Could Patent Trolls steal your 3D Design?

[jamesinvents]

What I'm wondering about is what happens if someone creates a really cool design, posts it on Shapeways or Thingiverse, and then someone else tries to patent it? Patents costs over $10,000, so most shapeways/thingiverse posters probably wouldn't be patenting their designs. Could someone with a lot of money simply go around and patent things that are being sold on Shapeways, or offered for free on Thingiverse, and then claim it to be their own design, and sell them for a profit, or are there laws that prohibit this?

If you know the law, you don't need to be afraid of this. An enabling disclosure of a design idea on a public Internet forum will not only prevent others, effective immediately from the time the post is made, from being able to legally patent your design, under 35 U.S.C. 102(f). It will also prevent you from being able to do so, provided a full year from the time of the original disclosure has passed, under 35 U.S.C. 102(b).

Design patents are not very expensive, particularly if you qualify for small entity status. If you file yourself, which is not that difficult to do, you can expect to pay between $1200 and $2000 total, both in filing fees and fees for the rendering of professional drawings.

That being said, I'm sure Rob is right that trolls get away with stealing designs. If you are in a position to know whether or not your design ideas are that good, however, it is highly unlikely that you would even be asking this question.

If you don't know, but really believe your design has great commercial viability, filing for a patent is a smart thing to do. Unless it turns out that your belief is entirely mistaken.

Here's a link to a USPTO publication that would be immensely helpful for those who wish to file their own design patent applications.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com...rochure_05.pdf

Hope that helps,
James