Registering the idea is the first thing that should be done, not the second. Marketing is done AFTER the patent application is submitted.

Think you and I need to agree to disagree on this one ;)

I agree with you. Except in this case, certain large corporations lobbied heavily against one group-individual inventors. There is a strategy for filing patent applications of someone else's inventions. I call it stealing. Apple pays heftily when it does that, and it has, according to many court cases, done just that. By changing the rule to "first to file," this means even if you were not the inventor, you are assumed to be since you disclosed the invention first within the system. Imagine the little guy who invents the first intermittent windshield wiper. You do not have the financial backing to manufacture this extremely useful invention. But can you think of a major auto manufacturer seeing this as an edge in their market? Most large corporations refuse to sign non-disclosure agreements with inventors pitching their idea. As well, patent applications are published at 18 months, giving large companies an advantage over the individual inventor. They have whole teams of engineers designing all around an idea they wished they owned. Before this change passed, an inventor had remedy in the courts if he/she could prove they thought of the idea first. Now, they don't.

lol. for some reason I was fixated on govt and patents so I was trying to imagine an organization within that scope. I generally assume businesses are virtuous until the facts show otherwise. However, in the case of apple and The America Invents Act, my husband is an expert and we spent many many hours trying to expose the intentions of the lobbyists in that legislation. As well, we represent large and small clients. We are also aware of how straegies in filing have now changed. The word inventor has a meaning. That definition does not change just because the law changes its definition, but rights do.

Interesting article. I do want to remind everyone this is a company that has Al Gore on the board of directors and is rather cozy with Obama...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-575968...

A deal may have been cut here.

We have to remember that in this imperfect society just about everything is somewhat tainted. A seat on a copmany's board of directors is one person with one vote, just as each shareholder gets one vote.

Sorry, given that this is Gult's Gulch I thought it would be a known organization. TAS is The Atlas Society.

So they do. I still say you're being very rigid in your thought process here. It seems that you're painting an entire group of individuals (those who run large corporations) as moochers. I have worked in the legal profession for 40+ years, and know how deadly (and sometimes ridiculous) generalizations can be.The local Mom & Pop business is neither more nor less valuable than an Apple or Walmart corporation.

The Business Rights Center is the only place I can think of that is absolutely unbiased in its coverage of what's happening in the business world. Plus it is completely unbiased against ANY size business, large or small. As Objectivsts, I believe we need to judge a company by its ethics and by the quality of its products or services. Whether it's large or small shouldn't make the slightest difference. Even small companies can become "crony" capitalists. The site is probably the best source of what the ethics of ALL businesses should be, and of what the government is currently doing to control them.

dragon, can you please give more information? we do not understand "TAS"

them's fightin words babe. ready to go there. but you'll have to start.
1st to file. you're a fortune 500 and in the govts hand. you can and may file all day long-no monetary obstacles. however. INVENTOR has a definition. pesky that. let's change the definition of inventor to first to race to the patent office. bad blood. words have meaning.

Have read those tea leaves. And why shouldn't it be "first to file"? If I had a great product, I certainly wouldn't wait to file for a patent. Actually, the whole system of patents and copyrights needs to be rewritten.

Check out the Business Rights Center at TAS's site, it's a real eye opener. I'm amazed at how many people automatically assume "big" businesses are evil and "small" businesses are pristine.

Think you might be confusing Apple with crony capitalism. Don't forget Steve Jobs started in his garage. Check out the Business Rights Center on TAS's site, it's a real eye opener. Wasn't Hank Reardon forced to support "smaller" competitors by giving them Reardon Steel?

both Gates and Jobs, when asked, said separately to the question of "what scares you the most?"
"that guy inventing something in his garage."
both companies have worked diligently to suppress the guy in his garage.

yes, dragon, he did. then as he grew, he was not at all friendly to independent inventors. we deal with this daily as an IP firm. Apple was out there to lobby change the Constitution form first to invent to first to file. made into law 2011. read those tea leaves.

Not sure how Apple "manipulated" the market. I think you may be confusing Apple with crony capitalism. Don't forget Steve Jobs started in his garage. ;)

Apple is not blameless in using the govt to manipulate the market to their advantage. see American Invents Act which biased patent laws in favor of large corporations at the expense of startups and individual inventors.