Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => Famous Scientists, Doctors and Inventors => Topic started by: Diamond on 16/06/2005 09:27:48
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Are there any people in this forum that are inventors and based in central London that would be willing to share their experiences?
For the past 2 months we've been working with the help of the British Library to start a monthly meetup in London where people interested in inventing can share their experiences, etc - all free just a friendly meet in a pub.
The URL should explain it a bit more:
http://www.eastlondoninventorsclub.com/inventorsmeetup/
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I keep inventing different ways to enjoy tequila! [:D]
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I'm in Paignton and have first hand experience of the patent office's incompetence; they cost me a very important patent and gave me a very nice 14 page apology, admitting it was their fault! And advising me that it was pointless re-applying.
My advice to anyone considering applying for a patent is to have enough money in their bank account to pay for court costs against companies that feel free to walk all over inventors. And finding a competent patent agent is another walk through deaths dark vale. Best to do all you can to arrange a patent to include everything you need to claim the writes to and then argue the toss with the patent agent to see what he / she comes up with in a compromise. If you are not happy, then pull the plug and get another agent before going down the road of applying. Think long and hard about different angles people can infringe your invention with and close the loopholes as diligently as possible.
A Patent just is not worth the ink, let alone the paper it’s written on without having a big company helping to ward off thieves.
On one occasion, an inventor scored lucky by taking on a large company that decided to steel his vacuum and kicked their ass. Good Old Dyson, way to go.
Once you have a patent application in, avoid all of the companies that want your money and offer services, which sound too good to be true. They are too good to be true! The ones that advertise for inventors, including the parasites from Ireland who advertise on T.V. Must be avoided like the plague!
Finding a champion might be the way to go, someone like Richard Branson or another Inventor that has become successful would prove a great asset. But alas the U.K. has a very bad track record of helping inventors through the process. You might also consider filing your initial patent in Canada as if memory serves me correct, they allow you two years to complete your patent to its final stage, whereas the rest just allow you a year to get to the point of no return.
Business angels was another avenue, but found them to be greedy son’s of bitches out to grab a very high percentage of the business for a pittance investment. Better to get a loan against the home if you are confident about your invention, at least that way you keep 100% control of your patent!
A friend of mine, who attended the London International Inventions Fair, has had almost all of his patent control hijacked by the people with the money. Sad, when all he wanted the money for was to develop his invention further in order to satisfy these short sighted greedy parasites.
Fortunately, I avoided their dangling carrot and decided to bin my invention after the patent became worthless.
"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"
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I am also an inventor having been through patenting experience. I used one firm of patent agents before, with both good and bad experience.
In the first patent, I drafted all the claims and get one of their patent agents to prosecute my application without too much change in my wording. The patent examinar didn't examine my application very much and my patent was granted smoothly.
In the second patent application, however, I let one of their agents to draft the claims for me. This was another patent agent. At the first glance, I could not understand his writing at all. I also spotted some ill-conditioned dependency in the claims, but because of his sale pitch, I cannot give any advice and had to trust his ability. U know what! The patent examinar found a plurality of inventions and rejected all his claims. He admited his faults in the beginning, but he denied any problem of his own afterwards. He even refused to make any amendment on his writing according to my suggestion unless I paid him extra money.
I will not use any patent agent anymore.