[njtosd]

Love these:

iHandy Level (bubble level – I love bubble levels)
Magic 8 Ball (shake phone until you get the answer you want)

[njtosd]

Love these:

iHandy Level (bubble level – I love bubble levels)
Magic 8 Ball (shake phone until you get the answer you want)

[njtosd]

On the flip side of this issue – does anyone know what the rule currently is about teachers using Spanish in the San Diego public schools? My former neighbor was a kindergarten/1st grade teacher who had a large number of students who spoke Spanish at home and for whom English was definitely a second language. Although Spanish is my neighbor’s first language, she also speaks English (perfect grammar, no accent). She told me that she was prohibited from using Spanish at all with the children, even if it was for the purpose of helping them learn English. She was required to speak to them only in English, whether or not they understood. I would have thought that she would have been the perfect resource to help these kids become fluent in English.

Does anyone know if this is still the policy and what the reason is for such a policy?

[njtosd]

On the flip side of this issue – does anyone know what the rule currently is about teachers using Spanish in the San Diego public schools? My former neighbor was a kindergarten/1st grade teacher who had a large number of students who spoke Spanish at home and for whom English was definitely a second language. Although Spanish is my neighbor’s first language, she also speaks English (perfect grammar, no accent). She told me that she was prohibited from using Spanish at all with the children, even if it was for the purpose of helping them learn English. She was required to speak to them only in English, whether or not they understood. I would have thought that she would have been the perfect resource to help these kids become fluent in English.

Does anyone know if this is still the policy and what the reason is for such a policy?

[njtosd]

On the flip side of this issue – does anyone know what the rule currently is about teachers using Spanish in the San Diego public schools? My former neighbor was a kindergarten/1st grade teacher who had a large number of students who spoke Spanish at home and for whom English was definitely a second language. Although Spanish is my neighbor’s first language, she also speaks English (perfect grammar, no accent). She told me that she was prohibited from using Spanish at all with the children, even if it was for the purpose of helping them learn English. She was required to speak to them only in English, whether or not they understood. I would have thought that she would have been the perfect resource to help these kids become fluent in English.

Does anyone know if this is still the policy and what the reason is for such a policy?

[njtosd]

On the flip side of this issue – does anyone know what the rule currently is about teachers using Spanish in the San Diego public schools? My former neighbor was a kindergarten/1st grade teacher who had a large number of students who spoke Spanish at home and for whom English was definitely a second language. Although Spanish is my neighbor’s first language, she also speaks English (perfect grammar, no accent). She told me that she was prohibited from using Spanish at all with the children, even if it was for the purpose of helping them learn English. She was required to speak to them only in English, whether or not they understood. I would have thought that she would have been the perfect resource to help these kids become fluent in English.

Does anyone know if this is still the policy and what the reason is for such a policy?

[njtosd]

On the flip side of this issue – does anyone know what the rule currently is about teachers using Spanish in the San Diego public schools? My former neighbor was a kindergarten/1st grade teacher who had a large number of students who spoke Spanish at home and for whom English was definitely a second language. Although Spanish is my neighbor’s first language, she also speaks English (perfect grammar, no accent). She told me that she was prohibited from using Spanish at all with the children, even if it was for the purpose of helping them learn English. She was required to speak to them only in English, whether or not they understood. I would have thought that she would have been the perfect resource to help these kids become fluent in English.

Does anyone know if this is still the policy and what the reason is for such a policy?

[njtosd]

[quote=jficquette]Costs about $25-30K for a Law Firm to do the patent search. Not cheap.

Maybe you could find a lawyer to do it cheaper if you cut them in on the deal. Not sure if that is ethical though.

John[/quote]

I think you’re talking about having a firm issue a clearance opinion (which is very expensive). Simply doing a search should not cost anything near that much (I’ll check with my husband – he is an in house IP attorney who deals with a variety of firms). On the other hand, if that is what people are getting paid for searches these days, I’m definitely going back to work. :).

There are some issues with accepting corporate stock in lieu of payment (see this ABA article: http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200605/article01.html) but I don’t know anything about accepting an interest in the application itself. I’d steer away from it, though.

[njtosd]

[quote=jficquette]Costs about $25-30K for a Law Firm to do the patent search. Not cheap.

Maybe you could find a lawyer to do it cheaper if you cut them in on the deal. Not sure if that is ethical though.

