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Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

patentsexpiringtoday.com

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Re: Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

#11

Post by derf_ »

mxfh wrote: post #6
impostervt wrote: post #3

I was randomly clicking and found this one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5588162 The Legal events at the bottom says it expired in 2001. Seems strange?

Say it's expired early for not paying fees. Still hard to know what the actual legal state is. The site lists them by filing grant date plus 20 years, which is on the safer option when compared to premature expirations which might be fought in court.

It's really hard to know when a patent will expire or has expired. Figuring out the relevant priority date is complicated, especially when foreign applications are involved. We're still in the region where you have to worry about the June 8, 1995 rules change. Patents whose prosecution took an unusually long amount of time can still be granted a term extension. Re-issued patents can complicate things even more. I've known patent attorneys who will consult with another lawyer more well-versed in the intricacies involved rather than trust their own ability to figure it all out.

I've seen the legal status listed on http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair be literally years out of date, and I don't know of any way to ask the US PTO if a given patent is expired. I was hoping this site had figured out something I didn't know.

When it matters, make sure to consult your lawyer.

Re: Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

#12

Post by taejo »

niko001 wrote: post #5
impostervt wrote: post #3

I was randomly clicking and found this one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5588162 The Legal events at the bottom says it expired in 2001. Seems strange?

Thanks for the feedback :)! The patent in question was granted on 1996-12-31, which means it should have expired on 2016-12-31. The status on Google Patents says "Expired - Fee Related" so I'm guessing they didn't pay a required fee somewhere down the line?

Unlike copyrights, patents don't have an invariable lifetime: they have to be renewed, usually for an increasing fee. In the US, the schedule of maintenance fees is:

    (A) Three years and 6 months after grant, $980.
    (B) Seven years and 6 months after grant, $2,480.
    (C) Eleven years and 6 months after grant, $4,110.
This allows patents that are not being profitably exploited to lapse early.

Re: Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

#13

Post by joe_fro »

niko001 wrote: post #2

The majority [1] of patents are never commercially exploited or licensed - I wanted a way to browse recently expired patents to find hidden gems and get inspired by existing inventions. The site uses the recently released USPTO-API [2] to fetch newly expired patents each day. NB: The reason the most recent patents displayed are from 12/31 is because no new patents were granted during the first few days of January 199…

Great work with this, I can see it providing me hours of entertainment. Obligatory what's the stack?

Re: Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

#14

Post by niko001 »

joe_fro wrote: post #13
niko001 wrote: post #2

The majority [1] of patents are never commercially exploited or licensed - I wanted a way to browse recently expired patents to find hidden gems and get inspired by existing inventions. The site uses the recently released USPTO-API [2] to fetch newly expired patents each day. NB: The reason the most recent patents displayed are from 12/31 is because no new patents were granted during the first few days of January 199…

Great work with this, I can see it providing me hours of entertainment. Obligatory what's the stack?

Thanks, I'm glad you like it :)

I've kept it really simple - the patentsview.org API spits out JSON, which I'm feeding into the (awesome!) DataTables jQuery-plugin. The site is hosted on GitHub Pages. I'm planning a HN-style voting system so that interesting patents trickle to the top.

Re: Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

#17

Post by jaclaz »

swalsh wrote: post #4

Fellow hackers, a word of advice... always start with the marketing before building a product. I too think a power actuated toilet seat sounds like a fantastic foundation for a business, but it's what the market things... not what your gut thinks.

Actually something like that is on sale (at least here in Italy).

A video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPeDpvJIVyo

Re: Show HN: Explore ideas whose patent protection expires today

#19

Post by rhino369 »

niko001 wrote: post #5
impostervt wrote: post #3

I was randomly clicking and found this one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5588162 The Legal events at the bottom says it expired in 2001. Seems strange?

Thanks for the feedback :)! The patent in question was granted on 1996-12-31, which means it should have expired on 2016-12-31. The status on Google Patents says "Expired - Fee Related" so I'm guessing they didn't pay a required fee somewhere down the line?

You aren't calculating patent terms correctly. For patents filed before June 8, 1995, the patent is valid for the longer of 20 years from filing or 17 years from granting.

Patents filed after June 8, 1995, it's 20 years from filing dating.

All of this is shortened if the patent claims priority to an earlier patent.

And it's possible to get an extension under § 156 of the Patent Act.

The USPTO has a calculator but you have to know quite a bit about patents to effectively use it. https://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/patent-ter...

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