Posted: 4/5/2017 12:36:51 PM EDT
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I work for a software company. We have a system that a customer has asked us to develop for them. In doing a patent search we find a patent application from 2012 that describes the process very closely to our workflow. There is no patent associated with the application. Does this mean that the person applied for a patent, but no patent was granted?
Before we invest thousands of dollars into consulting with a patent attorney, I am really just asking what direction to go based on the above? |
| Patent could still be pending. Common practice to file to get your foot in the door, then keep amending the claims and stringing things out while working on it, so that when it's finally granted, you get more exploitation time instead of having burned up three to five years of patent protection during your refinement and development phases. |
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Quoted:
I work for a software company. We have a system that a customer has asked us to develop for them. In doing a patent search we find a patent application from 2012 that describes the process very closely to our workflow. There is no patent associated with the application. Does this mean that the person applied for a patent, but no patent was granted? Before we invest thousands of dollars into consulting with a patent attorney, I am really just asking what direction to go based on the above? I'm in the same line of work and have s few patents on encryption and compression intellectual property. The best thing that you can do in this case is to file for a provisional patent, regardless of similarly. The patent office will come back and notify you of the similarities and request changes. I used a top patent firm for my first one and it cost somewhere in the range of $50,000 in 2015, the discovery process found similar hits but nothing that conflicted. As was directed by the firm even a conflict can be sorted out later after the provisional was filed. Worst case you will need to alter the concept or product 25% to clear us patent office. If you need advice pm me. |
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Go here: http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair
Enter the recaptcha words to actually access the portal. Enter the application number (will likely be a 14/###,### or 15/###,###). You now have access to the full file history, case status, etc... and will be able to tell if the application is still pending, abandoned, in prosecution, etc... |