Message-ID: <12608872.1075863428812.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 03:42:44 -0700 (PDT) From: j.kaminski@enron.com To: lawrencelrtnmt@aol.com Subject: RE: Patent attorney Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Kaminski, Vince J X-To: 'LawrenceLRTNMT@aol.com@ENRON' X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \VKAMINS (Non-Privileged)\Kaminski, Vince J\Sent Items X-Origin: Kaminski-V X-FileName: VKAMINS (Non-Privileged).pst Larry, Thanks -----Original Message----- From: LawrenceLRTNMT@aol.com@ENRON [mailto:IMCEANOTES-LawrenceLRTNMT+40aol+2Ecom+40ENRON@ENRON.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 6:40 AM To: Kaminski, Vince J Subject: Patent attorney Vince: I wanted to get back to you with a reply to your question about my recommendation on a patent attorney. I cannot give you a personal recommendation per se because, in the end, I opted not to hire an attorney to file my patent until I had decided whether I wanted to protect my work as a trade secret or as a patented commodity. I ultimately struck a compromise position by filing my own "provisional patent application." This establishes the date of my claim and gives me one year in which to finalize the patent? or not; it also provides patent pending protection from the date I filed it with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. In the process of investigating the options for safeguarding my intellectual property, however, I did talk to quite a number of patent attorneys. Of these, I think that perhaps David Richie might be the most appropriate for your son's software idea. He talked as though he had a particular specialty in software issues; he also struck me as competent and aggressive. He practices in the Silicon Valley and can be reached at telephone number (408) 282-1856. I suspect that he has already done so, but if not, your son might want to visit the internet site of the U. S. Patent Office. Basic information and forms can be downloaded from there. Two other, newer sites might also intrigue him-both deal with the protection, valuation and marketing of intellectual property, patents, etc. They are: pl-x.com (The Patent and License Exchange, Inc.) yet2come.com Hope this is helpful. Regards, Larry Thorne