Introducing Pets and Patents

by Steve Reiss of www.reisspatents.com

The patent system is not only for the protection of huge corporations and their high-tech/cutting edge technologies.

As a dog lover and patent attorney, from time to time in this blog I will highlight patents associated with pets and small inventors.

For example, in 2003, Ms. Lori Huber of Seattle, Washington received US Design Patent No. 475163 on a dog collar. Ms. Huber would go on to get three design patents on dog collar designs.

 If you have any questions about whether any pet-related (or any other) ideas you may have are patentable, feel free to reach out to me at www.reisspatents.com.

Brits Needed to Open Their Wallets Wider?

by Steve Reiss of www.reisspatents.com

That before any application for a patent shall be considered by the commissioner as aforesaid, the applicant shall pay ..., if he be a citizen of the United States, or an alien...  the sum of thirty dollars; if a subject of the King of Great Britain, the sum of five hundred dollars; and all other persons the sum of three hundred dollars...

Patent Act of 1836

I wonder if Congress, when enacting the Patent Act of 1836 was trying to use the high patent application fees for British subjects to fund the rebuilding of the White House after the British army burned it down during the War of 1812.

Notes: 

$30 in 1836 has the approximate value of about $800 in 2014 (purchasing power comparison).
$500 in 1836 has the approximate value of $13,000 in 2014 (purchasing power comparison).
Historical dollar valuation can vary widely. Valuations used here come from Measuring Worth.

Current large entity filing fee is $USD1600.

Fun With Funding

by Steve Reiss of www.reisspatents.com

And the moneys received into the Treasury under this act shall constitute a fund for the payment of 
salaries of the officers and clerks herein provided for, and all other expenses of the Patent Office, and to be called the patent fund...

Patent Act of 1836