Inventions...

[ZR]

Say you have a great idea for some new product. What's the next step? I assume to patent it but what actually can be patented or what is patentable?? ; )

Then how do you proceed to have it manufactured ...etc?

Has anyone done anything like this?

You see ads for those invention companies but they seem like they would just be a big rip-off to me. Am I right to assume that?

I saw a program (possibly govt?)that paired veteran biz leaders to inventors to help get new products out. Anyone hear about that before?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[BadgerDave]

You see ads for those invention companies but they seem like they would just be a big rip-off to me. Am I right to assume that?

Not necessarily a rip-off, but most, if not all, just want to sell you crap. Anything from do-it-yourself form kits to books, DVDs, and seminars of dubious value.

First rent the movie "Flash of Genius" It's the story of the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper mechanism and his subsequent legal battle with FMC.

There is good basic advice on the website for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

If you can construct a working prototype of your invention you will be way ahead of the game. If not, you'll likely have to pay to have it done.

[zorrow]

I have invented two guitar-oriented devices, and it was quite easy building a working prototype for one of them. However, I have to find the drive now to patent them and then get the funds to start factory-producing them. I wonder if I'll ever do it!

[atquinn]

I have invented two guitar-oriented devices, and it was quite easy building a working prototype for one of them. However, I have to find the drive now to patent them and then get the funds to start factory-producing them. I wonder if I'll ever do it!

Why do you have to produce them yourself? Couldn't you license the idea to someone else? Like Ron Thorn did with his guitar neck cradle thingy: http://www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=pr...cts/maintenance

-Austin

[ZR]

You see ads for those invention companies but they seem like they would just be a big rip-off to me. Am I right to assume that?

Not necessarily a rip-off, but most, if not all, just want to sell you crap. Anything from do-it-yourself form kits to books, DVDs, and seminars of dubious value.

First rent the movie "Flash of Genius" It's the story of the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper mechanism and his subsequent legal battle with FMC.

There is good basic advice on the website for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

If you can construct a working prototype of your invention you will be way ahead of the game. If not, you'll likely have to pay to have it done.

I remember when that movie 1st came out I thought..."Man, I gotta see that movie!" But, we hardly ever see movies in the theater anymore. Anyway, I'll need to rent that. thanks for all the replies so far!!

[burningyen]

I agree that the USPTO website (http://www.uspto.gov/patents/index.jsp) is the best 1st stop for your research. After that, I suggest asking your local bar association for a referral to a patent attorney.

[Turdus]

you'd better act quick too. If you have an idea, get to work on it, or somebody else will beat you to it.

Believe it or not... 10 years ago, I thought of sun tan lotion in the form of wipes.... It may have existed, but I'd never seen it. Idea came to me as I was putting on lotion for my son as he went off to a summer camp. I never acted.

5 years ago, my kid brother tosses me a packet, and says "remember your idea?". There it was... not produced by a big name company, but produced nonetheless.

It never really caught on anyway, as they started to produce lotions in spray format soon after that.

[burningyen]

Another one for the sad story department: back in '94 I came up with a twisty slide design and sent a crude text-based e-mail "drawing" to a friend asking him to create a prototype in his lab shop. He couldn't make heads or tails of my "drawing" and we both forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2006: I find out this guy Hoolahan came up with the same idea and got a UK patent on it. He's now locked in a legal battle with Dunlop over a license agreement they had for the design:

[sonic1974]

Another one for the sad story department: back in '94 I came up with a twisty slide design and sent a crude text-based e-mail "drawing" to a friend asking him to create a prototype in his lab shop. He couldn't make heads or tails of my "drawing" and we both forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2006: I find out this guy Hoolahan came up with the same idea and got a UK patent on it. He's now locked in a legal battle with Dunlop over a license agreement they had for the design:

I don't really get it..........what's the advantage to the design?

[HSB0531]

Regarding Patents/inventions:

I got a book from the US Patent Office that listed all the patent lawyers that were approved by the USPO to file for a patent filing.

I used one of their recommended lawyers and was granted a speaker design patent in 1992.

Depending on the lawyer, the patent officer reviewing your case, the number of countries you want a patent in, and the amount of patents that your invention is similar to, a patent grant could take a relatively short time, to years. Mine took about 2-1/2 years, lots of $$ and a stack of patents I had to disprove including one given to Electro-Voice.

Also note that, even with a US & several international patent, it doesn't mean yours won't be used in an of shore companies product (China, Pakistan, India, & Indonesia come to mind).

Even when you are granted a patent in those countries,

they'll just steal it & use it until you win a court battle.

[burningyen]

I don't really get it..........what's the advantage to the design?

You can twist it around and play normally with your slide finger. The reviews I've read on this say that it doesn't have enough mass/sustain, though.

[sonic1974]

I don't really get it..........what's the advantage to the design?

