Patent pending means the same as patent applied for.
No guarantee that it will ever issue. At least that's the
usage by the patent attorneys I work with.

What you are thinking of is the period of time between
when the examiner allows one or more claims and the
actual issuing (ie printing) of the patent. I recently had one of my
patents get issued by the USPTO, but the examiner had allowed all the claims
last fall. In that case, it was essentially a done deal when
the claims were allowed.

Also, it is now the case that after 18 months, patent applications
are public. You should be able to read Fluid Motion's steppir patent
applications by now.

Don't forget that it is possible that some patents have issued but
the very overworked staff at Fluidmotion hasn't gotten around to
updating the sales literature. I currently have over a dozen patent
applications in process at the USPTO and it gets hard to keep track of them
all, even with the help of our legal department.

IMHO, I don't see how they can patent the basic concept of
the SteppIR, but then I'm not a patent attorney. There
is the "Cliff Dweller" adjustable dipole as prior art, but will
the examiner ever find that. Maybe they are just patenting the idea of
the tape in the hollow tube.

Rick N6RK




"Art Unwin KB9MZ" wrote in message
m...
I notice that the STEPPIR antenna patent is still "Pending"
I thought that "pending" meant that the patent has been awarded
and awaiting printing! Fluid motions have been stating Patent pending
for more than a few months ( year)now and I have yet to see a release.
Anybody have any info on this ? I also noticed that another thread on
unconventional antenna design that the news release also stated
"patent pending"!
Has " patent pending "replaced the term "patent applied for" or has
the revised patent procedure and the USPTO fallen flat on its face ?
Art