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First off, I'm not upset about this, as it was a terrible idea for a product in hindsight. I'm just curious to know now how to avoid a situation like this in the future, if possible.
In January 2013 I wanted to try my hand at a proprietary clothing product. I attempted my own patent search and never found anything like what I was planning to make, so I filed a provisional application. I had a few samples made and sent to me from a factory in China. I started attending a few small classes about patents that were offered at a community college. One of the biggest takeaways from that was that you get what you pay for, so don't skimp around. I asked the instructor for references for a good patent attorney and he gave me one. I did my due diligence on his recommendation and the firm he worked at and everything looked good.
I spent a few thousand on a patent search through this attorney. He found that the utility of the product I was going to make was already patented so it really wasn't worth pursuing. I didn't ask any further questions once he told me that it was already patented. That was the end of that...
However, yesterday, I did a search for the product I wanted to make to see if anyone had had success with it. Nothing showed up. Just for the hell of it, I went to Google Patents and searched for it. Well, in April of 2015, a patent had been granted for the same utility I had tried to get. Literally 95% the same as my idea. The utility is exactly the same - the only difference I could find was the artwork they proposed to be on it.
Did the attorney screw up or is it possible that he found this other patent while it was in line to be reviewed? Two years and two months just seems like a long time for a patent to be in review.
In January 2013 I wanted to try my hand at a proprietary clothing product. I attempted my own patent search and never found anything like what I was planning to make, so I filed a provisional application. I had a few samples made and sent to me from a factory in China. I started attending a few small classes about patents that were offered at a community college. One of the biggest takeaways from that was that you get what you pay for, so don't skimp around. I asked the instructor for references for a good patent attorney and he gave me one. I did my due diligence on his recommendation and the firm he worked at and everything looked good.
I spent a few thousand on a patent search through this attorney. He found that the utility of the product I was going to make was already patented so it really wasn't worth pursuing. I didn't ask any further questions once he told me that it was already patented. That was the end of that...
However, yesterday, I did a search for the product I wanted to make to see if anyone had had success with it. Nothing showed up. Just for the hell of it, I went to Google Patents and searched for it. Well, in April of 2015, a patent had been granted for the same utility I had tried to get. Literally 95% the same as my idea. The utility is exactly the same - the only difference I could find was the artwork they proposed to be on it.
Did the attorney screw up or is it possible that he found this other patent while it was in line to be reviewed? Two years and two months just seems like a long time for a patent to be in review.
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