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So You Have An Invention

Written by: Dan Miller

Article Overview: We get a lot of questions regarding inventions: Where do I start? How can I sell my idea? Is it legal? How can I know that I am not infringing on someone else's patent? Do I need a patent?

So You Have An Invention

While we cannot address all these questions here, let me get you started. If an invention is going to make money, it must be more than just a good idea. Store shelves are already filled to capacity, so a new product must be outstanding to attract customer's attention. Watchdog agencies like the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, OSHA, and the Underwriter's Laboratory are watching to make sure any new product conforms to local, state, and federal laws. Does your product have safety concerns?

Know your potential customers. Is the market for your product growing or shrinking. A few years ago a lady started mixing flour and clear finger nail polish. Four years later she sold that company to the Gillette company for $42 Million dollars. Today the market for Liquid Paper or White Out is shrinking, not growing.

Do you need a Patent? Many people waste time and money pursuing a patent, convinced that if they can get a patent, they will be rich. No, you can get a patent on anything that has not be patented before. Thus, you could get a patent on square wooden wheels, but I doubt that anyone would want to BUY them. A patent here does not protect you from someone in Taiwan duplicating what you have done and selling it here. Many times it is wiser to spend your time developing your MARKETING plan rather than protecting your idea.

Be careful of Independent Product Developers (IDPs) Many will lead you down the rosy red path telling you your idea is the greatest thing since peanut butter when all they are doing is extracting your dollars.

Related Articles
  A Patent Search in 7 Steps
  Five Tips for Inventing
  Basics of US Patent Law
  The Seven-step Path to Sustaining Success
  Inventors Time to Sketch Up

Article Tags: finger nail, flour, food and drug, food and drug administration, gillette company, independent product developers, invention, liquid paper, marketing plan, million dollars, osha, peanut butter, red path, safety concerns, store shelves, time and money, underwriter, waste time, watchdog agencies, wooden wheels



Related Forum Posts
Upcoming inventors exhibition - Hi Forum, Just wanted to get an idea if any one has been to the previous British Invention Society exhibition. Also are there any inventors exhibitions in the near future. Lets a arrange a calender of events which Inventors may find useful to attend around the world.
Not much idea about ITE today - I didn't know they were still going! That's especially odd considering they were the subject of Canadian TV documentary about their shady practices. Basically it covered lots of people who had gone to them, paid over £10,000 for their services and didn't get anywhere. Their 'patent search' is nonexistent, the TV crew tested it with an invention they sent in, which had already been patented years ago, and it came back clean. They send out a glossy report, which is basically a form report that they send out to everyone with a few alterations, and it claims they will make you a millionaire. After that it goes absolutely nowhere. I spoke to Trevor Bayliss at the British Invention Show, and he's very keen on getting them shut down, so I think that says it all! But if you need help with an invention, we're a product design consultants and we specialize in that area, so feel free to get in touch. As well as that, post on this board, as well as some others that are around, and people will point you in the right direction.


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