New Jersey Patents Legal Questions

Thank you for your question.  The first quetion you need to think about is what type of patent do you need a design patent, a non-provisional utility patent, or a provisional utility patent application.  The cost is vastly differently depending on which application you decide on. Design Patents protect the ornamental design of the invention and not the fucntionality.  Design Patents have a 14 year term and cost $1800 which includes drawing fees and USPTO Filing Fees. Provisional patent Applications provide a 12 month term and will never mature into a patent but act as a placeholder and enable the inventor to place the "patent pending" tag next to the invention.  They cost $2000-2500. Non-Provisional Patent applications have a 20 year terms and cost $5500-7500 depending on the technology of the invention. ... Read More

1. A patent is not a requirement to license a product, but the inventor loses his/her leverage very early in the license. If the Licensee fails to commercialize/flops, it is almost impossible to secure a second license, whereas it is not as difficult with a patent. Without a patent, you are only licensing first to market rights and that can only be licensed once. 2. If you want a patent, you want to make sure you have a patent application filed before the company begins disclosing the invention to others. You don't need to wait for a patent to issue before commercializing (you can license a patent application), but you begin losing patent rights as soon as the invention is disclosed to the public. 3. The questions you are asking are tricky and the best guidance requires much more information about your product, the company you wish to license, and the terms of the license. You should find an attorney you want to represent you in completing a license and/or patenting your product and disclose this information to obtain proper guidance. The answers I've offered are general information and should not be taken as a suggestion as to how you proceed. Good luck, Todd... Read More

From your question, I believe you are saying that an inventor has a patent titled Automatic Hazard Warning Lights in the United States. Patents are "territorial," meaning they can only be enforced in the country that issued the patent. If the inventor only has a US patent and Ford is making, using, selling and offering for sale the invention only outside of the United States, US patent law does not prevent Ford from doing that. The inventor would need a patent in each of the separate countries that Ford sells this system to have a patent infringement claim.... Read More

Whether you would think about suing Nokia depends initially on the terms under which you submitted your idea in the first place. You need to look at those terms and see what you agreed to at the time. Suing someone for stealing an idea is a daunting task. You are saying that Nokia stole your "trade secret." You would have to prove that Nokia in fact got the idea from you; that they agreed to pay you for the idea if they used it; and that they did not develop the idea independently or else get the idea from someone else.... Read More

If the part that you want to replace is not itself patented, then yes, you can make that part and sell it, even if the sonic toothbrush is patented. The patent on the toothbrush prevents someone from making, using, selling or offering to sell in the United States, or importing into the United States, that article during the term of the patent. I would not assume that anything is legal unless you search into the facts to see if the brush head itself is patented. You could call Philips and ask them for the patent number(s) for the toothbrush and brush heads.... Read More