Many, many, hard-earned dollars are annually expended by inexperienced inventors in the building of ornate, nickel-plated models that from a practical, business stand-point are commercially impossible, and never will amount to anything. While they are splendid in "theory," and pretty to look at, and talk about, yet in "practice" and real utility they are of no value. Don't go to the expense of a model until you know your device is patentable, mechanically practicable, commercially salable, and in demand in the markets of the world, and in a class in which there is no killing competition.
Caveats have proven to be, oftentimes, worse than worthless. The Government fee is $10; the attorney fee from $10 to $25. When you file your application you are notified by the U.S. Patent Office of an interference suit, if someone else happens to file an application along similar lines. It is then "up to you" to show that "you thought of it first," usually a very expensive and disappointing task. Don't apply for a caveat, is the writer's advice.
Confidence is the bed-rock foundation of all business today, so don't be afraid of anyone trying to steal your idea. A simple and inexpensive means to follow is to have a rough pencil sketch and description of your idea, dated and signed by yourself and two competent witnesses. Then, if the question of priority of invention is raised, you have a strong document to substantiate your claims to priority.
If your idea will pass muster on the Six Cardinal Tests, (1) as regards patentability; (2) as regards mechanical practicability; (3) as regards its possession of superior merit and low cost of production; (4) as regards a large and constant public demand for it; (5) as regards to its being better, cheaper and more salable than similar devices already on the market; (6) as regards to the competition it will encounter,—then, and only then, are you justified in spending time and money in applying for a patent, and having proper working model built, etc. Don't rely on your own judgment in such matters,—it is of necessity greatly prejudiced, and rightly so. You, as an inventor, are in the same relative position as the mother of a new baby. Both of you undoubtedly feel that your offspring possesses all the graces, and has no bad points whatsoever. But your invention does not have as good a show, at least no better, than the new baby has of developing into a "world-beater" or prodigy. In both instances it will require careful development, much study, and the hardest kind of work to make a moderate success of the new infant. Another point to remember is that the one who is responsible for its successful development is entitled to more credit and greater rewards than the father of the idea or infant.
A Patent Attorney, must, of very necessity, be disposed to find practically everything submitted to him "to be patentable." Some firms go so far as to mail their guarantees that ideas are patentable, but your idea has five other points in which it may "fall down." Mere patentability is only one-sixth of the necessary ground you must cover. Your friends may think you are a genius, a wonder, and you may be, but don't let their adulation turn your head to the extent of your forgetting the six tests necessary to your idea's success. If you are sick, you go to the best physician you can find; if your horse is sick, you send for a veterinarian; if you are required to go to Court, you retain a good lawyer to represent your side,—you don't try to cure yourself, or your horse, or defend yourself. You go to a specialist in these lines. Follow the same sane method in your patent matters. The "no-cure-no-pay" doctor is not highly regarded, neither are patent firms that do a "contingent fee" business on the "no patent-no pay" basis. Cut rates are also to be shunned. Good service demands and can exact commensurate returns. Economy in these matters is a poor policy to pursue.
Analysis of the Six Cardinal Patent Tests.
"If I am building a mountain, and stop before the last bucketful of earth is placed on the summit, I have failed."—Confucius.
First: Would it be possible to cover my idea or invention by a good, strong, basic patent?
First and foremost, the thing to do is to find out if your invention can be properly covered by a good, strong patent,—a basic patent, if possible, and if not basic, at least, one covering some novel elements which would prevent unscrupulous imitators and dealers from substituting "something just as good" for your invention. In this connection we might say that any bright attorney can find some way in which an alleged patent can be issued practically on anything, so very little dependence can be placed, as a rule, on "preliminary searches" that are furnished "free of cost." Expect to pay at least $5.00 for it, and ask for the references the search develops. We place the covering of an invention by strong letters patent first, as we consider it of the utmost importance that an invention, to be a commercial success, must grant its owner a virtual monopoly.
Second: Is my invention mechanically practicable?