John[/quote]

I think you’re talking about having a firm issue a clearance opinion (which is very expensive). Simply doing a search should not cost anything near that much (I’ll check with my husband – he is an in house IP attorney who deals with a variety of firms). On the other hand, if that is what people are getting paid for searches these days, I’m definitely going back to work. :).

There are some issues with accepting corporate stock in lieu of payment (see this ABA article: http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200605/article01.html) but I don’t know anything about accepting an interest in the application itself. I’d steer away from it, though.

[njtosd]

[quote=jficquette]Costs about $25-30K for a Law Firm to do the patent search. Not cheap.

Maybe you could find a lawyer to do it cheaper if you cut them in on the deal. Not sure if that is ethical though.

John[/quote]

I think you’re talking about having a firm issue a clearance opinion (which is very expensive). Simply doing a search should not cost anything near that much (I’ll check with my husband – he is an in house IP attorney who deals with a variety of firms). On the other hand, if that is what people are getting paid for searches these days, I’m definitely going back to work. :).

There are some issues with accepting corporate stock in lieu of payment (see this ABA article: http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200605/article01.html) but I don’t know anything about accepting an interest in the application itself. I’d steer away from it, though.

[njtosd]

[quote=jficquette]Costs about $25-30K for a Law Firm to do the patent search. Not cheap.

Maybe you could find a lawyer to do it cheaper if you cut them in on the deal. Not sure if that is ethical though.

John[/quote]

I think you’re talking about having a firm issue a clearance opinion (which is very expensive). Simply doing a search should not cost anything near that much (I’ll check with my husband – he is an in house IP attorney who deals with a variety of firms). On the other hand, if that is what people are getting paid for searches these days, I’m definitely going back to work. :).

There are some issues with accepting corporate stock in lieu of payment (see this ABA article: http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200605/article01.html) but I don’t know anything about accepting an interest in the application itself. I’d steer away from it, though.

[njtosd]

[quote=jficquette]Costs about $25-30K for a Law Firm to do the patent search. Not cheap.

Maybe you could find a lawyer to do it cheaper if you cut them in on the deal. Not sure if that is ethical though.

John[/quote]

I think you’re talking about having a firm issue a clearance opinion (which is very expensive). Simply doing a search should not cost anything near that much (I’ll check with my husband – he is an in house IP attorney who deals with a variety of firms). On the other hand, if that is what people are getting paid for searches these days, I’m definitely going back to work. :).

There are some issues with accepting corporate stock in lieu of payment (see this ABA article: http://www.abanet.org/media/youraba/200605/article01.html) but I don’t know anything about accepting an interest in the application itself. I’d steer away from it, though.

[njtosd]

[quote=KIBU]You can read that NOLO book and try to do it yourself with the provisional application or more, but I find that it is a big waste of valuable time.

I think the most important question is to determine how marketable your idea really is and if you still find that it is very promising then proceed with the patent agent or attorney’s help.[/quote]

Speaking of marketability, another thing to take into account is the often overlooked value of a good federal trademark registration. Regardless of whether you seek and/or obtain a patent, a trademark can be a really valuable asset (think of the value of the COKE trademark). A utility patent lasts for 20 years from the date of filing the non-provisional application, but trademark registrations can remain in force FOREVER, if you maintain them properly. And trademark applications are very easy for the average person to file (although I would always recommend that you talk to an IP lawyer about it first – they can help you out in a bunch of ways, including doing a search to see if the mark you’re considering is already owned/used by someone else). Go to http://www.uspto.gov and look under the Trademarks heading if you want to look into this possibility. You can file online; the filing fee payable to the Trademark Office is about $300/class of goods (all goods and services fall into one of 45 International Classes, see http://www.oppedahl.com/trademarks/tmclasses.htm )

Also, if your invention involves computer code, you can also consider whether it might be a good idea to file an application for copyright registration (which can be done whether or not you file a patent application). I would definitely recommend talking to an IP lawyer about that, as the rules are somewhat complex, but the basic term of the copyright is the lifetime of the author plus 70 years (or 95-120 years for works of corporate authorship). FYI see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_copyright. And the fee to file a copyright application is about $35.

Finally, there are lots of programs out there that prepare people to take the Patent Bar (a lawyer who has passed this test is a patent attorney, others who pass become patent agents). If you have a technical background and an interest in learning how it’s done so that you don’t have to pay someone else to draft your applications, taking one of these courses might be worth it. There is no reason to actually sit for the exam unless you want to file and prosecute patent applications on someone else’s behalf. Any inventor can file/prosecute applications on their own inventions. FYI – All those who successfully pass the patent bar are given a registration number – if you want to confirm that someone is a registered attorney/agent you can look them up on the USPTO website.

