kimchery

In addition... I found this blurb relating to patents online where someone asked about getting a patent for something that already exists. 'Here are some situations (set forth in 35 USC 102 and 103) in which you CANNOT obtain a patent, which may apply to your scenario (it is unclear from your details): 1. If, before you invented the invention, the invention was known or used by others in the US, or patented or described in a printed publication; or 2. If the invention was patented or described in a printed publication more than one year before you filed a patent application for your invention. These two bars would also apply if your invention would have been "obvious" on the basis of other inventions that were known, used, patented, or described in a printed publication in the manner set forth above.' And completely off topic in regards to my own post, I will have to say, the bracelet mentioned above? It is nothing like what this family is selling, (except for the oh so important tracking #) but I will have to order the above mentioned bracelet. I hope they are still selling it!

This is just what I came here to discuss, and lo and behold, someone caught onto that too..... The thing is, they stated during the show, that the tracking process is something 'never to be done before' and that is what all the investors were interested in, the patenting of that idea. That was obviously the most valuable part of their whole 'invention'. They didn't invent that idea. That is geocoins all the way around. Not only is it a tracking number, but its inscribed on a coin. They even described the process that you can 'see your coin travel around the world.' Though I don't see many of the coins traveling very far, considering it will likely be marketed like silly bands. You can track its progress around... school. That is a family of geocachers. They came up with the idea in the car on a trip... They should have mentioning it was a geocaching trip...

Ha ha, no,... mpilchfamily was kinda right, I did leave without actually asking my question,.... I understand the little raz about t6hat. I didn't mean to post that, someone else must have gotten on here and hit send, and it did pretty much make me look like a fool. I wasn't done posting. I thought I just closed the browser because I didn't have time to write the biog message that I did today. But I left it up and someone from my household got on here and clicked post without reading. Way to make an entrance, huh? I haven't even read through all the helpful answers yet, but I just had to comment on the latest... Mamoreb, You offered me lots of alternatives that I had no idea existed. I have actually been staying away from one cache on a walking trail, not going to look for it, because I know from the logs that it would be a perfect cache to place a coin in. And I didn't want to find it prior to finding coins, because I thought it was cheating to go back to a cache after you found it. I thought the note function was JUST for... well maintenance. I know there's a maintenance function too, but I've only seen the note function used for maintenance. That is perfect, and I know of a cache that is great (that I already found) that I can put these in, and I don't have to wait for the weekend. Also, I'm really happy to hear that if I put the westward moving coin a little further east, I wont be screwing everything up. Just that bit of info I've never read in any FAQs, and it sounds pretty common sense. If you can move it a little bit out of the way vs. letting it sit somewhere where and not be moved at all for a year..... Thanks, everyone. The truth is, I started writing that post because I did a search on the forums and all it led to were people asking questions and getting ridiculed for it. I got a little peturbed about that and immediately started writing a really mean post that I didn't mean to send at all. If I would have had a chance to type my questions, I would have probably gone back and changed or deleted my first paragraph that sounds like complete paranoia. But there are posts by new people on this forum where most of the answers were rude. That's why I had to put my disclaimer out there. Just wish I would have had a chance to sit down and finish!

