Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Inventions

Whether you retain the rights to your invention if you submit it to a website depends on the agreement you enter into when you make the submission. If there is no agreement, and you freely submit your idea, there is a valid argument that you are reliquishing your rights. On the other hand, if you were induced to submit by language on the sight that says they will help you exploit your invention, then there is an argument that whatever rights they have obtained, it was through fraud.

The best bet is to have an attorney provide you with the best possible shield of protection, knowing that at some point you probably have to disclose your invention to others. If patentable, file a patent. If it is a brand name for a product, file a trademark application. If it is software, copyright it. Nondisclosure agreements give some protection, but face it. If someone wants to misappropriate your invention, they will do it regardless of the protections you place around it. There are numerous infringements of worthless intellectual property that isn't worth fighting over.

If you'd like further assistance, feel free to contact me. I am primarily a corporate and intellectual property attorney in Northern California, as well as a licensed patent attorney.

Regards,

-Austin

Re: Inventions

There are many 'shady' companies advertising in this field. You get what you pay for, and that means that you should contact a reputable patent specialist attorney. They are not free, and few work on 'contingency', so you can expect to spend from a several hundred dollars for an initial review and quick 'prior art' search, to several thousand and up for the actual application. If interested in doing it right, I send people to talk to Mark Plager at 714-374-9160.