By Jack Lander
We love to think of ourselves as creators of original ideas.
Most of the time we are merely tuning in on the concepts of others.
But we’re in good company when we reinvent the wheel.
Did Edison invent the light bulb? He invented one version of it.
Sir Humphrey Davy invented the first incandescent lamp 75 years before Edison’s. There were some 22 inventors of electric incandescent lamps before Edison.
Joseph Swan of England was Edison’s principal contender. Edison’s main advantages over competitors were a better vacuum that reduced the oxidation of the filament, and the first practical system of generating and distributing electricity.
Almost every invention has its antecedents. But most often the credit and the glory go to those inventors who persist with improvements on the prior art and who drive their version to the market. Inventive brilliance without persistence toward the market amounts to self-indulgence.
Using other people’s ideas (OPI) is legitimate, as long as we don’t infringe on intellectual property that is still in force.
How, then, do we assess opportunities?
First search for prior art, generally in the form of U.S. patents. A search on Google often will turn up patents that include drawings, descriptions or claims so similar to our own that we’ll will be barred from obtaining a patent on what we believed was our original concept.
Even if you don’t find prior art, sometimes you can be too early or too late to market.
Assuming your search is not discouraging, opportunities depend on three main factors:
- Timing.
- Extent to which the market channels are established and receptive.
- Superiority of your invention over whatever currently fills the need.
Timing is essential, and true inventors, by their nature, may be ahead of optimum timing. More often, the less nerdy among us are too late.
Independent inventors should avoid attempting to create a new market channel until they’ve earned enough through a well-established channel.
We have sufficient challenge just matching our inventions to the consumer’s ideal of both function and price. Billion-dollar corporations may be able to create or alter a market channel, but the eBay, Amazon.com and Dell types are relatively few.
For an invention to be attractive to potential licensees or grow in consumer acceptance, it must be superior in some way to whatever currently fills the need.
“Novel” does not automatically mean “better.” And unless the market channel is fairly new, and hasn’t yet filled up with products, a “me-too” product – a product without superior features – will be pushed out due to lack of consumer interest.
