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Protect your invention ideas - Q & A

Mike calls from Detroit to ask the Sloans about ways to protect his invention.

Jeff Sloan:  We've got Mike out of Detroit, Michigan.  Welcome to the show. 

Mike:  Uh, hi, Rich.  Hi, Jeff.  Thanks for taking my call.  I'm a new listener and I really enjoy your program.

Jeff Sloan:   All right, good. 

Mike:    And I've been to your website.  It's got a lot of great stuff.  And I've just finished reading your book.

Jeff Sloan:  Oh, good. 

Mike:   Which for me was more than inspiring, it was really exciting.

Jeff Sloan:  Mike, you -- you have no excuse now --

Mike:   I think --

Jeff Sloan:   -- but to be really successful. 

Mike:  Well, your personal excitement translates rather well into your book.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah.

Mike:  I mean --

Jeff Sloan:  Well, you know, we not only tell our story in that book but as you remember, we tell the story of about, I don't know, 25, 30 other entrepreneurs who nailed it in their efforts to create a business and that is really exciting. 

Mike:   Absolutely, and a lot of great tips, as well.  I'm a first-time inventor, and I'm just now going through the patent process.

Jeff Sloan:  Okay. 

Mike:  And there are a few issues I've had to deal with, and I'd like to ask you some questions --

Jeff Sloan:  Uh –

Mike:    -- pertaining to these.

Jeff Sloan:   Are you using a patent attorney, or you filing the patent on yourself?  Mike:  Oh, no, I -- as you mention in your book, go with a professional.

Jeff Sloan:  Yep. 

Mike:  And that's well worth the advice.

Jeff Sloan:  And you realize Rich and I aren't patent attorneys but we certainly know a little bit about patenting from an inventor's perspective, and we'd be happy to try to give you any answers we can. 

Mike:  Absolutely.  I'm waiting for your movie to come out, Jeff and Rich's Great Adventure.

Jeff Sloan:  It's -- it's --

Rich Sloan:  Well, let's start it right now.

Jeff Sloan:   Yeah. 

Mike:  Right.

Jeff Sloan:   Let's start it right now. 

Mike:  Right.

Jeff Sloan:  Okay.  So your question is? 

Mike:   Okay.  Well, at the start of my first meeting with the patent attorney, I asked him to sign a confidentiality agreement which he flatly refused to do.  I was shocked and embarrassed and I was wondering --

Jeff Sloan:  Now you shouldn't have been.

Rich Sloan:  Yeah, Mike -- and --

Jeff Sloan:  Mike, patent attorneys -- let me tell you.  Here's the problem with confidentiality agreements.  First of all, I don't think you'll find a patent attorney who will sign one.

Mike:  Okay.

Jeff Sloan:  That's number one.  So I understand your hesitancy and your questions over why or whether or not they should have signed one.  But here's the problem.  They're getting presented with new ideas all the time.  And the problem isn't that they, you know, that they might have a temptation to take your idea or disclose your idea.  They're not interested in doing that at all.  Patent attorneys can't stay in business if they steal people's ideas.

Rich Sloan:  They, not only that --

Jeff Sloan:  If you go to a reputable patent attorney, you'll never have that problem.  But --

Rich Sloan:  Don't they take an oath, also?  I mean, isn't there --

Jeff Sloan:   That's the other thing, they do take an oath.  And so I don't think as long as you're going to a reputable attorney that you ever have to worry about that, nor should you expect them to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Rich Sloan:  Client -- client-attorney privilege.

Jeff Sloan:   Exactly.

Rich Sloan:  Or whatever the technical phrase is.  Okay.  Do you have another question? 

Mike:  Right.  Well, I'd like to add I did get his name through the PTO --

Rich Sloan:  Web --

Jeff Sloan:  That means Trademark Office. 

Mike:   So he's registered.

Jeff Sloan:  So you're not -- Mike, you should not have any concern there whatsoever. 

Mike:  Okay.  Right.  Well, therefore, you know, I had no reason to question his integrity, so I showed him my prototype and paperwork which included the title, the claim and drawings. 

My next question is, should I or could I have asked the attorney to sign and date these papers as a witness because -- in the event of a dispute over who had this idea first, this action would strengthen my case.

Rich Sloan:  Well, you always want to -- whenever you have documentation of your invention to the degree that you can, you want to get a third party to witness and date.

Jeff Sloan:  But a trusted third party, obviously.

Rich Sloan:  Right.  And you want to keep all that in what's called an inventor's log. 

Mike:  Uh-huh.

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah, you should keep all documents in an inventor's log.  When you invented it, you know, all drawings, descriptions, ideas, etc.  Keep them in a log and any time you can get someone to witness the log page or the log entry, as Rich just mentioned, that definitely helps substantiate and verify and lend credibility to the fact that you indeed did post those postings and when they fit in chronologically into the book.