DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney.
It all depends on what the you want to do. Without going into
great detail, it is possible it file a “provisional patent”
application which costs less than a non-provisional patent. The provisional
patent costs $110 for USPTO application fee in addition to any fees associated
with a patent attorney (You might be lucky enough to find a kind attorney to do
the application pro-bono). The provisional patent is good for only a year and a
non-provisional patent application needs to be filed within 12 months of the
provisional patent filing. If you want to totally protect the intellectual property
of the invention, then you would need to complete all of the steps and get a
non-provisional patent, which can get pretty expensive. If you do not want to
continue the protection of your intellectual property, you have no obligation
to file the non-provisional patent application and you can allow the patent to
expire after a year.
See this for more information on provisional patents: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/ProvApp.pdf
See this for the fees: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee2009september15.htm
(See “small entity fee” for “provisional patent”).
The filing of a patent is a tremendous administrative burden
which could detract from a FLL team’s work in the main FLL areas. I have seen
patents from both sides of the judging table within FLL. They don’t
really sway the judges any more than having a very innovative idea to begin
with. With all of this being said, the teams do get a big kick out of having
their names associated with a patent.
Best of luck!
Bill
From: First Lego League
in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frank
Fenneran - Team #53 Brainstorms
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 9:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: EXTERNAL:Re: [VADCFLL-L] Patent Help Needed
I and a few partners just received a patent on an invention that
took about three years to go through the process. But that is better than the
one we filed before this one, because it was filed a year earlier and is still
in process.
Gail is right, the cost is going to $10,000+
-Frank
From: First Lego League
in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of The
Okes Family
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 9:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VADCFLL-L] Patent Help Needed
Does anyone know a streamlined and reliable way to Patent
our team's invention?
I'd like to show them how to patent their ideas for the
future too.
Thanks,
- Lisa
To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html
and select "Join or leave the list".
VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html
to subscribe.
To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html
and select "Join or leave the list".
VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ADMIN-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-admin-l.html
to subscribe.