Hi I am brand new to this group and have found the information on this site to be VERY helpful. I am going through a financing exercise and potential financers are concerned over what I will patent vs. existing technology. In short, as part of my utility patent I will use and extend (via their SDK) a software application and their hardware. Their involvement is quite small and they have agreed that my contribution is patentable (in their opinion) and would make no claims--they used the "Intel inside" analogy.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an agreement that might show the boundaries between their patent and mine? Advice, etc. I have just purchased "Patent It Yourself" and have found it very helpful, but not as of yet found any suggestion on how to proceed with my current situation.

Thanks for your time.

Sandi

After re-reading your message I have to say that you need to secure your patent rights before the other company does it.

At his point in time you need to talk to a patent attorney that will analyze their patent vs. your invention and give you a patentability opinion.

Do not enter in any agreement before you apply for a patent or at least for a PPA. Your patent-pending status is what you need first to be able to negotiate.