this came today and it's almost identical to the tip of the month that I submitted to Wood Magazine over a year ago.

https://www.woodsmith.com/newsletter/2026/05/20/routing-finger-joints

Well that sux!

I like it! Simple and easy. Get a lawyer, you was robbed.

1 hour ago, HandyDan said:

Get a lawyer, you was robbed.

Specializing in these cases-

"Dewey, Cheatum and Howe"

"Almost identical" might go against your case.

Maybe we should patent ideas before we publish

It's happened before.Wood mag had a member called "Smitty" (Reid Smith) and he cobbled together a really neat idea to catch the dust from his Router when used hand held with edging bits. Reid's was assembled using plywood and MDF, and he published pics on the wood forum and as I recall he won a Wood mag tip award for it. About a year later Oneida introduced their plastic version of his idea....with no thanks to him. Gerald probably has the best idea, if it's original get a patent.

Getting a patent is pretty expensive now. Just up front you pay more than a couple thousand just to deal with a patent lawyer.

What works just as well is taking your idea in writing and get it copywrited by a notary.

Edited May 25May 25 by MrRick

The trouble with patents, etc. is that you have to defend them. If someone infringes, it is up to you to foot the bill up front for the defense of your intellectual property. If you can convince an attorney that you have a good case, you can usually find one that will take it on contingency and usually they get 40% or more of the eventual award. They only do this when they expect you'll win or get a reasonable settlement out of court (BTDT, but not with a patent).

Applying for a patent is easy, or it was 10 years ago when I did one. Hardest part was drawing the invention and making it look professional. Application cost was $200 as I recall. I only wanted the application in so I could put "patent pending" on it when I contacted the company I wanted to sell it to. They weren't interested so the whole thing fizzled, as things sometimes do. The invention was a stippling tool that went on a Foredom chisel handpiece. They were probably not interested because it required modification of the handpiece, undoing what a lawyer likely thought was a safety feature, impractical though the feature was. I also expect they didn't see much market for it. That's the way it goes, and I still buy Foredom stuff, they are a great outfit in my view.