More Info for Individuals

As an inventor, you have an incredibly special gift that few have. You are able to recognize ways to make the world a better place, and in doing so, you are one of a select few that we all benefit from. As the United States Patent Office once observed: "America's thinkers and creators are at the heart of technological-based economic growth - they are the engine that runs the American economic machine."

At Quill & Disc, our homes and office incorporate products that our clients have developed, many of which we use on a daily basis. We are extremely grateful for having the opportunity to be exposed to these, and to have had the opportunity to learn from and to share the lessons and insight we have gained.

Unfortunately, this gift of creativity and inventiveness can also be a curse. The ability to recognize opportunities for improvement may lead to a never-ending search for perfection. This can ruin focus and present a challenge to the inventor's ability to convert any of the many ideas into products and profits.

One very cost- and time-effective way to prioritize among a plurality of inventions is to conduct a very preliminary search of the patent files. The goal is to pre-screen ideas, so that if, in a quick search of the patent files, there are many good alternatives, or even the same thing already there, the inventor may then move this concept lower in the priority list, or may put the idea on hold pending for future additional invention.

While we can conduct this pre-screening for you, many clients prefer to do so themselves through a broad web search, and by directly accessing the US Patent Office web site. There are a number of other excellent private patent search resources that individuals may use, but we advise that you use these other sites with caution, such as by carefully selecting search terms that do not reveal the essence of the invention. As of this writing, the only web site we are aware of that does not keep track of individual searches is the US Patent Office.