patent cost??

[Graham Seaman <graham@collector.hscs.wmin.ac.uk>]

Erik wrote:
> 
> >What do you think? I believe you've patented your own design, oomecs?
> 
> Yes.  At a cost of about US $12,000.00, with only a pittance of it actually 
> going to the Patent Office.  (Do you guys write that as 12.000,00?)
>
How do you read that? Twelve THOUSAND dollars? I had no idea it was so
expensive...
 
> > Is the
> >license right to limit its applicability to the US only, on the grounds
> >that US patents aren't valid elsewhere [clause 2.2]? That in itself would 
> >seem to make it pretty pointless...
> 
> In the response you got from the person who wrote the license they mentioned 
> that the license is based on some current software they are dealing with.  I 
> think that anyone wanting to use this license would list all the countries in 
> which they had a patent on the relevant technology.  
> 
> Even if the patent only exists in the U.S., I wouldn't say it is pointless.  
> Unlike copyright, you can't "clean room" a patent and sell something you 
> invented yourself.  Even if you invented it without ever having heard of the 
> patented technology, you're too late.  A patent (in theory) gives you a 
> limited-term monopoly on a technology (in practice it just gives you the 
> right to sue).  That's why there is a time limit, and that's also why it is 
> SUPPOSED to be much harder to get a patent.  If you perceive the U.S. 
> marketplace to be wealthy enough to afford your product (and they actually 
> want it), then having the legal right to be the only manufacturer (or at 
> least to force other manufacturers to pay a fee) for 20 years or so can pay 
> back big.
How does that work? Say I took a patented-in-the-US-only design and get
it manufactured in the far east. Then presumably I can sell it anywhere in the
world except the US? And who gets sued if someone bulk-buys from me and then
tries to import them to the US? (sorry, showing my total ignorance here!)

Graham