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[Off-Grid Inventor]

I have designed and prototyped the most efficient and most functional “unit” at a reasonable cost . I have not disclosed.  There is a unfulfilled need for it, almost a vacuum.
I have use up my resources to get to this point but I am not ready to take on a partner.  I may after I have securing my intellectual property.
I want to do a crowd funding campaign for funding.
IndiGoGo (crowd funding site) is hurting for good campaigns.  One fellow collected about $1500 to repair his tooth. It is amazing what people will donate to.  There is a vacuum there.  Maybe someone here can take advantage of that! good luck!

1- Can I use a video showing my invention in operation but not show the items to be claims,  in order to launch an “IndiGoGo Campaign” .  I need to fund the next prototypes and the patent expense?  I also have a few thousand You Tube subscribers, and some have said “where can I donate”?!
2- Can I describe what my invention will do here?  I am not worried about someone understanding the problem to be solved?  A lot of people already know about the problem to be solved.
3- Do you have to meet face to face with a PA (Patent Attorney) or will long distance work? I can ship a unit to the PA if necessary.
4- What should I ask for and what should I expect from a PA. Will a PA say to a potential client “you should not file for a patent”?
5- Can I disclose or “put to use” my unit, and not file in US for a few months,  and then still get international patents? The units will be purchased by nonprofits for use in developing areas  like Africa, Asia and South America.
6- Is EU covered under one patent? Asia? Africa?
 
If I have ask a too many questions, the most important ones are #1 and #5,
and answering # 3 may be beneficial to some one here.
LCH

[khazzah]

If I have ask a too many questions, the most important ones are #1 and #5, and answering # 3 may be beneficial to some one here.

I'll answer the not important ones because they're easy :-)

3- Do you have to meet face to face with a PA (Patent Attorney) or will long distance work? I can ship a unit to the PA if necessary.

Face to face is not required. Every patent attorney I know works with inventors who are not local, using email, fax, phone. And yes, if necessary, FedEx or UPS for stuff that can't be digitized.

6- Is EU covered under one patent? Asia? Africa?

There is a single European patent application which, if a patent is granted, will mature into separate patents for individual European countries. So you pay for one *application* to be examined, then later (if successful) for multiple *patents* in terms of issue fees,
translation costs, etc.

Africa isn't so unified. There are several regional patent systems in Africa, such as OAPI and ARIPO. That's everything I know about patents in Africa.

I'm not aware of any regional patent system for Asia.

[George White]

LCH

They should put your question about a video of the invention on a crowd sourcing site that does not disclose the claimed feature on the patent bar exam!

 If it is looked at as a "publication" I do not think it would start any U.S. clock running since it is not an enabling disclosure. That is just the video itself. If posted on a crowd-based funding site it would likely be taken as an offer to sell(starts the US clock)  if the donors are promised they will eventually get a unit. If they get a T-shirt and personal thanks on you blog, you are probably ok. Now, is it a "public use" in the United States? What if the demonstration was video taped in Canada? What if the video was a simulation of the effect your invention achieves? Great patent bar questions. 

If you were only interested in US protection the good news is that, if any of your activities is deemed to "start the clock", it is a one year clock to the deadline to file in the US under the patent laws we now have.

The rest of the world is different. Almost all other countries require absolute novelty. Once it is exposed anywhere it is essentially too late. The good news internationally is that they do not consider novelty breaking: an offer for sale, some secret sales, and are generally ok with public use that does not disclose the secret sauce.

______

Hard to say if you should expose the benefit of your invention here. Overall I think there more people are blocked in their progress by being too worried to get others involved than there are people whose ideas are actually stolen.

Please do not that this is legal advice.

--George