Any Patent Lawyers play pool?

Diamond69

Diamond69

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm looking for help from the forum. I have a business idea, but not sure if it needs to be patented. Or even if the patent would protect as intended. Any feedback would be appreciated. It's a low cost/low profit idea, so the thought of paying $10 grand for a patent may not make sense. Please PM me if you want to help a fellow pool player by just answering a couple of Patent Law questions.
 
Patent Lawyers are not cheap, even if you have a Patient, Copy-write or Trademarked they are only as good as the amount of money you have to go after those who infringe on your Patient, Copy-write or Trademarked. Disney, and American Honda both have teams of lawyer of hugh retainers to protect their Patient, Copy-write or Trademarks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MFB
don't waste the money

i have an invention that helps beginers and people with missing limbs, hands, fingers, hold the pool cue making it easier to play. i have a patent applied for application, and my business partner was going to get the patent for 1/2 interest in the product.
he thinks it is an excellent idea, but decided the time and money you have to invest was just not worth the potential profit. because if it catches on the next thing you know it will be knocked off by the chinese and that market will be flooded with half priced counterfits.
 
Useless unless you can afford to defend it.

Get provisional patent , run you around a $100 and gives you a year to make a move with some protection. It will give you time to work out the idea. If during that year something comes of it worth while , you can complete the patent application process and you'll get the date going all the way back to the provisional application's date.
 
thanks for the help

I want to say thanks to the forum! I received some good information here and some helpful and supportive PM's as well, in a very short period of time. Thanks to everyone. And if I get to the launch point with any success, those that helped will know how it was appreciated!
 
IMHO if you idea is that hot sell it to someone who can build it, market it, and pay you royalty on each item sold.

Place like

Mueller

Sterling Gaming

PoolDawgs

Etc.
 
Just put the idea here. Then when someone copies it, the haters will roast them a new ass for doing it. :D

Bada bing..... It's called AZ Patent

Ray
(patent pending)
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Patent Lawyers are not cheap, even if you have a Patient, Copy-write or Trademarked they are only as good as the amount of money you have to go after those who infringe on your Patient, Copy-write or Trademarked. Disney, and American Honda both have teams of lawyer of hugh retainers to protect their Patient, Copy-write or Trademarks.
Click to expand...
duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Now apologize to all those letters, for wasting them on somethhing addressed already.
 
Bigtruck said:
Just put the idea here. Then when someone copies it, the haters will roast them a new ass for doing it. :D

Bada bing..... It's called AZ Patent

Ray
(patent pending)
Click to expand...

That might be as good as protection as any.

seriously.

Jeff Livingston
 
chefjeff said:
That might be as good as protection as any.

seriously.

Jeff Livingston
Click to expand...


Well fwiw, we do these one of 3 ways.

Provisional patent always then....

1) Manufacture immediately and run/sell as much product as possible before it get ripped off and mass made overseas.

2) Shop the provisional patent to big name companies with the goal of them supporting the final patent grant with a joint contractual agreement governing manufacture,sales and net gains.

3) Complete the Patent process till granted and offer it for sale outright.

Royalties are useless on anything thats not going to sell millions, typically its pennies or less on the dollar, might as well make them yourself.

Patent defense is basically the same unless a US company infringes with massive gains and is willing to settle. It does happen believe it or not, sometimes they simply consider it part of the cost of 'development'. :)
 
Many years ago here but I first had to pay something like $300 for a patent search to be sure the idea wasn't already out there. Then, it was another $5000 for a utility patent that was good on paper for 15 years I believe? Good luck with the idea. If it wasn't so expensive there would be alot of handy gizmos out there for people but instead we have to wait for the big guys to think of it and build it since people don't want to give their ideas away for free.
 
JolietJames said:
Many years ago here but I first had to pay something like $300 for a patent search to be sure the idea wasn't already out there. Then, it was another $5000 for a utility patent that was good on paper for 15 years I believe? Good luck with the idea. If it wasn't so expensive there would be alot of handy gizmos out there for people but instead we have to wait for the big guys to think of it and build it since people don't want to give their ideas away for free.
Click to expand...

Well, yes, but.... There are also lots of ideas that may be great to the "inventor" but have issues of various kinds and could never really be a product without a lot of further development and investment. For example, the other day I was listening to a business talk program. A caller had this great idea of a two-headed translator device that would allow two people to type in their language and read translations on their head. This person was not willing to do any further development work. Like search for earlier patents (which you can do for free) or see what the big computer translator companies have done, or talk to a software developer or try to make a prototype. All they had was the idea. And they wanted someone to pay them for it. They weren't sure who, they just felt that they deserved some money. The host of the call-in show pointed out one or two of the problems and thanked them for the call. I suspect there are already a dozen apps that do this translation thing, but the "inventor" hadn't bothered to check.

I'd go with the suggestion above -- make the thing immediately and run as fast as you can and hope the rip-off artists take too long to steal your market. First check to see if it has been done before. Next, you may want to attend the BCA trade show to see the various other products on the market if you're not familiar with the pool biz. Maybe you could find a distributor there too.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Patent-It-Yourself-Step-Step/dp/1413313825/ref=pd_sim_b_1
I am not an attorney but I did try it...
This is a good book with step by step instructions. It is a tough process and even with out an attorney you will spend $10,000 in fees over 20 years. That is just in fees you have to pay. You pay when you patent then again at 7 years ( double), and then again at 14 years doubled again.
The US patent office will help you but it is a painful experience.
Good Luck!
Pm If you want with your # and I will call you and share my experience.
Mark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top