Hope this helps.

[njtosd]

[quote=KIBU]You can read that NOLO book and try to do it yourself with the provisional application or more, but I find that it is a big waste of valuable time.

I think the most important question is to determine how marketable your idea really is and if you still find that it is very promising then proceed with the patent agent or attorney’s help.[/quote]

Speaking of marketability, another thing to take into account is the often overlooked value of a good federal trademark registration. Regardless of whether you seek and/or obtain a patent, a trademark can be a really valuable asset (think of the value of the COKE trademark). A utility patent lasts for 20 years from the date of filing the non-provisional application, but trademark registrations can remain in force FOREVER, if you maintain them properly. And trademark applications are very easy for the average person to file (although I would always recommend that you talk to an IP lawyer about it first – they can help you out in a bunch of ways, including doing a search to see if the mark you’re considering is already owned/used by someone else). Go to http://www.uspto.gov and look under the Trademarks heading if you want to look into this possibility. You can file online; the filing fee payable to the Trademark Office is about $300/class of goods (all goods and services fall into one of 45 International Classes, see http://www.oppedahl.com/trademarks/tmclasses.htm )

Also, if your invention involves computer code, you can also consider whether it might be a good idea to file an application for copyright registration (which can be done whether or not you file a patent application). I would definitely recommend talking to an IP lawyer about that, as the rules are somewhat complex, but the basic term of the copyright is the lifetime of the author plus 70 years (or 95-120 years for works of corporate authorship). FYI see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_copyright. And the fee to file a copyright application is about $35.

Finally, there are lots of programs out there that prepare people to take the Patent Bar (a lawyer who has passed this test is a patent attorney, others who pass become patent agents). If you have a technical background and an interest in learning how it’s done so that you don’t have to pay someone else to draft your applications, taking one of these courses might be worth it. There is no reason to actually sit for the exam unless you want to file and prosecute patent applications on someone else’s behalf. Any inventor can file/prosecute applications on their own inventions. FYI – All those who successfully pass the patent bar are given a registration number – if you want to confirm that someone is a registered attorney/agent you can look them up on the USPTO website.

Hope this helps.

[njtosd]

[quote=KIBU]You can read that NOLO book and try to do it yourself with the provisional application or more, but I find that it is a big waste of valuable time.

I think the most important question is to determine how marketable your idea really is and if you still find that it is very promising then proceed with the patent agent or attorney’s help.[/quote]

Speaking of marketability, another thing to take into account is the often overlooked value of a good federal trademark registration. Regardless of whether you seek and/or obtain a patent, a trademark can be a really valuable asset (think of the value of the COKE trademark). A utility patent lasts for 20 years from the date of filing the non-provisional application, but trademark registrations can remain in force FOREVER, if you maintain them properly. And trademark applications are very easy for the average person to file (although I would always recommend that you talk to an IP lawyer about it first – they can help you out in a bunch of ways, including doing a search to see if the mark you’re considering is already owned/used by someone else). Go to http://www.uspto.gov and look under the Trademarks heading if you want to look into this possibility. You can file online; the filing fee payable to the Trademark Office is about $300/class of goods (all goods and services fall into one of 45 International Classes, see http://www.oppedahl.com/trademarks/tmclasses.htm )

Also, if your invention involves computer code, you can also consider whether it might be a good idea to file an application for copyright registration (which can be done whether or not you file a patent application). I would definitely recommend talking to an IP lawyer about that, as the rules are somewhat complex, but the basic term of the copyright is the lifetime of the author plus 70 years (or 95-120 years for works of corporate authorship). FYI see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_copyright. And the fee to file a copyright application is about $35.

Finally, there are lots of programs out there that prepare people to take the Patent Bar (a lawyer who has passed this test is a patent attorney, others who pass become patent agents). If you have a technical background and an interest in learning how it’s done so that you don’t have to pay someone else to draft your applications, taking one of these courses might be worth it. There is no reason to actually sit for the exam unless you want to file and prosecute patent applications on someone else’s behalf. Any inventor can file/prosecute applications on their own inventions. FYI – All those who successfully pass the patent bar are given a registration number – if you want to confirm that someone is a registered attorney/agent you can look them up on the USPTO website.

Hope this helps.

[Author]

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