I'm designing a tool..

[Shoreline_]

It's 3D printed - And I want to keep it free for anyone to make, even if they end up machining it from Aluminum. Eventually I'll release all the models and picture but I don't want someone patenting it or something and then charging people for it. How do you stop that? I want to keep it free.

 

[Black300zx]

Thinking out loud, if you upload it on Thingiverse, you can select the IP settings with regards to what people can do with the files. I'm sure that wouldn't stop someone from breaking the rules and selling them on ebay (at least for a while until someone reports it). It probably wouldn't stop someone from making a minor tweak and trying (perhaps successfully) to get a patent. But your design would always be available for free for those who want it. I don't think anyone would be able to patent the design and force the publicly shared design files to be taken down, as there would be clear evidence that they were made public prior.

 

[Shoreline_]

That's what I was thinking too. Upload it to thingsverse

 

[PCustoms]

Eventually I'll release all the models and picture but I don't want someone patenting it or something and then charging people for it. How do you stop that? I want to keep it free.

As soon as you release it to public domain it prevents someone else from getting a patent

Edit: they can make, market and sell it though. If you want to limit that, YOU need to patent it, before you release to public domain

 

[kmacht]

Unless you have money to hire a lawyer to sue anyone who uses your design there isn’t anything you can do to prevent it. That’s the dirty secret about patents. They don’t actually protect anything. They only give you precedent to sue others that infringe on your patent. Patents also become even more useless as soon as someone in another country gets involved. Unless you have extremely deep pockets you will have zero ability to do anything should some company in china decide to copy and sell your product regardless of its patent status. Should you choose to patent a design you may also find when applying that a patent search turns up either an existing patent or design features that are already patented. Just because a product isn’t on the market doesn’t meant that it or parts of it aren’t already covered by existing patents. There is a reason that companies have large legal departments dedicated to just patents.

 

[Shoreline_]

It's not a new design. It's a product that's not longer sold that I'm sorta retrofitting it to existing tools. I don't know how to explain. Come back to this thread eventually I'll post pictures. I'm printing some test parts tonight and this weekend

 

[Black300zx]

That's what I was thinking too. Upload it to thingsverse

Do it. You'll achieve your goal of making it available to everyone for free. Maybe others make money off it, but anyone who wants to print it will be able to.

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

It's not a new design. It's a product that's not longer sold that I'm sorta retrofitting it to existing tools. I don't know how to explain. Come back to this thread eventually I'll post pictures. I'm printing some test parts tonight and this weekend

That right there prevents it from being patentable. Won't prevent someone from copying and selling it but they won't be able to patent it.
Speaking of patents, make sure there is no existing patent on it before you start copying it.

 

[teagueo]

That right there prevents it from being patentable. Won't prevent someone from copying and selling it but they won't be able to patent it.
Speaking of patents, make sure there is no existing patent on it before you start copying it.

As long as he's not selling it, technically it's not illegal to reverse engineer a patented product, right? I could be wrong.

 

[PCustoms]

As long as he's not selling it, technically it's not illegal to reverse engineer a patented product, right? I could be wrong.

You're wrong.

A patent gives the holder the right to exclude others from making, using, selling etc. The subject of the patent

 

[Shoreline_]

You're wrong.

A patent gives the holder the right to exclude others from making, using, selling etc. The subject of the patent

Dang I thought the same thing!

 

[PCustoms]

Dang I thought the same thing!

It gives you the right, but at a cost. Anyone can infringe on your patent, and it's "illegal", but you have to pursue them (i.e. sue them).

If your idea isn't novel, which You've admitted is just a modification of an obsolete/little used tool, then it isn't patentable in the first place.

Post it up. In all likelihood there's no money in in anyway, so no risk of someone monetizing your generosity.

 

[cavalry]

I have run into plenty of printed trinkets on ebay and etsy that were taken from thingverse and thought it was pretty ****** of them. There is nothing one can do to protect themselves in this situation. Ask maglite back in the 80's how their patents worked out for them with the chinese knockoffs.
The best thing you can do IMO is in your STL deboss something crafty in the tool handle. "Shoreline Concepts" or maybe a bit more snarky, which would be the direction I would lean. Sure its not hard to modify that even from a STL but if people knew how to use CAD programs they would not be stealing things of thingverse they would be drawing them.

 

[LopezBart]

Note that it's fine to publish information on building something that may be patented. A patent is only enforced by the patent holder suing for patent infringement, which they're very unlikely to do unless the infringing person is doing so commercially.

 

[richfinn]

You need to come up with a good "name" for your idea that suggests it would be pointless to try selling it for profit.

Like the "Freebie"

Good luck, I wish you very little financial success with it

 

[Old Man Roger]

I’m just here cause I’m curious to see what the hell it is..lol

 

[dscheidt]

I have run into plenty of printed trinkets on ebay and etsy that were taken from thingverse and thought it was pretty ****** of them.

