[nylug-talk] Employer Pattent Rights

[Andrew Pliszka]

Thanks a lot for your help. The problem is that if you tell your 
investors that a patent is pending, then they are more interested.

Andrew

Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> On 2/2/07, Tom Moran <tom1116 at optonline.net> wrote:
>   
>> It's in your best interests to consult an attorney.
>>     
>
>    This is not legal advice.  I am not an attorney.
>
>    Your employer has no default rights over your invention.  If you
> had signed anything in the form of NDA, NCA, Trade Secret agreement,
> etc. then you may be infringing on those agreements by filing for a
> patent.  I cannot tell you how your violation of the said agreements
> would effect the status of a patent.
>
>     Judging by the sophistication of your query, I am assuming that
> you have never really worked with the US patent system before.  I can
> tell you that many of the generally assumed ideas concerning the
> opportunities the patent system affords for individual 'inventors'
> have no grounding in the reality of today.  Patents are expensive to
> develop and expensive to protect in court, and only really make fiscal
> sense for large companies with a staff of patent lawyers.  Even the
> preliminary ground you must cover of prior art search can be quite a
> daunting task, especially if your invention is in computer science.
> For example, I am developing an application involving graph
> visualization, and it so happens that IBM has a patent on a very
> general and obvious( in my view ) method of manipulating graphs in a
> GUI.
>
>   http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5515487.html
>
>   These points are an indication of some serious problems with our
> current patent system and who is actually gaining from it's support.
> These issues  are compounded even further by the glaring problems of
> international patent protection and the fact that I can host my
> invention anywhere in the world for little or no additional cost.
> Currently, large lobbying groups are working furiously to tighten
> international trade agreements and close these loopholes as well( WIPO
> ).  You will pay to enforce these new agreements of course.  The EU
> had oscillated on its stance towards software patents, and I believe
> that currently the commissions involved are /not in favor/ of allowing
> software patents in the EU.  How large software companies respond to
> this is anyone's guess.  Lobbying groups backed by Microsoft
> repeatedly raise this issue in the EU despite it being a considered a
> closed case time and time again.  In addition there is the new class
> of "Business Method Patents" which are an entirely new form of IP
> altogether, which seriously undermine the free market basis upon which
> our country was built.  These BMPs allow for the ownership of business
> ideas whose implementation can take place in third world countries
> without risk of domestic competition.
>
>   Clinton did make the patent system a bit more accessible for the
> average person with the creation of 'provisional patents' which are
> inexpensive to maintain and basically act as a placeholder for you if
> you do manage to develop the invention.  They are very inexpensive to
> file for.  Whenever you encounter the term 'patent pending' this
> refers to a provisional patent.  The expire within a certain time
> frame and the filer is expected to file for a full patent application
> within a certain interval.  They offer you evidence in court of prior
> art against patents that are filed for similar ideas.
>
>   I would think that, in general, the idea of patenting and profiting
> from a computer related invention is totally infeasible for an
> individual of modest means.
>
>   -jmz
>
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nylug-talk-bounces+tom1116=optonline.net at nylug.org
>> [mailto:nylug-talk-bounces+tom1116=optonline.net at nylug.org] On Behalf Of
>> Andrew Pliszka
>> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 3:49 PM
>> To: NYLUG Technical Discussion
>> Subject: [nylug-talk] Employer Pattent Rights
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I would like to apply for a patent. Does anyone have some experience
>> with Employer Patent issues? I work for Internet company, and the patent
>> will be related to Internet applications.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Andrew
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>>     
>
>
>