Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi folks.

Is there a website where I can find out what`s exactly protected by a company that displays "patent pending" on its website?

A month ago I naively beleived that I was about to invent the wheel, and I wanted to find out how to legally protect my idea. I spent the past month writing down detailed specifications of my idea and the web applicaiton based on it, but then... a few days ago I found out that there`s a fairly established website that does pretty much what I had in mind. In fact there are some other less used ones as well in the same market (with Alexa rankings around 6,000, 12,000 and 100,000, respectively).

My concept still differs from all of these in at least three very important aspects, which makes me think that I should lose the impetus and move on to the development phase quickly.

Now, an important issue is to find out what exactly is protected under a "patent pending". Is there a website where I can type in the name of the company that filed a patent claim and I can read its content?

Thank you,

Csaba
(Hungary)

I have the answer:

www.google.com/patents

:)

-------------------------

James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com