WOW! Thanks for 9 whole replies, when, as someone pointed out.... I actually didn't ask my question yet!!! I think I left this message open and my husband just thought I was done and hit send, or my daughter did... Because I was sure I was so busy that I never posted anything. Because I wanted to get my message across..... I know I have already made a complete coin faux-pas, and I didn't want anyone to jump on me for playing a game I didn't fully understand. Yes, I was worried about looking like a fool because of this little problem I encountered... I have read the FAQs, they just confused me more. Considering the tricky "You found a geocoin,... what to do with it? Keep it, pass it along." Well, who wouldn't want to keep it? Now I understand since I am at an esteemed 30 or so geocaches found (ha ha) that it is nearly impossible to find a geocoin that you can keep (FTF??? For a new person who doesn't even know how to search for new caches? I think my chances to be a FTF are pretty slim for a while..) and you look up the number and it is registered you pass it along. I've gotten past that point, but I am confused about one statement in the FAQs,.... It goes soemthing alone the lines of... if you do pick up a coincoin at a cache, leave something of equal or greater worth in its place. And coins are at least 10 dollars, so make it count!" Something like that. So, if I pass along a coin, I STILL have to leave something of its value in its place? Its not like I got to keep it... I understand the equal to or greater than in terms of swag, but that is just on another level. All the neat looking coins I have seen are MORE than 10 dollars. That info is really puzzling to me. All of this leads to the slight predicament I am in. I came across 2 coins with my husband two weeks ago at the biggest cache we have seen yet. I understood the pass it along part by then, and was completely happy to abide by those rules. We just wanted to "discover" them (which we didn't know existed til that night.) Problem 1 comes into play.... Upon going into the website that night, I realized that the next 2 weekends would be really busy for me and my chances of finding a big enough cache to drop the coins in would be slim. (Been so busy that in this past 2 weeks we just found one cache because it was near the house of some friends who were really interested in caching and wanted to try with me.) Well, I saw that said geocache hadn't been found in 7 whole months, so I didn't log my visit. I thought, it can wait til the NEXT time I go caching since it hasn't been touched in so long, no one will find it for another 7 months probably... I'll log the visit, pass the coin along, and no one will be the wiser that the 2 coins were in my possession for 2 whole weeks. Just my luck, later that day 2 weeks ago, 2 other cachers found the cache and logged that coins were missing, and I feel like the crown jewel thief. Worse, I found that one of them should have been traveling further west if anywhere, so now I feel obligated to go find some caches west of where I was. Or just put it back! Keep in mind, at the time, we didn't know we could jot down the trackable # and log that we "discovered" it later. (Is that what discovering means, how it works?) Otherwise, I would have probably just left them behind for someone else to move, because we don't travel outside a certain radius all that much. So basically, I wanted to know what I should do on the log end of things once I get these coins moved. Log the visit to the cache even though someone had been there the same day as me and seemed peeved that there weren't coins left in there to move? I don't know why they would be that way in the log..... I did date and log my visit and note I took the coins on the paper log, just not online. Are you absolutely obligated to leave another trackable in the place of one you took? I left some swag without taking any! I felt that was "payment" enough for the ability to log a trackable and say hi to the owner online. And I am still very unclear if I should have left ohhhh, 30- or 40 dollars worth of swag in place of the 2 coins I still have. As per the question I asked above... Because the coins are nice... but I just don't understand that whole philosophy. Well, that's my story. If anyone cares to help me now, please do! And THANK YOU very much to the people who did respond to this post, and also to the people who responded to me by email. I don't know how to do that, or I would thank them personally... but actually, it was they who brought it to my attention that my (what looks like, compared to the answers I got!!!) snide intro to the questions I meant to ask, but got too busy and forgot about; actually did get posted! And P.S. Since I didn't know that message would post, some people may ask what my plan was to do about the coins since I hadn't gotten to ask in the forums? Well, I was just going to move them (within the week, hopefully by SUN) and log that I discovered them at the place I moved them to. After I got busy and forgot about posting, it just seemed like the only answer. Unless someone has another? I didn't know this forum was different from another. I read several things in parts of this forum, and it seems if you are new, you are talked down to. So, I'm not sure how this part of the forum is nicer, but I guess that is the way it works, because everyone was nice when I did look like a complete fool!

I am beyond worried asking all of this on this forum. I'm almost sure someone is going to do their best to make me feel like a complete idiot. I already searched for a "help a new person' post, and the few I found irked me because the new person was treated like a jerk. I know all of you that have 7000 posts here in the forum have probably found just that many caches too and feel you have the right to look down on someone who is just getting started, but I'm sorry I don't feel that way. So if you decide to respond, please do so with a kind attitude, and not a "I'm going to put this idiot straight" attitude, PLEASE.