Customer Reviews

Patent Pending in 24 Hours, Third Edition

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a budding inventor who wanted to protection for a children's toy I invented recently. Using this book, I filed a patent application in about 15 hours.

To understand the value of this book, you need to understand that there are two types of patent applications.

The first is a Provisional Patent Application (PPA) which is an informal patent application that simply establishes a filing date and allows you to legally use "patent pending" for 1 year, when sharing your invention with others and testing its marketability. The second is a Regular Patent Application (RPA). This is a formal application at which the Patent Office looks closely and can result in patent protection for the next 20 years if it's granted. The PPA costs $100 for most, and the RPA costs thousands upon thousands.

This book helps you file a Provisional Patent Application (PPA).

I found it to be very clear, and told me what I had to do. It assumes you know nothing. I found it's example illustrations very helpful as I made up drawings, and particularly helpful was how to navigate the US Patent and Trademark Office site to download and fill out applications. It also gave some good tips for patent searching. The sample PPA, a doll that has "light-up" tears, gave me a good idea how to write the PPA.

I did find, however, that the author constantly uses phrases like "For more information, see my book "Patent it Yourself" which I found a little frustrating. I ended up finding a copy of Patent It Yourself in the library to get some of my questions answered.

Also, some foreign offices require information that is not explained in Patent Pending in 24 Hours (at least one "claim"), so I had to use Patent It Yourself to get this information, and include it in my PPA, so in this respect, Patent Pending in 24 Hours is not complete if you want international protection eventually.

I recommend that you get both Patent It Yourself and Patent Pending in 24 hours if you want all your questions answered. They both contain information not found in the other.

Just what I needed! I can protect my idea, try to market it, and then determine if I should invest in an official patent. This book describes how to prepare a Provisional Patent Application (PPA) which will guard your idea for 12 months while you try to prove the worth of your idea. Only 3% of patents make any money for the inventor. Submitting a PPA to the U.S. Patent Office protects your idea, but doesn't require the investment of a full patent. The book goes into detail about how to prepare a PPA, what steps to take, what forms to include, and gives lots of examples. Sidebars tell entertaining patent-related stories. Recommended!

This book is a solid introduction to the provisional patent application (PPA) process. By the end of the book you will be able to develop your invention and file a ppa. For instance, I filed a PPA within 24 hours of purchasing the book. The language is very clear, and there is also a clear example running through the chapters that provides another effective pedagogical tool for conveying the information.

Note, eventually you will have to follow the regular patent application process, however, this step is a great way to protect your idea without spending thousands of dollars on legal fees while you evaluate the commercial merit.

This book is very well written and shows you exactly how to write your patent step by step. I followed the instructions, wrote my patent, asked an intelligent friend to review it and filed it according to the instructions. A fews weeks later I was awarded my patent pending. Now I've got to see if I can make some money from my product within the year to afford to file a full patent.

I bought this book because I needed to file a Provisional Patent Application (PPA). However, I found it to be somewhat incomplete and other information wasn't updated from older editions. There is even a reference to floppy disks! There are also lots of references telling you to buy their other book Patent It Yourself for a full description. They do this quite a bit. They even say this in the other book I purchased How to Make Patent Drawings: A Patent It Yourself Companion. I couldn't believe it! I bought that book because I thought it would cover everything about the drawings. I honestly wish I had bought Patent It Yourself instead. Even though I'm not filing a full patent yet. The other thing that annoys me in this book is that there is no section that simply outlines the structure of a PPA. They do it over a series of chapters. But they don't have a simple outline to follow once you have read all those chapters. The last half of the book (actually more than half) has nothing but other people's Provisional Patent Apps. Every single one of which you can find for free online. They also don't provide a CD or downloadable document template. They even have a few sample legal documents like Non Disclosures and Joint Ownership. But they expect you to photocopy these out of the book which measures approximately 7" x 9". How unprofessional would that look walking into a meeting to license your idea? Overall I found the book to be quite bare and the victim of too many sloppy edition updates. Save yourself the money and just buy Patent It Yourself.

As a lawyer, I find the idea of learning enough from this book, Patent Pending in 24 Hours, to file a provisional patent application within 24 hours "patently" ridiculous. Here's why.

First, a provisional application is not an informal application. To claim for priority purposes the provisional application's one year period in a regular application subsequently filed, the provisional application must meet all the disclosure requirements of a regular application. There is no distinction between the disclosure requirements of a provisional application and a regular application. The disclosure requirements may sometimes seem simple, but they are complicated. If your idea is valuable, your patent will be challenged. To save yourself enormous heartache in a priority dispute later, have a lawyer with years of experience and training look at the application before you file it rather than trust your own 24 hours of experience and lack of training.

