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Leathermans Patent?

Offline colubrid

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Leathermans Patent?
on: September 14, 2006, 08:03:31 AM
I noticed on Leathermans it says "Patent Pen or TM". What does this apply to? There are several other companies that followed with similar designs. Just wondering what the patent is?


us Offline David Bowen

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #1 on: September 14, 2006, 11:11:54 AM
Patent Pending means the tool or item in question has been sent to be registered with the US patent office but they have not recieved a patent number yet, as where TM or TradeMark just shows they own the rights to a design, which I am  not sure if they need a patent to put TM on something :P  Could be just to scare those chinese people away.

David

I noticed on Leathermans it says "Patent Pen or TM". What does this apply to? There are several other companies that followed with similar designs. Just wondering what the patent is?


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #2 on: September 14, 2006, 12:22:43 PM
It doesn't matter if you were the first to come up with a design- even something that's been around for a while can be patented by someone if no one has patented it already.  However, in Leatherman's case, it is likely a specific design innovation or configuration that is patented.  The trademark really only applies to names and logos and such.
Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


Offline colubrid

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #3 on: September 14, 2006, 03:39:48 PM
Patent Pending means the tool or item in question has been sent to be registered with the US patent office but they have not recieved a patent number yet

Geez, maybe I am really new to this but why is it taking so long? If LM came up with the idea why didn't they get the patent....

A "Patent" does mean nobody else can steal your design, right?



ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #4 on: September 14, 2006, 10:12:12 PM
Not necessarily.  A patented design can be stolen, as you see from various third world manufacturers all the time.  A patent in theory keeps your design from being copied or stolen, but more often than not just allows you to sue the people who did copy or steal it.  It's not so much a protection anymore as it's a way of proving who did it first... or at least who registered it!
A patent takes time to research because there are literally millions of patents out there, and yours has to be significantly different from any other active patent, or else you can't have it.  It takes lots of time to search through all of these things, especially since the patent office is government run.  Also, patents run out after a period of time- the maximum I think is 50 years.  After that, it's anyone's ball game, and if your patent application is similar to an existing one that will run out in a year or two, you might be able to get away with patent pending until the other one expires.
Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


Offline colubrid

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #5 on: September 15, 2006, 02:45:50 AM
Thanks Defender. That was very informative.


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #6 on: September 15, 2006, 03:03:49 AM
Once in a while I try to do something right....
Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


Offline joebw

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #7 on: September 15, 2006, 04:31:43 PM
Patent life in the US is 20 years (used to be 17).  The idea with marking "patent pending" is to warn people that one is being researched by the patent office.  While this seems intimidating, it really is intended to avoid conflict. 

There are several forms of MARKS - the most common ones are TM (trademark) and R with a circle around it(registered trademark).  These can be applied to a name, a design or anything which symbolizes a valuable asset.  For example, the name Baretta speaks to a firearm company - General Motors named a car "Baretta - the firearms company sued them on the basis that this caused confusion in the marketplace and won big bucks.  Spyderco has trademarked the birds eye shape of the one-handed opening in their line of Byrd knives and you'll see TM stamped next to that opening on the recent releases of the Byrds.

Defending a patent today in court is a very expensive proposition.  The last one that I was involved with for the company that I work for cost us about three million dollars and went akll the way to the Supreme Court.  The process is also pretty slow - we sued the US Government for patent infringement starting in the 1960's.  It took 17 years for us to win.

Hope this is of interest - Joe


Matinaz

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Re: Leathermans Patent?
Reply #8 on: December 26, 2019, 10:50:49 AM
Is a very useful matter


 

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