Patenting a Device That Uses a Particle Product

Is there any regulation when it comes to patenting circuitry or a device that utilizes one of Particle’s products (i.e. the Photon or Boron or one of the related boards)? I built a working prototype of my device concept and I want to try and see if anyone is willing to buy or fund my idea, but I also don’t want the idea to be stolen by someone else.

Also, if you have any experience in patenting circuitry or code, please let me know how your experience went, and how I might start patenting something of this nature. :blush: Thank you!

You need to do a bit of reading about patents/talk to patent lawyers and decide whether the cost is worth it. I suspect you would be better off keeping it a secret / confidential. If you patent something then you have to describe the method or process or feature of the design. And you can’t patent software code as such. To have someone consider buying the design rights to your device concept you surely do not have to spill the beans on the secret sauce recipe?

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@BrainBomber100, you are going down a difficult path… Typically there is “nothing new under the sun”…

Thats not really true, though its been said for decades. Make sure you do a thorough search through all available patent search resources, the USPTO and Google both have good search engines for it. If you do file, and there is something that conflicts with yours, you wasted a lot of time and money, they don’t issue refunds.

@Mjones, I suppose what I was alluding to was your comment:

Agree 100% with your advice - search, search, search first....

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All of your advice makes total sense, but the only problem is that I’m currently a senior in high school… I don’t really have the funds to hire a lawyer just yet. I’m hoping that being able to market my device will help pay off any of my college fees, and maybe ensure that I have a job in the future. That last thing I would ever want to is to depend on my family to support me through college after they done everything for me so far.

Anyways, is it necessary to find a patent lawyer? And should I search the databases before contacting a lawyer, or will they help me with that task? This is all new to me and quite honestly kinda scary.

Thank you all for your help by the way!

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You don’t have to hire an attorney. In fact your patent application will be less expensive without one. Do a thorough search of all existing patents yourself, the USPTO will also conduct a search when you apply. Expect to get denied the first time, this doesn’t mean your idea isn’t patentable, only that they need more information, but you only have three tries on it so be as thorough as possible.

When I start to get that feeling I go to https://www.kickstarter.com/ and take a look at the new projects. Sometimes the saying is right, there is nothing new per se, but new ways or approaches of something already there are always picking up somewhere.
Cheers!

I have no idea about patents so I will only try to encourage you: be brave!!!