Anyone familiar with tdcommons.org ?

[Nikolas Ojala]

Alright, first I must say that I was not sure should I put this on the Offtopic Forum or right here. I chose this because my question is generally about inventions and defensive publications, and inventions are as General Tech as anything.

TDCommons is still quite new, but I just thought that someone here could have some personal experience and opinions about it.

I have done some inventions, but I also know that I will never patent them, because nowadays patenting is really for big business and those that are ready to pay again and again.

So, I had been searching for a publishing service suitable for defensive publications. Then I found TDCommons. But is it good? Should I publish my defensive publication(s) via TDCommons?

Your opinions are welcome.

Here are some links:

• Technical Disclosure Commons
• TDCommons: A Free Platform for Defensive Publications Lotnetwork
• Technical Disclosure Commons P2P Foundation Wiki

[Nefario]

I have several patents filed by companies I have worked for and I found this commentary:

https://hackernoon.com/tdcommons-an-tre ... 8c486475bf

It seems to me that if you think you have a world-changing idea or something you can't possibly implement, it's not a bad idea. Why not? Could give you grounds to stake out some new area of technology.

But if you're thinking of special car parts or another niche area where you only have 10's of customers it's probably better to keep your ideas a trade secret until you can produce them. There's usually not enough money involved to be worth a fight. And any invention CAN be copied for personal use and experimentation, just not sold commercially, which again plays into my niche market comment.

[ijames]

I have several patents filed by companies I have worked for and I found this commentary:

https://hackernoon.com/tdcommons-an-tre ... 8c486475bf

It seems to me that if you think you have a world-changing idea or something you can't possibly implement, it's not a bad idea. Why not? Could give you grounds to stake out some new area of technology.

But if you're thinking of special car parts or another niche area where you only have 10's of customers it's probably better to keep your ideas a trade secret until you can produce them. There's usually not enough money involved to be worth a fight. And any invention CAN be copied for personal use and experimentation, just not sold commercially, which again plays into my niche market comment.

I am not a lawyer but I have researched and discussed this with more than one patent lawyer, so take it for what it is worth. In the US you can copy a patented invention to experiment with and learn about the invention, but the moment you stop experimenting and simply start using the invention you are infringing on the patent. There is no "personal use" exemption on infringement. Whether the copy was for personal use or sold commercially only matters when calculating damages after infringement has been established. And yes, you better be able to carefully document just what experiments you were conducting to prove you weren't simply using the invention if you get sued for infringement .

[Nikolas Ojala]

Thanks for your inputs. I appreciate them.

The inventions I mentioned are something I can't possibly implement, or at least I don't have the required tools, time or other resources. Practically speaking that is the same thing: theoretically possible but practically impossible for me. Every inventor should simulate in their minds what they would be ready to do with their inventions. I have seen many patents that could have been best if their inventors had only written defensive publications and published them as such.

[Nefario]

The inventions I mentioned are something I can't possibly implement....

I was in the medical industry in the 90's and worked with an engineer known as a dreamer and a "concept guy" that had a few individual patents he'd paid for himself. One was a flexible, foldable computer/PDA screen - how could that POSSIBLY be done - what a nutty idea! Except now it's not....

I wonder if he ever benefited from his idea or if he was too early.