Ted Lee

can you patent an *idea* only???

hi all -

is it possible to patent *only* a concept or idea?

for example, could i patent a "flying car" by itself, or would i have to provide technical explanations, diagrams, parts listing, etc.

just curious....

this is my dvd collection. there are many like it, but this is my own ...

MikeSerrano

You can patent a specific implementation of a flying car, but you cannot patent the concept.

Note that your implementation need not "work" in the sense that one could be built tomorrow with off the shelf parts. The specifics just need to be plausible.

-Mike

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.

Danny Tse

Really??

A couple of decades ago, while I was a kid, on a Saturday morning, I came up with the concept that later turned out to be the "Cartoon Network". Damn!!!

Matthew Todd

While this may be true in principle, for a valid patent, there is a requirement that your disclosure "enable one skilled in the art to practice the invention." You have to provide enough detail so that someone could practice the invention without requiring them to do too much experimentation.

\"Do not use to unclog a disposal drain.\" - On a box of Dynamite (from Joseph Howard)

Keith Mickunas

You can patent procedures for doing things. For instance a guy patented the procedure for exercising your cat with a laser pointer. He didn't patent the laser pointer, just the idea of doing it. So no one can market a laser pointer as a cat toy without paying this guy. Pretty stupid, isn't it?

You could patent the flying car if you worked out the propulsion and such. Or you could just patent the control systems if you have figured out a neat way to make flying more intuitive. For instance you could say the steering wheel tilts forwards and backwards for up and down, and the the normal rotation works like a plane's rudders, and use a computer control to keep the vehicle from rolling. As long as they're not to similar to other vehicles' controls, you could patent that.

Brian Perry

Quote:

For instance a guy patented the procedure for exercising your cat with a laser pointer. He didn't patent the laser pointer, just the idea of doing it. So no one can market a laser pointer as a cat toy without paying this guy. Pretty stupid, isn't it?

I always wondered how they search through all the patents to see if one exists. Do they do a computer search on "cats" and "laser" and see if something comes up? I would think there are so many patents out there it would be difficult to ensure you've looked at everything.

MikeSerrano

Patents must (usually) be very specific, so it's possible to get around many of them if you find a better/different way to accomplish something (which is the purpose of the patent system--to compensate inventors who find better ways to do things).

For instance, United States Patent 5,443,036: Method of excercising a cat is specific to a person manipulating a hand-held laser-pointer with their hand to exercise a cat. Does this patent cover using a robotic arm to manipulate reflected and concetrated LED light to create fast and random focused light movements on opaque surfaces? Only the patent office can say for sure, but I may have a new invention that does not infringe on patent 5443036.

*looks around*

[voice type=Homer]Patent pending. Patent pending. Patent Pending.[/voice]



-Mike

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.

Eric_L

too late:

Flying car

Erik.Ha

Don't kick yourslef... You couldn't have patented that... Nor could you have copyrighted it...

"I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV..."

imported_BrianW

I've got a patent pending on what I call "Semi-Volatile RAM". It's computer memory that, when you turn off the power, loses just the ones, but keeps all the zeros.

When the patent finally comes through, I'll be richer than Bill Gates!