business/ intellectual rights
Hi, My mother invented a product in 1983 that is now a standard feature in millions of vehicles worldwide. This invention was the integrated child safety seat. At the time she couldnt afford a patent so she did the next best thing and had it notarized. She then began contacting various auto manufacturers in the hopes of selling the idea. She was contacted by a rep from the chrysler corp. who offered her an obscenely low amount to purchase the rights, my mother refused. She had made one mistake she had made a copy of the designs and written descriptions and sent them to the rep. No further contact was then made and my mom forgot about it hoping to save up the money for a proper patent. soon thereafter the integrated child safety seat was introduced by the chrysler corp. in their minivans. my question is twofold. 1. Is there a statute of limitations on Intellectual rights disputes and, 2. If there are no statutes of limitations in this matter does she have a case? I would really like to know because this has eaten at her for 23 years now thinking of what should have been. thank you for your time i anticipate your reply.
Re: business/ intellectual rights
Even if a statute of limitations had not expired, your mother would very likely have to overcome a "laches" defense by the patent's owner(s), which means that she would have to prove to the factfinder exactly why she did not pursue a patent action earlier than now, and that her reason for waiting is "reasonable" (believe it or not, lack of money is usually not well-accepted as a "reasonable" reason; things like medical reasons such as coma are).
I think your mom needs to move on. Chalk it up to another missed opportunity and don't let the missed opportunities interfere with the rest of life. It's pointless to have something like this "eat away" at one; life is just too short.
By the way, notarization does absolutely nothing to protect patent rights. Neither does mailing your invention to yourself in a sealed envelope. You can file your application as a provisional application with the US Patent & Trademark Office for $100; you then have ONE YEAR (not one year and one day; ONE YEAR) to convert that provisional application (which will not be examined and will never mature into an issued patent) into a non-provisional application (which will be examined and may mature into an issued patent).
The ONLY place where notarization or sealed envelope datestamps might even be looked at (and it might not be even here) is in what's called an "interference proceeding," in which inventors battle out who invented first. The date of the notarized document or the date stamp on the sealed envelope may or may not be accepted by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (where interference proceedings are commenced) as evidence of date of invention.
However, at this late date, pursuing an interference in the US Patent & Trademark Office against this/these patent(s) would be prohibitively expensive; this/these patent(s) are either at the end of their lives or they have expired, and an interference proceeding can run into $many thousands, if not $millions. Also, remember that Chrysler very likely has way more money than you do and would therefore be able to wear you down until you just dropped the case; not pleasant, perhaps, but true.
For her next invention, though, have your mom keep a bound notebook with the pages therein numbered by the book's manufacturer (it's very noticeable if a page is ripped out; you can get these at technical college/university bookstores or at some stationers') and each written-on page dated (mm/dd/yyyy or dd Mmmmmmmm yyyy format), signed by her and her signature witnessed by someone OTHER than her family (a notary would do very nicely here). Such dating and signature and witnessing all need to be done contemporaneously with the finishing of the notes on that page, and this should be done on EACH page written on.
Good luck.
Re: business/ intellectual rights
Even if a statute of limitations had not expired, your mother would very likely have to overcome a "laches" defense by the patent's owner(s), which means that she would have to prove to the factfinder exactly why she did not pursue a patent action earlier than now, and that her reason for waiting is "reasonable" (believe it or not, lack of money is usually not well-accepted as a "reasonable" reason; things like medical reasons such as coma are).
I think your mom needs to move on. Chalk it up to another missed opportunity and don't let the missed opportunities interfere with the rest of life. It's pointless to have something like this "eat away" at one; life is just too short.
By the way, notarization does absolutely nothing to protect patent rights. Neither does mailing your invention to yourself in a sealed envelope. You can file your application as a provisional application with the US Patent & Trademark Office for $100; you then have ONE YEAR (not one year and one day; ONE YEAR) to convert that provisional application (which will not be examined and will never mature into an issued patent) into a non-provisional application (which will be examined and may mature into an issued patent).
The ONLY place where notarization or sealed envelope datestamps might even be looked at (and it might not be even here) is in what's called an "interference proceeding," in which inventors battle out who invented first. The date of the notarized document or the date stamp on the sealed envelope may or may not be accepted by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (where interference proceedings are commenced) as evidence of date of invention.
However, at this late date, pursuing an interference in the US Patent & Trademark Office against this/these patent(s) would be prohibitively expensive; this/these patent(s) are either at the end of their lives or they have expired, and an interference proceeding can run into $many thousands, if not $millions. Also, remember that Chrysler very likely has way more money than you do and would therefore be able to wear you down until you just dropped the case; not pleasant, perhaps, but true.
For her next invention, though, have your mom keep a bound notebook with the pages therein numbered by the book's manufacturer (it's very noticeable if a page is ripped out; you can get these at technical college/university bookstores or at some stationers') and each written-on page dated (mm/dd/yyyy or dd Mmmmmmmm yyyy format), signed by her and her signature witnessed by someone OTHER than her family (a notary would do very nicely here). Such dating and signature and witnessing all need to be done contemporaneously with the finishing of the notes on that page, and this should be done on EACH page written on.
Good luck.
