The original Ouija board patent expired in 1908, and the claims to the invention, a letter board, a planchette, and the way they worked together, went into the public domain. These days, utility patents for how something works last for 20 years. Design patents for how something looks last 15 years. Once patent rights expire, there is no resurrecting them from the dead. At that time, your success depends on competing with imitators on quality, price, service, and name recognition.
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