Patent rights for infrared held by HomeSafe inspection

[Kevin A. Richardson]

I would guess that the first step is to think about hiring a professional prior art researcher with a background in patent law.

I would be willing to contribute to a legal fund to put this in place.

Kevin

[Bruce A. King]

This should save you guy's a lot of legal expenses.

info:
http://www.eff.org/wp/patents-and-public-domain

form to file:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/forms/sb0057.pdf

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by jbraun

Attachment 25561

I got another letter from them. I still do not understand why he is still insisting on me paying for a license when I only advertise infrared for another NACHI inspector. Do they own the patent on infrared advertising too?

Screw them and their damn patents. How can anyone legally own a patent to perform IR inspections in a home and then charge a fee when an HI wants to perform IR inspections also? Tell them to go to hell.

James,

I was just browsing your website and noticed that you do "Thermal Camera Imagining". Is this when you imagine that you are doing Thermal Camera Imaging?

[James E. Braun, CMI]

That is what basically what I do. Since I have no camera or training, all that I can do is imagine. Thanks for telling me about thou. I have got it corrected now and added "for commercial buildings". It appears that Home Safe does not have a patent on commercial thermal imaging. That is the only calls that ever got any jobs from anyway. But I just give away the leads to Aram anyway and he does with as he wishes. In return he sends me some mold testing leads that he gets from his site. It works out really well that way.

[rmaday]

Originally Posted by dvalley

Screw them and their damn patents. How can anyone legally own a patent to perform IR inspections in a home and then charge a fee when an HI wants to perform IR inspections also? Tell them to go to hell.

David,

The fact is, they do hold a patent for some process regarding IR and home inspections.

Should the patent have been granted - probably not.

But it was, and if they take you to court for infringment, you loose, regardless of the outcome of the suit.

Interesting to note that they list how many "claims" that have been upheld. This may be how many they've sued and won.

I don't think an individual inspector wants to take this on by themselves. An association of group may want to, though.

[relliott]

I was considering buying a IR camera but have been scared out of it.
Had enough saved up at the end of November,however this thread has been convincing me to not buy from Flir.
I wonder how much Flir has lost due to this thread $$$.

I wonder how much money my business would have made had the above company not intimidated me.

Will some one help me and my business before I go under.?

Please note the date of this thread for future reference.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by rmaday

David,

The fact is, they do hold a patent for some process regarding IR and home inspections.

Should the patent have been granted - probably not.

But it was, and if they take you to court for infringment, you loose, regardless of the outcome of the suit.

Interesting to note that they list how many "claims" that have been upheld. This may be how many they've sued and won.

I don't think an individual inspector wants to take this on by themselves. An association of group may want to, though.

I would love to see this firm shut me off from performing IR inspections on the homes I inspect.

Bring it on.......

[rmaday]

Originally Posted by relliott

I was considering buying a IR camera but have been scared out of it.
Had enough saved up at the end of November,however this thread has been convincing me to not buy from Flir.
I wonder how much Flir has lost due to this thread $$$.

I wonder how much money my business would have made had the above company not intimidated me.

Will some one help me and my business before I go under.?

Please note the date of this thread for future reference.

Ditto for me Bob.

And date noted.

[rmaday]

Originally Posted by dvalley

I would love to see this firm shut me off from performing IR inspections on the homes I inspect.

Bring it on.......

No one's saying you can't do IR.

Someone, though, wants you to pay them if you use their "process"

Be careful what you wish for.

I wish I could do IR at this point. The sooner this gets resolved, the better.

This has the potential to become very expensive, no matter who wins or looses.

[Jorge L. Perez]

Couldn't Nachi come up with their own way of using infrared technology and patent it? As Nachi members, we would be expected to follow the Nachi training and this patent infringement from the other company would not apply.

[David P. Valley]

This is all BS if you ask me.

[Mathew Hawley]

Same here...Total BS. I am not to worried about any of this.

[bdoles2]

Originally Posted by dvalley

This is all BS if you ask me.

Totally agree... I will not waste any time or money on trying to defend my use of a tool that anyone can purchase and use.

Besides, they will have to prove that I am using my camera in the same manner that their patents are written for - which they will not be able to do. And when I mean prove, I mean something substantial and not just an advertisement on my website.

[Bruce A. King]

They would have to hire you for an IR inspection and witness the exact process being used as is in the patent.

Just add to your IR agreement that recording of the inspection process is not allowed and disclosure must be made if the intent involves a patent infringement investigation.

[rmaday]

Originally Posted by mhawley

Same here...Total BS.

Agree 100%

Originally Posted by bdoles2

Totally agree... I will not waste any time or money on trying to defend my use of a tool that anyone can purchase and use.

Besides, they will have to prove that I am using my camera in the same manner that their patents are written for - which they will not be able to do. And when I mean prove, I mean something substantial and not just an advertisement on my website.

All of the above, if you are sued, requires a trip to the courthouse. Which does cost $$$.