Airstream Patents

[65Streamer]

I'm a bit of an invention and patent junkie. In anyone familiar with patents on the airstreams? I’m wondering if the end panels, in the multiple configurations used over the years, had or still have patents. Any other patents we may take for granted today that apply?

[GlenCoombe]

I'll bet you won't find any patents on Airstream end panels as the design and construction was not new when Airstream began. The methods had been in use already.
Rather you'll find well documented and defended copyrights and intelectual property related to Airstream.
The owner of this fourm has changed our name for some of those issues....

[zanad]

say, you wouldnt know where and how to do an easy patent?

just wondering

[dwightdi]

You can do your own patent search on the Patent office website.
The link is : United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page

If you want to download any of the drawings from the patents you will need to download their special viewer first. It is a very interesting site if you are into that kind of thing.

[65Streamer]

No, I've never applied for one so I cannot assist with specifics. At work my engineering dept. and at least a handful of lawyers usually handle. Thank you dwightdi for the link.

[rickandsandi]

Originally Posted by zanad

say, you wouldnt know where and how to do an easy patent?

just wondering

It is not an easy process and one I would not recommend trying yourself. I am in the process right now and have found it is best to find a really good patent attorney. The trick to getting a good patent that others could not steal, variate, or duplicate is all in the verbage of the statement of device. If you go to the patent web site you can read many of the patents on file and you will see that the verbage is very broad. ie: the spar arm is connected to the fly arm with a fastner. You would never say, the stainless steel spar arm is attached with a 1/4" nut and washer. If you did someone else coud file a patent changing the 1/4" nut and washer to a 3/8" and the stainless steel spar to a RD90 steel.

[markdoane]

Patents are easy. All you need is a big basket of cash.

Hire a patent lawyer. You can find a lawyer that specializes in the classification you are working in. Find a group of patents similar to your invention and look up the attorneys that wrote them. They're listed at the bottom of the application. Some will be in-house attorneys, but you will find one or more firms that specialize in that patent class.

Just as expensive as the attorney will be the foreign rights, because your patent attorney will need to hire an associate firm in each country. Europe has a consolidated patent system.