration, exclusivity, licensees productivity, and other conditions. The duration of the license does not exceed the duration of the patent. Commonly, the licensee pays an up-front fee, followed by monthly or quarterly payments calculated as a percentage of the licensees revenues.

A patent application begins with a patent search. The patent search determines how novel the invention is by examining prior art", or the products and processes that already exist. That search takes several weeks and costs $1,000- $2,000. The total cost of the patent prosecution in the U.S. is more than ten thousand dollars. It usually takes between a year and a half and five years from the time of application until the U.S. Patent Offices decision to accept or reject it. After filing the application, the inventor may use Patent Pending" on its goods. In the U.S., the application is barred if the invention was published or offered for sale for more than a year preceding the date of application filing in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Other countries do not have the one-year limitation, i.e. first to file wins the race. When two inventors make the invention around the same time, application priority in the U.S. is established by the person who invented the device or process first.

Not every discovery or invention results in a patent. For example, it is not possible to patent mathematical algorithms, software that does not achieve a technical effect, literary works and so on. It is not possible to patent an idea, but only its embodiments. For example, one may obtain a patent on a design of a flying submarine or on the design of its particular features, but it is not possible to obtain a patent on the idea of the flying submarine. A wide variety of inventions can be patented -- and sold -- from methods of production of household items to microchips and biotechnology inventions to developments in the space, food, or any other industry. All patents are published, which helps in announcing the invention ownership to the world.

There is no such a thing as an international patent, and it is necessary to patent the invention in every country in which the inventor wants to have patent protection. The application systems of most countries conform to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). In the United States, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the only government agency that inventors need to deal with to patent their inventions. USPTO issues patents in accordance with U.S. federal law, which is applicable in all fifty states.

Receiving a patent is only one phase in the process of implementing, licensing, marketing, and sale of the invention, as well as protecting it by attacking the patent infringers (usually by competitors). On every step of the way, it is essential to have attorney support. Out of the pool that exceeds 1 million lawyers in the U.S., only about 17,000 are practicing patent attorneys. As a patent attorney with over 25 years of experience, Boris Parad remains the only Russian speaking patent attorney with European and U.S. engineering background among this select group. He continues to represent clients in matter involving contracts, licensing, technology transfer, corporate intelligence collection, and intellectual property protection. Inventors interested in filing a patent application in the U.S., Europe, or Asia, may confidentially send a brief description of their invention (and its advantages in comparison with the existing art) to Parad Law Offices from anywhere in the world by mail, fax, or e-mail.
Boris Parad consults and represents U.S. companies to help educate and protect their corporate interests, trademarks, patents, copyrights, secure files and general knowledge. He has litigated cases in both federal and state courts in Illinois, Colorado, California, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He has argued cases in the Illinois appellate courts as well.
His expertise in intellectual property law is available at any time. He does some work on a contingency fee basis. All initial telephone consultations are free.

For information: www.paradfirm.com or
Contact:
Kim T. Sanders
Phone: 262-965-4832
Fax: 262-965-4823
sanders@phaedeaux.com    
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