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An update on my western mythology

post #1 of 6
3/10/09 at 4:39pm
Thread Starter 
A couple of months ago I was wrote a post on my concept to do a mythology on a speghetti western. Well, I have sent the material to Heavy Metal magazine in hopes that they will publish it. I am essentially doing a pulp character(ala Conan)and it would seem appropriate that magazines are the starting point.

I hope to write a full novel(between 300-500 pages)based on this character and then convert it later to a graphic novel. Whatever money I make from Heavy Metal(if they publish it) will go towards getting an agent and in turn going to a major publishing firm.

I would post some of the work I have done(I do have a poor man's copyright in effect)...but I am not really protected. I have done so much work(writing, paneling illustrations, concept art, schematics)that I would have to get a patent attorney in order to fully protect myself.

I will try to show the work off once I can get this stuff patented. I think novels are really the appropriate place for me to be as a writer. Scripts are something I can learn down the road but I feel more compelled to test my moxy in literature.
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post #2 of 6
3/10/09 at 4:48pm
A patent? Are you kidding or horribly misinformed?
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post #3 of 6
3/10/09 at 4:54pm
I must see some work before I can comment.
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post #4 of 6
3/10/09 at 5:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica View Post
A patent? Are you kidding or horribly misinformed?
no actually, I have talked to people in the biz. The material is too dense to just do a poor man's copyright. I've done concept work for over a dozen characters. If I had simply a short story or some basic concept stuff it would be fine.

As it stands I need to get a patent attorney involved..that was coming from people at comic con and a couple of professionals I have talked to. I doubt all these people are leading me on(Trust me I don't want to spend the money).
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post #5 of 6
3/10/09 at 5:41pm
I'm a bit familiar with patents (and trying to get my first one in) but I believe they're for inventions.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac...ex.html#patent
Quote:
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available.

The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.

There are three types of patents:

1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;

2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and

3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
I believe you are looking at copyright. More on patents ...

Quote:
What Can Be Patented

The patent law specifies the general field of subject matter that can be patented and the conditions under which a patent may be obtained.

In the language of the statute, any person who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,” subject to the conditions and requirements of the law. The word “process” is defined by law as a process, act or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes. The term “machine” used in the statute needs no explanation. The term “manufacture” refers to articles that are made, and includes all manufactured articles. The term “composition of matter” relates to chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds. These classes of subject matter taken together include practically everything that is made by man and the processes for making the products.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 excludes the patenting of inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy in an atomic weapon 42 U.S.C. 2181 (a).

The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be “useful.” The term “useful” in this connection refers to the condition that the subject matter has a useful purpose and also includes operativeness, that is, a machine which will not operate to perform the intended purpose would not be called useful, and therefore would not be granted a patent.

Interpretations of the statute by the courts have defined the limits of the field of subject matter that can be patented, thus it has been held that the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable subject matter.

A patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc., as has been said, and not upon the idea or suggestion of the new machine. A complete description of the actual machine or other subject matter for which a patent is sought is required.
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post #6 of 6
3/10/09 at 6:16pm
Thread Starter 
sorry I was meaning a copyright but I have been directed to a patent attorney. I apologize for the confusion.
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