Mr D is correct. You can apply for a patent for the way that you tie your shoes. Getting the patent issued is the hard part. Note however, that even a patent that has been issued does not necessarily mean anything because the patent may not stand up in court. The patent office can certainly issue a patent without being fully aware of the state of the art, another company challenges it and shows that it is in fact, not novel. The patent, while issued, is worthless.
Also, having applied for a patent gives you no legal protection because you don't know that it will be granted. If it is not granted, having filed a patent will not get you two cents when somebody else practices it. The only thing that you get by filing a patent application is helping to establish your order of priority in date of invention. It is quite possible that somebody else has filed at an earlier date and you do not know it (the American patent system). In fact, it is possible for you receive the first patent on some invention, but it is worthless if somebody else conceived of the invention first but receives their patent after you. You never know whether they filed a patent until their patent is granted (unless they also filed in Europe, where patent applications are published after, I believe, 18 months.) In the US, the winner is the person who wrote down their idea first, not who filed first nor who received the patent first. In most of the rest of the world, the winner is whoever filed first.
That said, I have no opinion on computerized thermal imaging, either the technology or the company. |
