Jann sends her love
I get warm fuzzies when I hear this kind of stuff from people:
I LOVE the idea of serialized podiobooks delivered on a schedule I choose!
Just so you know, that is the reason I got them from you and not from another outlet. This meshes perfectly with the way i listen… being able to set it on your end is great for me. Think about patenting that “podcast on demand” ‘quantity’ feature. It is FANTASTIC.
We’ve considered the patent. Maybe I should. Other thoughts? We’ve got quite a history of “prior use” here, so I’m not too worried at this point. Maybe an IP lawyer is out that who can advise me on this?
January 24th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
patents are a pain - but would probably be worth your while looking into. i am no lawyer, but i have been through the patent process on behalf of a new start up in the usa, you need an initial budget c$10,000 to discuss concept with a lawyer, get the patent search done (you can do a lot of this yourself), get the patent application drafted, and then submitted. you basically need to submit a patent application submitted that will “hold” the option over for you BUT you need to be able to provide all the documentation of when you first had the idea etc and don’t forget that once the concept has been made public it is very hard to prove that someone “stole” your idea as it is already in the public domain, and FINALLY be realistic - what would a patent give you in terms of protection, competitive advantage, additional sales etc etc.
SORRY for long comment - as i said am not a lawyer, but went through all this only last year. if i can help leave me an email that i can respond to.
great concept though
January 25th, 2006 at 12:45 am
In a Advanced Technology graduate school class I just took, someone came and discussed patents, copyrights, and trademarks. He told us that if a concept has been discussed in public, either in purint or presentaton form, it can’t be patented. It is already in the public domain. If you file an $86 (or so) form before it is discussed, then you are safe.
Now in this case, it depends on what you are patenting, but be cautious of this pitfall. The presenter indicated that this was a big problem for him as the “inventor” is always eager to discuss the item.
January 25th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Agree - would be hard to patent the “service” at this stage as it is out in the public domain, but maybe able to patent any underlying technology.
In my view patents are a rather over hyped concept. Typically an invester will ask if it is patentable, but in reality you have to be really sure that a patent will give you genuine commercial value, and not for very long as it is relatively easy to get a variant of the original patented.
Anyway, enough on patents