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From: Nagle@cup.portal.com (John - Nagle)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Patents
Message-ID: <25928@cup.portal.com>
Date: 14 Jan 90 08:31:11 GMT
References: <1311@corpane.UUCP> <1990Jan12.110450.29432@hellgate.utah.edu>
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     As an inventor who gets royalties on patents, I can reply to this.

     First, a good starting point is the classic "Patent It Yourself",
from Nolo Press.  It has its flaws, but will give you an idea of what
patents are all about and the mechanics of filing them.  It is NOT
current as to the international form now used, but is OK if you don't
intend to file internationally.

     For a simple patent, if you let a patent lawyer do the whole
job, it will cost a few thousand.  You can get this down considerably
if you work at it.  It's a good thing to have a patent lawyer look over
your application, but if you can write clear technical prose, good
enough for publication, there is no reason you shouldn't write most 
of the patent yourself.  The "claims" section of the patent must conform
to very strict rules and needs the hand of a lawyer, but even here,
you should provide the first draft.

     Patent drawing requirements are no longer as strange as they used
to be, and you can do a quite acceptable job with a CAD or drawing system
and a laser printer, instead of the classic India ink on Bristol board.
The style rules must be carefully followed, but they are not all that
complicated.  The whole job can be sent out to a patent draughtsman,
but it's not really necessary.  

     The patent search you should do yourself, and the Nolo Press book
can tell you how to go about this.  After you've done it yourself, a
second go-round with a patent search firm, using as a starting point
all the patents you found in your search, is worthwhile to catch anything
you missed.  It's easier and cheaper for a patent search firm to start
from such information than from your description.

     Always bear in mind that most patents don't bring in any money.

					John Nagle