ANSWER from Joanne
Hayes-Rines, Inventors Digest
#1. Do a patent search. You can do one at a Patent and Trademark
Depository library. Check http://www.uspto.gov/ for location near
you.
#2 Do a market search. Determine where the product will be sold
(hardware stores for hardware items, sports outlets for sports
item, etc.). Talk with the department manager or buyer in the store
and ask if they have a product that solves the problem. Also, go to
the library and check every magazine/trade journal in which similar
products would be advertised.
#3. Consider filing a patent application if #1 & #2 look
good. I'd hire a patent attorney or agent to do a thorough search,
then based on their opinion of patentability determine if you
should file a patent.
#4 Do a test market study. Manufacture a small quantity, package
them well and have a local store(s) sell them. You mention that it
"could be sold anywhere" well, that's not really true. Where would
people look for such an item? That's where you try to get them
sold.
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ANSWER from Joe Cote,
Director, Business Development Arthur D. Little Enterprises, Inc.
(Please visit our web site at www.adlenterprises.com)
The first people I would talk with are inventors like yourself
who have been through the process of commercializing their
products. These people will be able to tell you what they went
through, what concerns they had and how they dealt with them. They
can also suggest to you others who may be able to help you
commercialize your product.
If your product has patent potential you may want to pursue that
avenue. If it can not be protected through some legal means you
must be more careful. Depending on the market potential of the
product just by introducing it to consumers others may produce
knockoffs very rapidly. I would strongly recommend that before you
talk with anyone about your ideas that you have them sign a
confidentiality agreement that keeps all you proprietary
information confidential for a specified amount of time. If your
product is protectable by patents, has a significant licensing
potential and is demonstrable, you may want to take it to a product
development company and contract with them to commercialize the
product and share a royalty stream.
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ANSWER from Bob Merrick
Inventor/ Entrepreneur and Author of Stand Alone, Inventor!
1-800.426.5454 www.bobmerrick.com
You are right to be concerned about protection of your
invention.
I would suggest that you complete and file a $75 Provisional
Patent Application which will give you patent pending protection
for up to one year. To learn more go the the Patent Office site at
www.uspto.gov
I just filed one, and the moment I mailed the application I had
legal patent pending status that allows me to shop for vendors and
disclose my invention as needed to develop it. Before a year is up,
I will need to decide if a more expensive, 20-year patent is called
for. You could do the same.
Once you have filed, please let me know what you have and
perhaps I could help. Bob Merrick 1-800.426.5454
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ANSWER from Ed Tutle, inventor
& licensing expert
Your fear of being taken seems to be excessive. Unless you can
afford to make and sell, you will need others to help you. You
express the opinion that you have some thing that everyone needs
and will be cheap to make. You can only make such assumptions if
you are expert in the business trade your product would be
marketed. If it has such universal appeal in must be a mass market
item and will take a lot of investment capital to make and sell. Do
you have an idea of what it takes Gillette just to introduce their
new razor into a mass market?
To be brutally candid, you are not ready to do business as your
attitude will allow you to be taken by someone who will size you
up, and give you words you want to hear.if what you have is as good
as you think it is. I occasionally get people coming to me with
your attitude and I tend to send them away, as there is little
anyone will tell them candidly, that they will believe.
If you want to be credible, you will have to provide non-enabling
information about your idea(s), so that people can get an idea how
to be of service. Go back and learn how to sell your ideas and know
your market. You will then be able to know if you are dealing with
ethical people! Not all out here who might be helpful, are
unethical.
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ANSWER from Paula V. Serber,
partner in Princeton Products and a product development/marketing
consultant
First, to address your distrust of others that could potentially
help you develop your product, there is always the nondisclosure
agreement (NDA). Understand many professionals make their living
assisting inventors like you, they would not be in business if they
were just out to steal ideas. Getting yourself educated on the
product development and marketing process (through talking to
people in these areas as well as research) will greatly reduce the
chances of you getting scammed out of your hard-earned money.
Regarding the design of your product, I would ask how far along
are your designs and what materials and manufacturing processes are
involved? Whether or not you need to go to a design engineer
depends on the answers to these questions. If the product consists
of one plastic injection molded piece, chances are you can go
directly to a mold maker. If it is fairly complex, it is best to
work with a design engineer who can finalize the design and
recommend materials to maximize the efficiency of the manufacturing
process. Once you have a good design talk to several manufacturers
and get quotes on various quantities, then compare.
