intellectual-property, product, idea, patentI am designing a sort of surveillance system, and I have a few questions about patents. I will explain my case with another much simpler but similar example:
I have an idea: a smart mirror that takes pictures of you exactly as you see yourself in it, from your eyes- perspective. This mirror must have a touchscreen, a camera, an operative sistem, etc.
Smart mirrors are probably already patented, but they are home automation devices, or they act like smartphones. In order to make my product work, I’d have to add a camera, install my app, modify the operative system, among others. However, I can’t do these modifications by myself. Instead, I will have to order them from a provider/factory, to either modify a smart mirror they already have, or to build a product from scratch.
I want to patent my idea or design - that is, a smart mirror capable of taking pictures of you exactly as you see yourself in it.
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
First, this question would go well on Ask patents. Anyways:
What do I need to patent, to ensure that the providers (or anyone) do not simply make my mirror for themselves and commercialize it?
The mirrors. Patents are simple minded, they protect exactly what the claims claim. So any variation of your mirrors literally covered by the claims will be protected by them.
I’m sure others have patented smart mirrors, but they have not been used for this purpose. In order to use them for this purpose, there must be done some modifications to them. Also, I’ll give my product more uses, i.e. I’ll colaborate with (public) administration and companies, and this is what makes my idea attractive. How can I (can I?) use another company’s products and modify them in order to run my design? Must I acquire the intellectual property rights if I only hire a company to adapt their mirror’s specifications to mine?
It depends. If you use a patented invention for your product then you can be sued. So in case you don’t want that possibility, you need a license for the patent (or other right protecting any part of your product). You can either get that yourself or one of your suppliers can get one covering you too.
For example, if you buy screws from supplier one and a motor from supplier 2 maybe company A holds patents on exactly those screws and exactly those motors. Maybe supplier 1 has a license stating he may sell those screws and every use of the screws afterwards is covered by that license. That means, as long as you buy from a licensed supplier, you are good. But maybe supplier 2 doesn’t have a license for those motors. Then you can get sued for using those in your product.
And there lies your answer - it depends from who you buy and if they are allowed to sell it to you without you needing a license. Many companies just don’t look at this issue because in most cases, the patent holder will rather sue the supplier who is selling many more products than you are using than you, because there is more money there. But if that supplier only produces for you using your specifications, they’ll probably not have the license and you’d get sued (if anyone).
If I decide to order a provider to build my fully customized mirrors from scratch, could there be conflicts with other patents, although my product’s purpose is to take special pictures, instead of being just a home automation device?
Yes. The purpose can be an essential part of the patent, but it is not always. Even if you get a patent for your invention, there might be other patents covering the bases or parts of your product. It is entirely possible to get a patent for a product with traits A + B + C when there already is a patent for traits A + B if C adds something novel and inventive. That is because patents are a trade off between disclosing an invention to enable others to improve it and getting protection for that invention so others don’t copy it, therefore allowing technological advances.
Do you know a better strategy (where, how…) to build this kind of device?
Well, no, that’s just how it is. Consult a patent attorney, they’ll help you with protecting your invention and researching (or the question if to do research) other relevant patents. If you don’t know about those patents, you won’t be willfully infringing them (but maybe negligent), but if you know about them you can use that knowledge.
The best (probalby) strategy is to patent your product and hope nobody cares ;-). And if they do send you a latter, act fast, consult an attorney and either find a way out of it or pay the license. Another strategy is to attack every (highly) relevant patent (or application) you find. That costs a lot of money though.
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