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Last week, Nintendo was granted a patent "summoning a character and having it fight another". What will this do to pet battles in World of Warcraft? : wow
Main Post: Last week, Nintendo was granted a patent "summoning a character and having it fight another". What will this do to pet battles in World of Warcraft? : wow
'An embarrassing failure of the US patent system': Videogame IP lawyer says Nintendo's latest patents on Pokémon mechanics 'should not have happened, full stop' : pcmasterrace
Main Post: 'An embarrassing failure of the US patent system': Videogame IP lawyer says Nintendo's latest patents on Pokémon mechanics 'should not have happened, full stop' : pcmasterrace
Have any of you received a patent?
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Throughout college I became fascinated with the idea of patenting an invention/idea and ultimately licensing it to a company. After graduating college now and starting work I put the thought of patenting my ideas was put aside until recently. Have any of you applied and received a patent on your own, not through your company? If so, did you license the patent?
Top Comment: The worth of a patent entirely depends on how you can defend it. It's generally cheaper for companies to cheese around existing patents, and defend it with lawyers when it's needed. Not only that but since everyone can see your patent, everyone can copy it (just not legally, but go ask Russia or China). This is why WD-40 has no patent. This is why Coca Cola did not patent their recipe.
Patent Examiner advice
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Hey all, I'm looking to get into patent law but I'm not sure yet whether to commit to a law degree first. My field would be Chemical Engineering and I have about 6 years of experience as an on site engineer in chemical manufacturing/refining in a technology/design role. I have a Bachelors.
What would you recommend for me? I was thinking either doing the Patent Bar and seeing if I can get a job as a patent agent but not sure if I'd get hired with no law background. Patent examiner seems interesting to me for the training and how they also can eventually pay for my law degree if I want to continue down that path, but I'm not sure how often they'd want to hire someone over a new graduate.
Top Comment: It can't hurt to apply. Many supervisory patent examiners (managers who hire new examiners) prefer experience over fresh out of school.
How detailed do your plans need to be to get a patent?
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I have several ideas but don't know how much development I have to put into them to have refined them before I can patent them for more development.
Top Comment: I have several ideas but don't know how much development I have to put into them to have refined them before I can patent them for more development. Specifics matter. The official standard is you need to be able to "enable any person skilled in the art...to make and use the" invention. Typically, if you have an answer to "what" you've identified a problem. If you have an answer to "how?" then you've identified a solution. If you have some version of the how, it might be time to talk to a patent attorney.
news for patent examiners
Main Post: news for patent examiners