Yes Bicycle Bob, in a way, I have wasted my money. Since I have yet to see but a small monetary return on the money and time spent designing and building the five Aerolids and five boat tails it has been mostly expenditures. Fortunately, the patents on both the Aerolid and boat tail cost me far less than they would have if I had hired a Patent Attorney. I was granted both these patents Pro Se ( on my own). Now I make money on the side writing and filing Provisional and Non-Provisional patent applications for people who want to file their own patents Pro Se.
Freebeard, you are very right in saying that the game in patents is circumvention. What is stated in the claims of a patent, the most important part, is what is argued in a court of Law in infringement cases. In my claims for both patents, I simply stated they are constructed of "rigid" materials. The word "rigid" pretty much covers Aluminum, sheet metal, fiberglass, thermoformable plastics, ect. If one chose to circumvent the Aerolid patent using metal instead of fiberglass, this one word "rigid" in the claims would negate them.
I often go to the Patent and Trademark Office web page,
United States Patent and Trademark Office and look through the new patents that have been granted that week. I look under the class 296 which is land vehicles. It is interesting to see how many patents are granted to the automobile manufacturers both foreign and domestic. Many of the patents deal with improved aerodynamics.
I reckon the automobile manufacturers don't consider patents a waste of money.
Bondo