Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

Does patents need to be actual working stuffs or is it possible to patent and idea?
I think I have a solution to removing the bayer matrix and making a normal sensor work like a Foveon.

CaltechNerd Loc: Whittier, CA, USA

This is an EXTREMELY complex question. Yes, in some cases an idea can be patented. But the law is very muddled. Amazon patented the one-click for buying. But many see this as a travesty. First, there was prior art. Second, it's not clear that it fits the legal definition of what can be patented. Yet the patent stands. There was a time that the patent office required working models to issue a patent. That's why Arthur C. Clark couldn't patent his invention of geosynchronous communication satellites (the technology didn't yet exist). This is not a question for the internet. You need a competent intellectual property lawyer.

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

EXACTLY. I have 2 patents. I started by searching the patent office on my own. Once I confirmed that I believed there were no patents I found a good attorney. My wife is pretty sharp with those kinds of things but the patent process is complicated. You can file for a provisional patent for it used to be 75 USD. That protects you in case I have the same idea and basically try to jump in front of you. The provisional protects you for a given time. They can also be sold to a larger company at that stage if so desired. My provisional patent on heated windshield wiper BLADES was sold to a major producer of wipers. I still can't buy a set 20 years later and have to make my own ever couple of winters. It's nice to not have to beat the ice off the blades in the winter. Especially when you are driving in that type of weather.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

Since you need to make your own heated wipers, I guess they are not commercially available?

Bear2 Loc: Southeast,, MI

Leather shoes.

Duane

RightOnPhotography Loc: Quebec,QC

One of the prerequisites for filing a patent is that a person with a knowledge in the field of such technology should be able to reproduce whatever the subject of the patent is. You should have a working prototype.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

They are probably not commercially available because they are impractical. Heated wiper blades are an interesting idea, but in the long run it's simply easier to let the defroster heat up the windshield and the wiper blades. I've been dealing with ice and snow on wiper blades for a long time and can't say I actually miss having heated wiper blades.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Just Googled heated wiper blades!! and found there are more available than you can shake a stick

at.https://budandtonystruckparts.com/everblade-heated-winshield-wiper-kit?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cse&gclid=Cj0KCQiA1ZGcBhCoARIsAGQ0kkrvRb1aBxrlx9-gr_D0jgv6AYIyk_IkBu-QwRRsWIpo1dJVulLeb_oaAhSREALw_wcB
I had a pair on my 1949 ford adapted from aircraft , they didn't work very well due to needing higher voltage than the car supplied. Now they ate just too expensive!! for me.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

You do not need a working model. A model is only required for a perpetual motion machine and no one has made one yet. I have patents on several ideas with drawings that are still on the books and never made

dustie Loc: Nose to the grindstone

In many, like a whole bunch, of situations, the defrost heat on the windscreen can do the job.

In many other situations, the outside temperature, windchill, humidity and precipitation conditions conspire to effectively overcome the effect of the full-blasting defroster.
Unheated wiper blades can become problematic clumps of near-uselessness, if not manually de-iced. In some cases, due to the ice buildup not being removed in timely manner, wiper blades have become a heavier moving bar of a larger dimension (and possibly also produce more drag resistance) than the wiper blade attachment was designed to handle, and are significantly damaged and/or break off from the wiper arm while flopping over and back across the windscreen. More often than not, the wiper blade/wiper arm are also stressed by hitting ice buildup on either one or each end of the arc travelled before the wiper crank mechanism reverses the direction of rotation of the wiper arm. (Yes, that leaves a driver in a more dangerous situation of adding to driving in dangerous conditions the increased danger of not being able to maintain a clear windscreen).

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

The flat windshield presents many problems in wet heavy snow.

dustie Loc: Nose to the grindstone

Curved, sloped windscreens.....same same.
Dense freezing fog, freezing rain in the right humidity/windchill conditions, temperature + moisture content of falling and/or wind-blown snow.... several scenarios present many windscreen/wiper problems to moving vehicles.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Companies buy up patents and then sue other companies for patent infringement.

The man who invented intermittent wipers while he was working at Ford fought for years to get money from his idea. I don't think it works that way. He was employed by Ford. Something similar happened with a toy company. A designer went home and developed and sold a toy. When her boss found out, he fired her and collected all the royalties from her toy. She was working for him, so he owned her ideas. This was on "Toys that Built America," History Channel.

The toy business is cutthroat - as are all businesses.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I'm still waiting for someone to invent a grass that does not grow taller than three inches so that I no longer have to cut the lawn.😜

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

Doesn’t that apply only if the employee’s invention is an item in the line of products the company produces? If she had invented a medical device, would the toy maker have had standing?

Stan