Second, a good patent attorney does a thorough review of the prior art. Inventors may know they have an idea, and therefore believe they have invented something, but the Patent Office has information on a mind boggling number of inventions. A good patent lawyer will look over previous inventions and help you refine your invention with an eye towards surviving a serious challenge in the PTO or in court later. It is not uncommon for inventors to be told by their attorney that their invention as they first pictured it is old. However, by working with an attorney the invention can be tweaked to make sure it's new and not already covered by a patent already filed. This search of the prior art and refinement of the invention takes more than 24 hours. A patent attorney's expertise is invaluable during this search. By working with an attorney early, you can gain a better idea sooner of what the invention is that you will be marketing. Otherwise you may spend a lot of time marketing an invention that is not patentable because it is old, and when you file the regular patent application you may have to change the application substantially to make the invention new (which makes it more difficult to claim that the invention in the provisional application is the same in the regular application).

Patent applications are a precise art that makes even lawyers with years of training careful about anything they file. Maybe this book provides some interesting background information, but it takes a lot more than 24 hours to be a good patent attorney or agent. If your idea is worthless, go ahead and file a provisional application within 24 hours, but see a lawyer if you hope to protect any value your idea might have.

I followed this book's content, and indeed got a Patent Pending in 24 Hours.
It is important to note that applying for a patent is an overwhelming and intimidating, yet absolutely worthwhile effort. By its nature it is complicated, and it is better to hire professional Intellectual Property (IP) people to do serious work that follows after you file an application - which is really just a DATE STEMP- ensuring that you have 12 months to be recognized as the owner of the idea and to do the full fledge job of getting the Patent Grant.
I found Chapter 1 helpful since most of people who are interested in Provisional Patent Application (PPA) will find this helpful, and it does break the ice. I am told that majority of applications are PPAs and for Utility Patents.
Chapter 2 (which does not need to worry you) talks about seven hurdles you need to pass.
Chapter 3 is about a search for previous inventions that might negate your chance of getting a PPA approved and converted into a Patent Grant, and Patent Grant is the name of the game. But Patent Grants take a lot more effort, and again, in my not so humble opinion, I think that it is much easier to pay what it costs and get professionals do it for you.
Chapters 4 and 5 are easy to read and easy to follow.
Chapter 6 is about Electronic Filing, and I think the most important part of this book for those who really want to do what PPAs are all about and want to do it on line in a "Do It Yourself" fashion. I hope that this chapter is beefed up with some more practical "Do It Yourself" Oriented approach in the next edition. Even though I think that this does do the job!
Let me, as a person with one patent grant and several PPAs, "Patent Pendings", share my experience:
Use the Toll Free Number listed for the USPTO.GOV as much as you need or like. You find helpful and nice people trying to really help.
NOTE: Most electronic files MUST BE in Adobe PDF format! Microsoft Word (.doc format) is not enough. And you must have a minimum of a Cover Page, specifications and Figures in your submittal, and a valid credit card. In 2007, for an individual of small company it costs $105 to file a PPA of less than 20 pages or so.
Seriously consider getting a Customer Number, and do what it takes to be able to do PAIR on line, if you will be filing several patents on your own.
My special thanks to Patent Experts at Sunnyvale California Public Library for their introductory lectures and immense help to me, and others regarding patents process.

Bruce Razban,
Founder, President Razban Internet International (RII)

This book was really good at explaining the process of inventing something, making sure nobody has invented it before and that the world would need the item, and securing a Provisional Patent Application (PPA). This is NOT an actual patent. It's basically a year-long privelege of stamping your item with "Patent Pending" which, the authors argue, can dissuade people from stealing your invention.

Here are the reasons I gave it 3 stars:
1. In many of the sections, they refer heavily to their other book "Patent It Yourself." This was very frustrating and made me want to have THAT book instead...
2. The actual content of the book is only 146 pages out of the total 442. The rest is mostly sample PPAs (page 149-362!!!). Therefore, I think the book seems a little deceiving - it looks like a wealth of information, and then about 1/3 of the book describes a process many people wouldn't even worry about. (The cover does not state this is about PPAs - many laymen would not understand this is what they're implying by "Patent Pending")

If I were to make an overall recommendation, it would br to check out their book "Patent It Yourself"!

This is really a pretty complete book. The section on patent searches alone was worth the price of admission! It gives a very thourough list of action items, and explains the how's and why's very well, that will see you through to Patent Pending literally in 24 hours. If you can stay up for 24 hours straight. It actually took me close to three days, but about 30 hours of actual working time, to get my first patent pending status.

I would definitely recommend this book if you're serious about protecting your inventions and would like to test the waters before sinking a ton of money into a full patent. If you have the money and just want to go ahead with a full patent then I would recommend "Patent it Yourself" by David Pressman. Both books are by NOLO, and I think these are both top of the line in the patent publications.

I used this to register one of my kitchen product ideas, with a drawing and a cardboard model that I made myself.

This valuable material is very well organized and useful for the "little guy" independent inventor. You really can conduct and manage the process yourself -- just as Edison did in the early years -- and this text will guide you all the way there. Very thorough and easy to understand. Highly recommended for anyone who has even considered tackling the long patent process for their own valuable innovative creations. You don't have to be a lawyer, but even if you eventually hire a patent attorney, this book will give you the background education and vocabulary to deal most effectively with your intellectual property assets.