Invention / patent questions.

[BoshansStudios]

Hello everybody.

As the title suggest this thread is to ask about inventions/patents etc.

I am going to try to ask this the best way I can since I couldn't find anything on google and didn't quit know what to look for.
Anyways, lets say a person came up with an idea one day and then found out someone else was already doing it, BUT they thought of a way to improve on the product and create something that was greatly different than the original version. Would you have to pay the original inventor some kind of royalty even though your product has some extra features etc?

I'll give you an example. The slap chop for instance is not a new invention by any means, but it is extremely similar to some other product that chops vegetables in a similar fashion, except the slap chop can come apart easier etc. etc. Would the inventor of the slap chop have had to pay the inventor of the other product some kind of royalties, and also what legal channels would they have had to go through to be able to use that idea.

I hope I asked that in a way that was easy to understand. Feel free to ask me questions to get where I am coming from.

Thank you

[Suprememessage]

You would need to pay the patent holder as technically it's the same type of device. Unless it's a car. Then I don't think you have to.

[Ozcar]

It works different from objects than from music, poems, books and that kind of stuff... Objects that cut, can't be patented... unless they have an electromechanical system (like a blender) otherwise, we'd need to pay a sum of money to the inventor of the knife ;)

[BoshansStudios]

At 7/21/12 02:54 AM, Suprememessage wrote: You would need to pay the patent holder as technically it's the same type of device. Unless it's a car. Then I don't think you have to.

Thank you for the reply. I should get in contact with someone who manufactures cars and ask them how that works.

At 7/21/12 02:59 AM, Ozcar wrote: It works different from objects than from music, poems, books and that kind of stuff... Objects that cut, can't be patented... unless they have an electromechanical system (like a blender) otherwise, we'd need to pay a sum of money to the inventor of the knife ;)

So it's only for things of a mechanical nature like that movie where the guy invented car wiper blades hmmmmmm. This device would be mechanical and do the same job, but would not have even close to the same inner workings.

[Ozcar]

At 7/21/12 03:04 AM, BoshansStudios wrote: stuff

Sounds like you have an idea that you'd like to patent... and you can't tell us what is it, because you could spoil it or get your idea taken by another person...Am I right?

[BoshansStudios]

At 7/21/12 03:07 AM, Ozcar wrote:

At 7/21/12 03:04 AM, BoshansStudios wrote: stuff

Sounds like you have an idea that you'd like to patent... and you can't tell us what is it, because you could spoil it or get your idea taken by another person...Am I right?

I'm not really worried. A lot of people won't take action to make things even if they have a great idea handed to them. This is just a starting point.

I'll share the idea. Basically I was stirring my pot of noodles and was like wow this sucks I wish I just had something to stir it for me and imagined some kind of mechanical device that would just keep stirring the pot for you. I thought it was probably already taken which it was, but the thing is the product already made was a piece of shit that basically just vibrated on the bottom of the pot. I also found it it didn't work with thick things like spaghetti.

[ih8dude]

Patents aren't like what people think they are. Just simply coming up with an idea doesn't mean you own the idea and nobody can use it. A patent gives you legal rights to sell an item exclusively for a select period of time. Once that time is up it's fair use that's why pharmaceuticals pimp their product hard before they become generic. Now, most ideas even if they are life saving and amazing are usually already patented the reason you haven't heard about it is because it hasn't been marketed yet. In the case of the slap chop the idea existed decades before the slap chop and the patent time was already up when it came out which is why many imitators exist.

[BoshansStudios]

At 7/21/12 03:15 AM, ih8dude wrote: Patents aren't like what people think they are. Just simply coming up with an idea doesn't mean you own the idea and nobody can use it. A patent gives you legal rights to sell an item exclusively for a select period of time. Once that time is up it's fair use that's why pharmaceuticals pimp their product hard before they become generic. Now, most ideas even if they are life saving and amazing are usually already patented the reason you haven't heard about it is because it hasn't been marketed yet. In the case of the slap chop the idea existed decades before the slap chop and the patent time was already up when it came out which is why many imitators exist.

I actually understood that part of patents. I know this because it works basically the same way with screenplays. Thank you

I didn't know someone had taken that idea before. So that's the reason both Billy and Vince could release the same products.

[ih8dude]

At 7/21/12 03:24 AM, BoshansStudios wrote: I actually understood that part of patents. I know this because it works basically the same way with screenplays. Thank you

I didn't know someone had taken that idea before. So that's the reason both Billy and Vince could release the same products.

Yup! You might hear horror stories about how Thomas Edison stole ideas a patent basically protects you from that while you try to sell your product. Because marketing is much harder today that's the real challenge to inventing. Ideas like the swiffer, oxi clean, slap chop, blue tooth headset, and more were invented long before a good ad campaign made them huge.

[Ozcar]

At 7/21/12 03:31 AM, ih8dude wrote: Yup! You might hear horror stories about how Thomas Edison stole ideas

Tesla anyone D: ?

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

[Suprememessage]

At 7/21/12 03:04 AM, BoshansStudios wrote:

Basically I think that if it functions on a different type of mechanical system it's something different. I'm pretty sure they patent the device itself and not the purpose it serves.

[psicodemon]

You don't get a patent for an idea, but for an implementation. However it differs a bit per country. In the Netherlands the invention has to be the kind that can be produced, works and of course is "new", if you want to get a patent for it. So the invention shouldn't be some existing product or small variation of it. The owner of the patent can exclude others from recreating your invention, but only for some years (10 or 20 years). After that everyone can recreate your invention, but still not request a new patent that uses your invention with a small variation.

The thing is there are always some exceptions to the rule, so what is considered a "small" variation and "new" idea (if it isn't super obvious) is best discussed with the people who actually give out patents.

[BoshansStudios]

I just thought of something. All of the iPad knock offs that are going around. The ipad is a fairly new invention but there are a ton of knockoffs. Apple even tried suing Samsung and now has to post on their website that Samsung did not steal the idea for their tablet. This gives me even more hope yet.