Greetings all,
First off, this is my first post to/. so please bear with me. Also, IANAL; your mileage may vary!
When I researched some ideas I had at a patent depository library, I was depressingly amazed by how many clever ideas I had, that others had already had (sometimes long before), and this was primarily US prior art. There are lots of clever, industrious folks in other countries, too.
For the past ~30 years, the US patent office has been underfunded, and in consequence, the USPTO often doesn't do a good job of searching for prior art (they are under pressure to process a patent in something like 8 hours, AFAIK.) In consequence, the USPTO often grants patents for ideas that aren't novel at all. So, publication would not guarantee that a troll could not read your publication, and then try to patent it (as a previous commenter suggested.)
I admire your desire to put your ideas out there, and I humbly suggest the following:
Get ahold of the book _Patent it Yourself_ by David Pressman, published by Nolo press:
http://www.nolo.com/product.cfm/objectID/139AEDE9-69A0-4810-A7A87D2AD5422664/310/
Since one of your goals is to prevent others from patenting, then the "publication" that would really count is to convey your ideas to the patent office (in whatever country/ies) you want to prevent patenting. As a previous poster points out, even if your patent application is unsuccessful, it will be in those patent offices' databases, with an established date. I haven't followed the recent patent law changes, but I suspect that (in the US, at least) a provisional patent application might serve your purposes, and would be easier/cheaper.
HTH,
Larry
Slashdot Mirror
Greetings all, First off, this is my first post to /. so please bear with me. Also, IANAL; your mileage may vary!
When I researched some ideas I had at a patent depository library, I was depressingly amazed by how many clever ideas I had, that others had already had (sometimes long before), and this was primarily US prior art. There are lots of clever, industrious folks in other countries, too.
For the past ~30 years, the US patent office has been underfunded, and in consequence, the USPTO often doesn't do a good job of searching for prior art (they are under pressure to process a patent in something like 8 hours, AFAIK.) In consequence, the USPTO often grants patents for ideas that aren't novel at all. So, publication would not guarantee that a troll could not read your publication, and then try to patent it (as a previous commenter suggested.)
I admire your desire to put your ideas out there, and I humbly suggest the following:
Get ahold of the book _Patent it Yourself_ by David Pressman, published by Nolo press:
http://www.nolo.com/product.cfm/objectID/139AEDE9-69A0-4810-A7A87D2AD5422664/310/
Since one of your goals is to prevent others from patenting, then the "publication" that would really count is to convey your ideas to the patent office (in whatever country/ies) you want to prevent patenting. As a previous poster points out, even if your patent application is unsuccessful, it will be in those patent offices' databases, with an established date. I haven't followed the recent patent law changes, but I suspect that (in the US, at least) a provisional patent application might serve your purposes, and would be easier/cheaper.
HTH,
Larry