I have a project I worked on in college and we (my senior design team) attempted to get it patented through the college, but they never got back to us on its status. I heard there were a couple patent lawyers here and I was wondering if I could arrange a time where we could meet and discuss the idea and any opportunities to turn it into a patent. I only have a cursory knowledge of the process so I am eager to learn more about the process as well. I will be available on Fridays and Saturdays
Not a lawyer but familiar with the process (15 applications, 4 granted). If you can’t find a lawyer to assist, would be willing to discuss with you the process as it might help you use less time (and $$$) with the lawyer if you are up to speed before seeking professional help. Feel free to stop by the Science office hours on Sunday at 3PM and we can talk then if you are interested.
There are obviously many more experienced persons than myself at the makerspace with many more applications and granted patents (or are actual attorneys) but if you can’t find someone else would be happy to help out as I can if no one is available.
Well, I suggest that you first Google the notion of a provisional patent. It’s like pulling a ticket at a deli. It gives you an immediate, cheap place in line but starts a one year clock. It gives you up to a year to get the fancy, expensive patent application to the Office, and the Office pretends like the fancy application was filed on the date you pulled the ticket for priority purposes. The up side is that you can now start making public disclosures to potential investors and collaborators, but the down side is that all your rights disappear on the anniversary if the real patent application is not timely filed.
But a problem is that you usually waive/lose patent rights by making public disclosures – like to your professor or student noninventors/collaborators. If it’s any consolation, most ideas aren’t patentable because they’re not sufficiently novel or inventive. Start by looking here: Search for patents | USPTO.
And try researching some of the legal requirements on Google. This isn’t rocket science, after all.
Lots of good advice posted here. Don’t let it overwhelm you; just take it one step at a time.
One of the first things to do is to determine who are the owners of the the idea(s).
Once you know who the owners are, then the owners write down what the invention(s) are and how they are novel compared to what art already exists (via a patent search).
The mention of a “senior design team” suggests that the IP could be related to a class of some kind (perhaps the senior capstone project ME 463 - Engineering Design - Purdue University Mechanical Engineering). If so, he is in luck–otherwise it probably belongs to the University. From his university’s IP office website:
Intellectual Property that arises in any part in the course of employment or enrollment at the University, or in the course of a work-for-hire relationship or visiting scholar relationship with the University, is property of Purdue University, except as follows:
The University permits a student to retain title to Intellectual Property that the student creates for credit and without compensation in a University course through the use of course-wide resources, provided that the Intellectual Property is not burdened by any pre-existing contractual obligation of the University.
As others have mentioned, the biggest issue will be public disclosure. Assuming the project was performed in the Fall 2023 semester, he may be weeks or days away from that 1 year mark for disclosure. So getting an provisional in soon will be critical assuming the deadline hasn’t passed already.
@vinod_rangaprasad Just wanted to let you know that I likely will not be able to make it to the makerspace this weekend. Getting close to a big deadline. I will try to make it in on 9/15 but if not I will definitely be there 9/21.
That is totally fine. Lets try to aim for meeting on 9/15 and if that isn’t possible then 9/21 works too. I’ll first start by looking into the provisional patents and discussing with my teammates about it. It is a joint effort so all of our names should be on it, as we equally contributed to it.
Thank you for taking the time to meet with you regarding this as its a big goal of mine to get a patent for this project.