You can twist it around and play normally with your slide finger. The reviews I've read on this say that it doesn't have enough mass/sustain, though.

Oh, gotcha, cool idea!

[Uncle Thor's Hamer]

All a patent does is give you a better basis to sue. Filing the patent can give away information and it can give your competition documentation so they can figure out a way to skirt your patent.

My grandfather had numerous patents related to Soybean products. If you ever ate a soybean hot dog or hamburger, it was his invention. All the soybean fake meats are his creations.

Anyhow, I remember him saying that he learned a lot from selling his first patent where he made no money! After that he was a lot smarter on how to construct the licensing contracts.

So I think that getting a patent is really only a formality, with your bigger concerns being how to actually make money off of it. There are some good books on the subject that discuss how to formulate the royalties. Per unit, % of gross, etc. Plus consider the foreign aspects. You can sell USA rights only, or worldwide, etc.

You may consider entering into a non-disclosure agreement with a manufacturer and getting your product to market now. Apply for the patent in parallel and have the product labeled "PAT PENDING".

If you think that there really may be good money in your ideas, it would be worth consulting with a lawyer experienced in licensing contracts. For the patent you can do a lot of the legwork yourself but if there is a lot of money potential you should get a competent lawyer involved to be sure your patent covers you properly.

[burningyen]

All a patent does is give you a better basis to sue.

Without a patent, you have virtually no basis to sue. And in my line of work, that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Uncle Thor's Hamer]

All a patent does is give you a better basis to sue.

Without a patent, you have virtually no basis to sue. And in my line of work, that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Admittedly it is important to protecting one's intellectual property. But, just like a copyright filed on your song, it does nothing to prevent stealing. For 'small potatoes' inventions it may not worth spending thousands of dollars to get a patent. And, as we know with the intermittent windshield wiper guy, being the lawful owner of a patent may not mean anything if you cannot out spend the big guys on lawyers.

On the other hand, having the patent may be just what it takes to keep Mega-Mart from copying the product and importing billions of them from China to undercut your small local manufacturing business. Once they do that, you have no chance to compete with them. I have heard credible arguments for finding who your big competitor might be and then approaching them with a licensing deal.

Deciding to patent something or not to do so is only the beginning of the process in trying to protect one's idea and ultimately make money from it.

[Pieman]

The first thing (well maybe not the first) is to be sure that nobody has patented the same device which could be used to defeat your rights in your invention and essentially make your efforts to patent utterly pointless. You can search the USPTO yourself or hire somebody to do it. The database works slowly because lots of researchers hit on it and it grinds slowly due to the graphical content.

I have a friend, a Romanian thalidomide baby. While he is wheelchair bound and can barely grip a pen, he thinks up things, mainly mechanical concepts, and he sketches them out. I got him the free services of a an expensive and experienced patent lawyer, who searched the USPTO records on-line at no cost. Every single idea (and he presented about six of them) was very clever. But all of them were already covered by patents owned by companies that have large staffs of inventors and lawyers to cover these. It is the lifeblood of these companies, after all. It was a remarkable testimony to his intellect and aptitude that he dreamed these up at all and committed them to paper. But, alas, his ideas were already covered, and it was back to the drawing board.

So, start with the patent search. Also there is a "Patents for Dummies" book which is pretty darn good.

[whiskeyzulu]

The first thing (well maybe not the first) is to be sure that nobody has patented the same device which could be used to defeat your rights in your invention and essentially make your efforts to patent utterly pointless. You can search the USPTO yourself or hire somebody to do it. The database works slowly because lots of researchers hit on it and it grinds slowly due to the graphical content.

Equally important, you need to determine if what you are doing or plan to do will infringe an existing patent and put you on the wrong end of an infringement suit. This due diligence is known as a "prior art" search. Patents, like the metes and bounds description of real property, must delineate the scope of the claimed invention, which is done through numbered claims. Relevant patents in the field of art will also be listed and those in turn should also be checked.

The cost of a patent depends on the nature of the invention. A design patent costs a lot less than a utility patent. While inventors may file (at a discount) a patent themselves - it can be a complex process for which you may want to seek professional guidance - I would not use one of those inventor services and would seek out a reputable patent attorney. Keep in mind that you must file your patent w/in a year of its public use/sale or otherwise it is statutorily deemed to be in the public domain.

To be patentable your invention must be novel (thats the 1 year bar), useful and non-obvious. Whether something is useful and non-obvious have been the basis of many legal cases.

All a patent does is give you a better basis to sue. Filing the patent can give away information and it can give your competition documentation so they can figure out a way to skirt your patent.

Yes, its gives you statutory access to federal courts and entitles you to statutory damages. It is also an asset that can be mortgaged, licensed or sold. So, its more than just a better basis to sue.

Also, pending applications are not publicly available, so competitors and third-parties cannot see what you have filed.