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central nebraska | I have done many hours searching patents through the US patent office website. I bet I've looked at a couple thousand different patents. Look at the title and pull it up and read to see if it's similar and then look at pictures. Once I figured out how to navigate there database it is very ineresting searching other patents, especially related to Ag.
They have a nice tutorial to show how to do a patent search and and where it might be classified to narrow your focus of search.
What I found interesting in the last couple hours since I posted here was an application for a provisional patent was filed for another product that is identical to what my wife's product would be. The interesting thing is the idea for this product is not the same as the intended use of my wife's product, but the materials used and look of product would be identical. Also the provisional patent application expired 1 year after the initial application. They did not pursue a patent.
Also the maintence fees on the other patent that accomplishes the same idea as my wife's have lapsed. That patent had only 3 years of protection left.
Thanks for all the comments. I have heard most of them before, mostly from small equipment manufacturers.
I would assume most of the cost of filing is legal fees, as the fee schedule on the US patent office website is listed and the fees are not that bad. For the hours I've done researching if I had to pay an attorney to do that I could see how you could spend $6,000 to file a patent.
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U.S. Patents?
