Inventors, do not waste your time inventing things people don't want.

[Grumpycat]

That wasn't my experience 30 years ago. I had to prove everything several times over and it took years to get the first patent. But granted I believe it was because there was no one at the patent office who knew how things work.

Ditto. Finally our examiner spouted a popular Free Software Foundation line, "Its only software, its not patentable." Our attorneys were mortally offended and waived their fees for the appeal. And won.

What the ignorant idealistic patent examiner failed to realize is that a ticking pendulum in a clock is software just like instructions executing in a CPU. The program code is mass, length, and acceleration due to gravity. Chosen by the designer to ratchet a gear limiting how fast it turns. Size of gear, number of teeth, all those things are mechanical "software".

 

[Valveman]

Ditto. Finally our examiner spouted a popular Free Software Foundation line, "Its only software, its not patentable." Our attorneys were mortally offended and waived their fees for the appeal. And won.

What the ignorant idealistic patent examiner failed to realize is that a ticking pendulum in a clock is software just like instructions executing in a CPU. The program code is mass, length, and acceleration due to gravity. Chosen by the designer to ratchet a gear limiting how fast it turns. Size of gear, number of teeth, all those things are mechanical "software".

Lol! I feel your pain. I am afraid it is not just patent examiners, but many so called "professionals" in all industries have little to no knowledge of most things these days. It is really hard to explain something fairly technical to people who don't have a basic grasp of physics and mechanics. Most couldn't change the oil in a lawnmower if they had to. It is even harder to explain something technical to people who think they already know more than you do, and are in a position of power they are not qualified for and shouldn't have. Schools need to bring back shop and mechanics, and force every student to take these classes.

 

[NorTracNY]

I've found that the examiners are of varying degree of knowledge in different areas. I'm told that they try to filter the applications to the examiners who have some background in the area, but we are talking about inventions. So it's always stretching their knowledge. As to my comments, I've always found that every application is initially rejected. This is SOP so it makes it look like the examiner has actually done something. Depending on what they present as rebuttal, you get a good idea if they understand what they are talking about. It's often VERY easy to respond back to show them how they are off. The only times that I have had difficulty is when they produce a prior patent which should never have been granted and the claims are ridiculously broad. Again, I do this through my employer. I can't imagine the frustration and extra cost of individuals having to go through this.

 

[Industrial Toys]

In this day and age of CAD CAM and such manufacturing, what stops the Chinese from stealing your idea or design even with a patent? Hey, that probably just makes it more interesting for them. Less competition from this side.

 

[ericm979]

All of the patent attorneys I have worked with have told me that it's their goal to get rejected on the first try. The idea is to maximize the claims, then reduce just enough to get it by the examiner. If it didn't get rejected on the first try, maybe you could have made the claims broader.

I would never try to patent something without an experienced patent attorney. I could get something by an examiner given enough time, but the attorney knows what it takes to make a patent stand up in court.

I filed my first patent 24 years ago. The quality of the questions from examiners have gotten a lot better since then. Part of that is that my field was tiny then and most knowledge was hidden away in three letter agencies, so very few examiners had any experience with it. It's not large now but the examiners we get seem to be reasonably good.