Gerald R. Prettyman, Patent Attorney

Protecting Creative Function: Film Spool US Design Patent D836423
Copyright protects creative design, but not when the design has function. Design Patents protect design elements and at a lower cost than a utility patent,, and thus work well to augment utility patents. This is Film Spool U.S. Des...

Humans have been wearing footwear for many millennia (a recent find was over 5500 years old), but even in the 21st century, patents are important for shoe designers. Not long ago, Elephant Shoes created new designs and wanted patent protection. To be worn, shoes must abide by human foot contours ...

The Law Office of Gerald R Prettyman is available every day Sunday-Saturday by telephone, by email, online, and in-person! Call or email for a consultation or in-person meeting.

Toothpaste has been in use for perhaps 7000 years. For most of history, people used available components for abrasiveness, with soap for cleaning, and often in powder sold in jars or tins. Herbs and other flavorings were sometimes added to overcome the taste and smell, and to treat bad breath.
B...

Typical manufacturing techniques shape stock material by cutting or by injecting liquid or semi-liquid stock material into molds. Cutting techniques waste stock material and require much time and resources of personnel and equipment to assemble the final product. Injection methods require expensi...

US Patent 8757232 Monitoring and Changing Air Pressure in a Rotating Wheel
Riding a bicycle off-road can be bumpy and bouncy, but padded seats and spring and shock absorber devices designed for off-road use provide a bumpy and bouncy ride on smooth roads. Short of difficult to use and expensive a...

U.S. Patents US8933323and US9054252 – A Bright Idea
Whether you enjoy the outdoors or live off the grid, here’s a Bright Idea for enjoying cooked food, make freshwater (with a collector), and if used with a heat block – warmth after sunset. Invented by California Sunlight and patented with two pa...

Invention Promotion
(Image from the Wiki/ Bureau of Engraving and Printing)
Going from idea to profit can be difficult and expensive (even Ben Franklin had problems) unless you know what to expect and do. Learning these is not expensive, but you should learn how to not spend a lot of money before...

“I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!” History records ice cream as invented by or for a royalty figure about 1400 years ago. The phrase has a recorded history only to 1927. Yet, the desire and cries for ice cream from children and adults alike highly suggest the phrase originated l...