The other side of that is that if I want a thing like that, being able to buy one is very nice. I have no interest in 3d printing, I don't have time or space for it, etc, etc. Someone else has taken the risk of making the thing work, and are providing a service.

 

[Maui]

A patent is simply a legal right to sue for infringement. And if you release this information publicly, that doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody can’t come along and utilize that information in order to produce a patentable design.

 

[MushCreek]

I'm guessing it's a saw set....

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

A patent is simply a legal right to sue for infringement. And if you release this information publicly, that doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody can’t come along and utilize that information in order to produce a patentable design.

You may want to rethink that. A disclosure like this generally becomes prior art under 35 USC 102 and therefore not novel and not patentable.

In any event, the OP had previously stated that the idea is not his; it is a product that used to be available. That takes away novelty and and pretty much guarantees that it is not patentable.

 

[Shoreline_]

The other side of that is that if I want a thing like that, being able to buy one is very nice. I have no interest in 3d printing, I don't have time or space for it, etc, etc. Someone else has taken the risk of making the thing work, and are providing a service.

Well I'll make one for you. No worries.

 

[Shoreline_]

Well here a test fit of one half. I'm sure most of you know already what it is now lol. But hold the suggestions just yet - I'd rather just show you all the assembly and take design input later. This is also the first print of this part I'm sure just my self will give it many tweaks.

 

[PCustoms]

Well here a test fit of one half. I'm sure most of you know already what it is now lol. But hold the suggestions just yet - I'd rather just show you all the assembly and take design input later. This is also the first print of this part I'm sure just my self will give it many tweaks.

I have no clue what this is

 

[Shoreline_]

If you had the Mac truck stop by in the past 10 years I'm sure you've seen it at least once lol

 

[Old Man Roger]

I’m still here to find out what the hell it is..lol

 

[bwringer]

I'm guessing it's a saw set....

Well, now we know that it's not a grinding wheel dresser.

I have no clue what this is

I’m still here to find out what the hell it is..lol

Me three.

 

[In The Doghouse]

I have no clue what this is

Me too.

 

[PCustoms]

Guess none of us have worked on a mac truck

 

[signcrafter]

You're wrong.

A patent gives the holder the right to exclude others from making, using, selling etc. The subject of the patent

I'm not a lawyer and you may be correct but I find it hard to believe that if I copy an existing patented tool for my own use that I'm breaking any laws. I've made many tools over the years copying the design of other company's tools for my own use. Like a lower control arm pry bar, brake caliper spreader from caulk gun, throttle depressor from caulk gun, and many more including electrical test tools. I fully get that if I were to sell them I would be infringing but for my own use I don't see how that would be violating anything?

 

[PCustoms]

I'm not a lawyer and you may be correct

I'm not a lawyer either, but have taken several courses in patent law, have my name on numerous applications and ask relevant questions to limit my potential liability when considering any consulting work. I've turned down business when it looks like active patents are in place for an item.

From Google




From a practical standpoint, a company isn't going to go after home homeowner who copied their tool and uses it on the weekends in his garage.

 

[Jayman17]

Oh, that is that thingee you use to fix Mack trucks...duh!

 

[mike93lx]

How the hell is that going to remove hair from shopping cart wheels?

 

[PCustoms]

How the hell is that going to remove hair from shopping cart wheels?

Ever seen hook and loop material? (Can't say Velcro)

 

[Old Man Roger]

I got itI got it, its for dispensing the last little bit of ketchup onto a hot dog.

 

[Shoreline_]

I got itI got it, its for dispensing the last little bit of ketchup onto a hot dog.

Dude you're so close.

 

[cavalry]

Dude you're so close.

Silicone tube squeezer?

 

[LopezBart]

One of the interesting things about patents is that intentional/knowing infringement is subject to treble damages; as a result, engineers in companies are often requested by the legal beagles to NOT look at extant patents to avoid knowingly infringing. I have several software parents assigned to the companies I was working for at the time; afaik they've only be used when comparing how many patents a company has for cross-licensing purposes.

My patent plaques will find a place on the wall that's not otherwise useful when the shop gets finished.

 

[Shoreline_]

This morning off the printer overnight. Nooowwwww we all get it. It's a copy of the gte masterbead that's nla. So this is just copying the concept. The tweaks come later. This weekend I have to design and print the "squeegee" jaws. Also these are only 10% infill so practically non functioning. It was to make sure dimensionally it would work.

 

[PCustoms]

Oh, you use toothpaste on your mac truck too?

 

[mike93lx]

Hold on. Are you really expecting people to have that contraption on their bathroom sinks? How is it easier to operate that than squeezing a tube?

I must be missing something