You should consider filing a patent application only after you
determine your innovation has a sizable market, and there would be
a reasonable profit margin after manufacturing and distribution.
These points are the primary factors of marketability. Many
inventors have wasted thousands of dollars on patenting because
they did not first do their due diligence.
As far as product marketing, inventors have basically two
choices, 1) licensing and, 2) venturing. To license your product
means you grant the right to a manufacturer to make, market and
sell your product in exchange for a royalty. The royalty is paid as
a percentage of sales, or a per unit dollar amount, or some other
arrangement. The benefit to licensing for the inventor is it is far
less risky than venturing and there is no capital outlay (other
than what has been invested in development). The right manufacturer
already has the channels of distribution in place and hopefully the
funds to properly market product. The disadvantage is the loss of
control over the sales and marketing.
In venturing the inventor makes and markets the product himself.
This is a highly risky, but possible, prospect. The more business
experience the management team (notice team, not necessarily
inventor) has, the greater the possibility of success. What
prevents most inventors from going the venture route is the large
amount of up-front capital required for manufacturing, building
inventory and marketing the product. It is easy for an inventor to
think that because his product is inexpensive to make that he could
easily operate his own venture. T hey forget that an inventory must
be built and maintained. Additionally, proper marketing must be
done to make the target market aware of the product and to create
the demand. This is usually not cheap. I should also add that if
the product is one that is best sold through retail outlets, mass
merchandisers for example, there will be the hurdle of convincing a
buyer to take a chance on your new product and new company. It will
be all the more difficult if your company is a single-item
manufacturer.
To avoid getting scammed by unethical predators that prey on
unwary inventor, it is your responsibility to educate yourself on
the development and marketing process. To mitigate the chances of
wasting your time and money, I advise you to know your product
works and is marketable prior to filing a patent application. ,If
you take these steps it will at the least insure that invention
development will be a positive and educational experience, and at
the most dramatically increase your chances of having a successful
product.
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ANSWER from Mark Francis,
Openize Ideas, Inc.
I would recommend that you do a patent search first before going
much further. It is possible that your idea has been conceived
before and that you will need to get on to your next idea.
You can carry out a preliminary search on the internet and see
where this takes you.
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ANSWER from Jim Petruzzi,
co-creator of PatentPro software
The U. S. Patent Laws protect new, useful, and non-obvious
ideas. You can get a lot of information about patents from the
government at their web site (www.uspto.gov). You can also do some
rudimentary searching of prior U. S. patents at that site to see if
the idea has been patented in the US before. Also see
www.patents.ibm.com for searching U. S. patents.
If you decide to prepare an application for patent, the national
average that Patent Attorneys charge for a patent application is
between $5,000 and $6,000-reported by the American Intellectual
Property Association (AIPLA). You can also prepare your own
application with a software package called PatentPro
(www.4patpro.com). The software was reviewed in Inventors Digest
in June 1997 and received very favorable marks. Quite uniquely, the
Software comes with both technical and legal support by registered
Patent Attorneys at no extra charge. Applications for patents
sometimes open marketing and investment opportunities.
PatentPro-Customer Service - PatentPro includes attorney review
of application Kernel Creations, Ltd. http://www.4patpro.com toll free
1-888-472-8776 Do-it-yourself Patent Application Software
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ANSWER from Carol Oldenburg,
Administrator, United Inventors Association of the USA
In general, if you're at the beginning of the process of product
development, it's always a good idea to have your product concept
evaluated for both technical and commercial feasibility. This would
also include a preliminary patent search. There are a few
recommended innovation assessment centers that can provide this
service for a relatively small fee, ranging from about $175 to
$500.
It's important at this point to be aware that there are also
several fraudulent invention promotion companies operating around
the country who will also offer to do an evaluation for around the
same price, but they will not be valid evaluations. Furthermore
they will try to convince you to spend further monies to patent and
market your idea, regardless of its true feasibility. Your best bet
at this point is to contact a local inventors support group in your
area for guidance and referrals to reputable service providers. You
can also learn a lot about the do's and don'ts through reading and
a visit to the nearest Patent & Trademark Depository
Library(PTDL), where you can do your own preliminary patent
search.
To contact a local inventors groups or to learn where your
nearest PTDL is located you can contact this office and we'll give
you that information. You can reach us at UIAUSA@aol.com |
