Tractor tool patent

Heyseed

Member
I'm sure almost everyone on here has made a special tool when fixing or working on tractors. Has anyone ever tried to get a patent on their design? I know a lot of them are our home version of some factory tool, but some have to be new and unique. Anyone familiar with getting a patent for anything?
 
In one of my many former lives, I practiced patent law.

Theoretically, you can apply for a patent yourself but, in reality, you will almost certainly need the help of a good patent attorney or agent, and this will be expensive.

Before spending money to try to obtain a patent, you need to evaluate the potential value of your invention, e.g., potential market, reasonable sale price, cost of production, margin, etc. Many innovations that could probably be patented are not because the return is simply not there.

Visit the US Patent and Trademark Office website, uspto.gov, to learn more.

Dean
 
We went though the patent process 15 years ago. I can tell you that it cost us $25,000 and then I think $1500 a year to maintain the patent. So as mentioned before, you need to evaluate the cost/profit ratio.
 
I was reading about patents a couple of years ago from a book and it said that 98% of all private patents lose money.
I have a cousin who got a successful patent on a bale feeder and currently sells this bale feeder. I'm not so sure he's making a huge amount of money on it, though.
 
I work for a major OEM and we deal with patents both ways - obtaining them when deemed appropriate and working to circumvent them when we want to do something similar to what is already patented. You generally cannot patent just a concept or idea; what is claimed needs to be specific. However, unless the patent is quite "revolutionary" it doesn't take a whole lot of work to make minor tweaks to your design to get around all the claims. If you do patent something you also need to have the wherewithal to challenge any infringement in court which can be very costly. The patent needs to be returning enough profit to you to merit maintaining and enforcing it. It is the patent holder's responsibility to go after infringements; nobody else will do it for you.
 
Patents have value only when the covered product is sold. Making and selling the actual patented item is a whole lot different from inventing and obtaining a patent. I have seven patents, all of which were assigned to my employer(who paid me to develop them). As an individual I could never have promoted them or developed a market and actually sold a product. I was well compensated for my efforts over the 45 years I worked, no complaints on my end. On the other hand I know several others who have had good patentable ideas, invested thousands, and lost it all because they overlooked the business side of inventing. After their patents expired, someone picked up the idea and manufactured it or altered it a bit and made it.
 

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