US Patents

Griggs Knives

Griggs Knives

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Jan 27, 2012
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I am looking at possibly getting a patent on one of my knife designs. It is a first responders/rescue knife. Has anyone gone through the process, and if so what advice do you have on this? How difficult is it? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, Andrew Griggs for Griggs Knives
 
I actually don't know the answer here, so I edited my post to reflect what I do know.
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The Patent office is odd. In the computer software realm, they are giving patents out like they are candy. These programs may be seen as if they were a book or other written intellectual property. One example, 5,000 people had submitted a very similar program to the Patent office, but 5,000 people that invented the same thing is not a breakthrough.
Yet, in the physical realm, a Patent has historically been issued to a "breakthrough". A breakthrough being something unique that is not known to many other people. A new knife shape is not really a breakthrough at this point in history. If you invent a new form of production, or material, you have something to protect. Maybe you should be thinking of a Copyright?

P.S. I'm not an expert in any field, just expressing some common info from a news report I heard on Public Radio.
 
I am on my second patent, my first one was done with the help of a patent attourny. It cost $3,500.00 plus or minus. It was successfull in keeping people from infringing on my design for the duration of the patent. My second one, my wife and I are doing ourselves. It is currently waiting to be examined. Total cost to date has been about $400.00 and 60 to 70 hours. The US patent web site can be very helpful and is necessary if you plan to do it yourself and are somewhat good at navigating buracratic web sites, we are not, yet we managed to do a pretty good job.

Patents can work, sometimes all it takes is a little bit of a deterrent like a patent and a convincing cease and desist letter to protect your idea. Without those, you have nothing.

I wish you the best, it can be a lot of fun.
 
Thank you all. I was talking to some knifemakers on facebook and pretty well got the same concensus. So at this time I will just begin production of the design and like they say, imitation is the best form of admiration...
 
You can file an informal provisional patent application yourself for $125. That will give you 12 months to decide if the commerical value warrants the rather substantial investment in a "real" formal patent application. In other words, if you file a provisional application, and follow-up with a "real" patent application within 12 months, then it will be the same as if you filed your "real" application on the same date that you filed the provisional. On the other hand, if by the one year anniverary of your provisional filing you determine that the value is just not there, then just don't file the "real" patent application, and the good news is that your provisional application will not be published - it will be like it was never filed (except for the $125 you are out).

I have written untold hundreds of patent applications and prosecuted many thousands of others. Unfortunately some of the comments and advice posted above are not of the highest quality, shall we say. :eek: But actually not any worse than one might expect if, for example, you went to a patent attorney website and asked them a question about differential heat treating 52100 steel. :D

Good luck.
 
It took two years and cost me around 6,000 for a non provisional patent including the registration fee. Many patent items never go into production. Its after the patent has been issued that the work begins. If you are going to manufacture the item your self, there is more incentive for you. If you are thinking about having another party manufacture for you, think long and hard.
Fred
 
My wife just passed the patent bar a few months ago and is now a qualified patent agent. She can help you understand the process and help you file something for a lot less than a full patent agent would charge. Plus she knows some things about knives. PM me if you're interested and I can give you her contact info.
 
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