| General > General Technical Chat |
| Patent vs Open source |
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| Raj:
So, I might have a joystick mechanism, small enough to fit in a joycon game pad, can be a drop in replacement. with less parts than usual game pad joystick and it's resistant to wear. I know the problem has already been solved by PSP's hall effect based joystick but this one is different. The only problem, just by having one look at it, an engineer can copy it. I am just a small fry with minimum money, but since Indian government subsidize getting patents, I can apply with ease but can't contest violations. Would you bother with the patent? Or would you have it as "trade secret" until someone reverse engineers it? Or just make it open source? Do also know that, I might take this no where and the idea dies with me, like many other ideas. Also, I might not be smart enough to even complete a prototype myself, and need help of an actual engineer. |
| ataradov:
How do you know that it works without a prototype? In any case, patents are only worth anything if you are willing to defend them. If someone wants to copy the invention, they will unleash the army of lawyers that will figure out how to bypass your patent. |
| Raj:
--- Quote from: ataradov on July 12, 2021, 04:54:41 am ---How do you know that it works without a prototype? In any case, patents are only worth anything if you are willing to defend them. If someone wants to copy the invention, they will unleash the army of lawyers that will figure out how to bypass your patent. --- End quote --- I know it cause that method has been used in other industries (funny enough, I'd have to check if it hasn't been patented already). Also, It's the software that I struggle with, than mechanics and hardware. Army of lawyers is exactly why I don't want to bother with patents. |
| Berni:
A patent by itself does not grant you any protection. You still need to hire lawyers to actually enforce your patent by suing anyone that tries to use it. Without the layers the parent is just an expensive way to post something on the internet for everyone to see. That being said parents are not useless because putting in a patent before anyone else does can help out later if the business takes off. If you just want to make some money off the idea then the easiest way might be to approach a relevant manufacturer such as Alps or Bourns and sell them the idea and let them manufacture and market it. As for getting your part in the next generation of portable gaming consoles, that might be tough. The reason these classical spring mechanism driving potentiometers designs are so widely used is because they are cheap to mass produce. The mechanics are a simple assembly of plastic parts and springs, no exotic materials or precision manufacturing required, the potentiometer is also just a plastic part with a carbon track inside. Electronics for interfacing it are also simple because it just needs to read a analog voltage from the pot. When they have to make literally many milions of these things shaving one cent off a analog stick module can save 100s of thousands of dollars. So for this reason they won't go for the best performing design, but rather the cheapest design that performs good enough. |
| Raj:
--- Quote from: Berni on July 12, 2021, 05:27:27 am ---A patent by itself does not grant you any protection. You still need to hire lawyers to actually enforce your patent by suing anyone that tries to use it. Without the layers the parent is just an expensive way to post something on the internet for everyone to see. That being said parents are not useless because putting in a patent before anyone else does can help out later if the business takes off. If you just want to make some money off the idea then the easiest way might be to approach a relevant manufacturer such as Alps or Bourns and sell them the idea and let them manufacture and market it. As for getting your part in the next generation of portable gaming consoles, that might be tough. The reason these classical spring mechanism driving potentiometers designs are so widely used is because they are cheap to mass produce. The mechanics are a simple assembly of plastic parts and springs, no exotic materials or precision manufacturing required, the potentiometer is also just a plastic part with a carbon track inside. Electronics for interfacing it are also simple because it just needs to read a analog voltage from the pot. When they have to make literally many milions of these things shaving one cent off a analog stick module can save 100s of thousands of dollars. So for this reason they won't go for the best performing design, but rather the cheapest design that performs good enough. --- End quote --- Well...my design is no different and can be made using double shot injection molding machine. Only thing different about it is the spring type, 5 ultra cheap secret sensors and a driver IC. Maybe, a "preorder kickstarter" is the way to go. Just make it available when you're sure enough that you'll make money out of it. |
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