How Do I Put an Invention Into the Public Domain? 233
Nefarious Wheel writes "I have a couple of inventions — mechanical devices, based on physical principles — that I believe could transform certain aspects of industry. The trouble is, I can't afford to file patents, and even if I could, I'm not sure that would be the best way for these devices to be made available as widely as I'd like. Is there some way to publish the details of these innovations in the public domain in such a way as to protect them from being snaffled away by some patent troll? I'd be happy with a contribution (or simple attribution) model for recompense, which could be zero to whatever, but that's not as important to me as getting the ideas out there for anyone who wants to use them. This isn't copyright, and I know of no patent equivalent to Creative Commons. In short, what's the best way to protect an invention against someone filing a patent on it, short of patenting the device yourself? Can this be done?"
You're gonna have to patent it (Score:5, Insightful)
While publishing it, and making it prior art would be nice, the only way for you to totally place it into the public domain would be for you to patent it yourself.
Sure, in a technical sense making it prior art would bar others from patenting it, effectively placing it into the public domain. However, in reality, people could still apply to patent the invention, and the burden would be on them to notify the patent examiner about your prior art.
Guess how much that will happen.
So, assuming they don't talk about your publication, and the examiner doesn't know, they get a patent. Once that happens, then it's up to an enterprising soul to file an appeal with the patent board... and sure, the patent would probably be revoked, but it would take time and money. During this time, people would be afraid to use the patent, etc etc.
Since a patent is a right to exclude others from using your invention, the easiest way would be to talk to your local law school, see if there's any sort of IP clinic, and ask them to help you file the patent. They will probably have someone student that has passed the patent bar early, and can help you file as a patent agent. Then you would just pay the fee, get the patent filed for you, and some law student would get some nice experience. After you get the patent, simply let people use it for free.
Just post links here.... (Score:5, Insightful)
All you need to do is publish your designs somewhere. Who knows maybe people may offer suggestions that will improve them. Open sourcing hardware is certainly something that has been done before. As long as you don't care if companies potentially exploit your ideas and not compensate you then by all means go ahead and make the world a better place. I admit I am mildly disappointed that you did not even share any details at all. Maybe your invention is really cool and now we may never know.
Post a link here (Score:2, Insightful)
Put the drawings or whatever on a web page and link to it here. Not only will it get exposure, it'll generate discussion on the merits of the design.
As an aside, this reminds me of the crap article posted here not too long ago, with the only difference being that guy didn't want to share his great and wonderful idea.
Re:JUST publish it, make it "prior art" (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly, so publish the invention in detail in as many places as possible, the internet, etc, so that it is easy to prove that it is a published prior work.
If your invention is used successfully by someone, get in touch with industry publications, and see if they can pick up an article. The more places your invention is described in, the more clear it would be that a patent application for it is fraudulent.
Plus, you need publications, whether online or offline, in order for people in the industry to learn about the invention...
And also, possibly file for a statutory registration [uspto.gov].
Don't just publish the details of the invention itself, publish lots of ways the invention can be used, as many use cases as possible, including obvious uses, but especially important ones that might not be immediately apparent.
You don't just need to worry about people patenting the invention itself: you may need to be concerned about people patenting certain uses of the invention with something else or in certain situations, that they claim might be novel.
An example would be patenting the concept of "a card catalog system, but on a computer" (at a time when card catalogs have been around for centuries, and computers have been around for decades)
Of course if you describe as many of those use cases as possible ahead of time, and use language fully expressing the versatility of the invention, and making it clear that there are a lot of obvious uses, you might be able to reduce that possibility slightly...
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:1, Insightful)
Pretty sure it'd risk being deleted as Original Research. Which is a shame, because I normally love wiki.
Original Research is often a good thing, but Wiki doesn't think so :(
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, not. The researchers who published this idea openly in 2001 chose to publish openly instead of patenting, so that everyone could use it. If the other guys get a patent, it would place some hurdle on the use of the idea. Those who wanted to use it may not be aware of the 2001 publication. This is one motivation, to protect the invention which has been placed into the public domain. Another motivation was to help the USPTO keep its database clean of patents which are actually non-enforceable. Both should be the tasks of the USPTO, which is a government organization established by the society for serving the needs of this society in general. So, helping it is good, right?
Okay, that was U.S. society, and I am not living in the U.S. Call me irrational, then. Besides, I also had some curiosity in how the system works.
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:5, Insightful)
It is obvious from your description your main goal here was to screw over the person filing the patent as there is no way you would go to that effort otherwise
This may come as a shock to you, AC, but sometimes people do the right thing because it's the right thing. Sometimes they even put a fair amount of effort into it.
Re:JUST publish it, make it "prior art" (Score:2, Insightful)
Not quite. You need to get it where it would be reasonably accessible by a member of the public were they to be interested, so non-disclosure agreements (or even an implicit understanding of limited distribution, but that's a little murkier) prevent it from being prior art.
Re:I told you geeks are DUMB !!!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
If it is a useful invention, and it's not easy to produce, you want to file a patent. Otherwise nobody will build it.
Let's say you invent a better wheel. If you publish it freely, then none of the car manufacturers will use it, because it will probably be too expensive to modify their machinery, and there is too much market risk (i.e. New Coke), and when they have done the hard yards to bring the new product to market their competitors will just copy it.
Patents are there to reward innovation, but they also reward the hard work in developing new markets.
Software is different (because it's trivial to implement), but real products need development.
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:2, Insightful)
Check to see if it is already Patented (Score:3, Insightful)
This is the first step, as it could have already been done.
http://www.google.com/patents [google.com]
http://www.uspto.gov/main/profiles/acadres.htm [uspto.gov]
If it hasn't already been patented and you are confident of the acceptance of the invention in the the targeted area then by god man find an investor to fund the patent for a percentage of the potential licensing fees.
Patents were originally created specifically for people like you, to encourage and reward people who provide useful inventions by allowing them a limited monopoly on the sales of the invention in return for making the knowledge public.
Heck, if you are that sure, and you can sell me on the idea, I will fund your patent.
Too Much Misinformation (Score:1, Insightful)
1) Talk with a patent attorney
They'll probably even do it for free if you find a friend-of-a-friend, or approach a small (or even a large) firm for a consult.
Really, there's just too much misinformation and noise in this forum. Find a professional.