I dabbled in patenting a couple of my inventions. Paid LegalZoom to do patent searches for me. Maybe I could have done it myself for cheaper, but did not want to bother. Anyway... they sent me two long 20+ page reports with similar inventions, many of which looked or were described ALMOST EXACTLY like mine. That stopped me in my tracks. I made two conclusions:
1) Many people and even companies patent things, but never bother to implement them, hoping someone comes along and pays for their patent and makes them rich.
2) More importantly, many patent filers submit and get their patents approved on nearly the same item that has already been patented. I didn't believe I could patent what I had after seeing those 20+ page reports with very similar inventions. But how the heck did the last few guys got their patents approved?!! I have no idea. But next time I have a patentable idea that promises nice profits I will be more aggressive with trying to patent it.
1) Many people and even companies patent things, but never bother to implement them, hoping someone comes along and pays for their patent and makes them rich.
2) More importantly, many patent filers submit and get their patents approved on nearly the same item that has already been patented. I didn't believe I could patent what I had after seeing those 20+ page reports with very similar inventions. But how the heck did the last few guys got their patents approved?!! I have no idea. But next time I have a patentable idea that promises nice profits I will be more aggressive with trying to patent it.