Top 5 Patent Myths

1) You need a patent in order to sell your product.

Now, this one is just patently untrue. In fact, the majority of products sold are not patented. To be patentable, an invention or product must be unique, non-obvious to those skilled in the art, and useful.

Spend some time poking around in the stores and you will find that oftentimes the most unique or useful thing about something you buy is the packaging, not the product itself and that the PACKAGING is what's patented!

A patent is not a license to make and sell the product. It is a legal instrument of ownership of the underlying intellectual property found in the product. Get it?

2) The patent office will enforce my patent rights once I get a patent on my product.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Nobody, repeat - nobody, is going to enforce your rights except YOU. So, before you make obtaining patent protection your top priority for your invention, you best understand that it is your pockets that would be funding the legal expedition to try and litigate an infringement case.

3) The smartest thing to do is get a patent, so that way you'll always have it.

This is sort of like thinking that the smartest thing to do would be take out an insurance policy for a car that you haven't finished building in your garage - that way you'll have the insurance in case you ever finish and drive the car.

Clear case of cart before horse thinking.

4) Once the product is patented, no one else can make a similar or competitive product.

Anybody with the physical capability and market resources to make and sell your product can do so unless you stop them by either:

A) beating them to or in the marketplace
B) win and injunction in court to stop them from making and selling the product.

The worst part about this conundrum is - if they are infringing on your patent and they are selling lots of them - they are making money to fight you with using your intellectual property!

However, this is where you really do have rights and there are options to prevent or stop this kind of problem.

5) Companies won't review your invention without a patent.

This is not so much a myth as it is an inaccurate statement. Many companies rely upon an inventor having secured a patent as a means to:

A) Qualify the prospective licensors to just those who are actually in a position to do business with the company.
B) Protect themselves from frivolous complaints and lawsuits from severely misguided inventors who accuse them of stealing their invention.
C) Push off the cost of intellectual property rights management so that they don't have to pay it.



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