Any Patent Lawyers here?

I have come up with a hat related invention (an improvement on an existing one to be more precise) and I thought it would make sense to check here first and see if any of our members were in the field.

Finding someone who is also enthusiastic about hats would be a great match to work with on this idea.

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ruvort said:

I have come up with a hat related invention (an improvement on an existing one to be more precise) and I thought it would make sense to check here first and see if any of our members were in the field.

Finding someone who is also enthusiastic about hats would be a great match to work with on this idea.

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I'm not a patent attorney, but I teach engineering design and work with our university Technology Transfer people on Intellectual Property issues.
I suggest that you should do your own patent search before consulting a patent attorney. They are EXPENSIVE and so is the overall patent process.
You can get on the United States Patent Office website and do a key -word search on whatever you have invented. If the device you have improved is patented you can do a patent-number search and find out all about it, also.
It's free and easy - I have my undergrad engineers do it every year in design class.

One suggestion that I give my students is to VERY CAREFULLY read a patent about an idea that they have and then see if they can do what the patent claims, but by some other means. In other words, flip it around and come up with a new/better idea.

Whatever you do, don't tell anyone your idea until you have an application filed.
(Sounds like you're on to this). Worth doing an initial search, but do ultimately talk to a lawyer specialist in the area, who knows how to put an application together. THey'll be best place to advise on what is and is not viable, bearing in mind patents aren't cheap. (The woman who invented the fidget spinner couldn't get anyone to manufacture it for her, and eventually she had to give up the patent because of the cost of upkeep. If she'd only been able to hang on another decade or so, she'd have billions now!).

Good luck with the project.