i know this is money and investment, but there is almost no traffic there.

lots of details, but boiled down, ive had this idea for a simple invention for awhile. i thought about how to proceed with it and it's tough. lawyers fees are insane, i dont know any engineers or marketing people. i went to meet with a company called "innovative patent service" in orange country, CA. we've had a few meetings, all which were professional and without pressure (opposite of car dealership). they have agreed to help me bring it to market and pitch/negotiate deals with the major companies/players in that sector. catch is they want $11,000 for the lawyers, patent, engineers, product presentation, etc. i looked into doing everything myself and chances are i won't be able to do it nearly as well and it will cost me more. if successful, they want 10% of the profit.

bottomline, i either risk the money and im still afraid of being scammed (even though the company has an A rank from the BBB, im still scared) or i just drop the idea and any hope of a future for it. i already know that i will always wonder if it would have worked if i dont try, but 11 grand is a ton of money to lose. i truly believe in the idea, but i also make room that i might be wrong.

what would you do?

thanks

 

The economist in me says that if the company thought that it was a sure thing that it would make money they would likely front the money for thier services.

Of course that depends on what they get. If all you are wanting is services (and not giving out any ownership) then it makes sense that you would have to pay.

 

i would recommend reading about the patenting process.

 

I would try and find anyone that has used their services and find out what they did for them. What inventions have they backed.

 

I have had a few ideas that I thought were awsome and make a great invention. In most cases, someone had the idea before me and either had a patent or had already brought the product to market without much success.

I can't say for sure whether or not the company is a scam, but I would say you should do what you can to do your own patent search FIRST, because if this company is of course working in its own best interest and they get $11k out of you whether or not you make a dime.

I had a friend in college who was traing to be a patent lawyer and new how to do the searches.


*** I mean "KNEW" how to do searches."****

 

First, go to the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) website and conduct a through (2 or 3 hours) search using key words related to your idea. You will likely find several patents with some relationship to your idea.

Read the "claims" section of their patents and use your good judgement to determine whether your idea infringes on their claim(s). Assume your on the jury hearing this case in front of a judge.

If your idea is unique and patentable (not obvious, for example you can't patent the idea that the sun will rise in the east) you can file for a provisional patent (~$150, I think). There are two schools of thoughts on the level of detail that should be included in a provisional patent. One school says to make your claim somewhat vague and the other very specific. I've personally been given both ends of the spectrum from patent attorneys.

You can file the provisional patent yourself. The provisional patent basically is a document that "holds your idea in limbo" for 18 months and says that you were the first person to come up with this idea. No one can legally steal it from you after this is filed (as long as a jury of reasonable people agree that your provisional patent covers your claims well enough).

You now have 18 months to file the final patent. During this time you may want to sell, license, joint venture, etc. your idea to someone with $$$$$.

It's always a good idea to have someone sign a disclosure agreement when you present your idea to them for consideration. This can be a simple document that states that they can't disclose your idea to anyone else or proceed with developing a similar product that infringes on your provisional patent.

Once you actually file the patent it takes an average of 30 months to be published.

So, 18 months grace period with the provisional plus 30 months to publish the patent, that's 4 years. Dang !!!! Time flies when you're having fun.

I hope this helps.

I read once that each person is exposed to a million dollar idea every day, but very few ever act upon it.

 

^^^ I used to work with a guy that helped his son through the patent process. At the end of the 18 months, after marketing the product and having quite a bit more success than they ever thought possible, they had the realization that they still didn't have enough money to pay for the patent filing. Or, rather, were unwilling to pay the attorney and other costs.

As far as I know, anyone can now market the product they were selling out of a classified ad in the back of a nationally circulated magazine. I am unclear on the status of the patent, but the kid made quite a bit of money for a while, and is in a good position to do it again. I'd go the provisional patent process, and use the time to produce and sell the product. You can make the call on whether to pursue it after you have an idea of the feasibility of the product.

 

In terms of initial cost $11K doesn't sound out of line. At work we figure about $5K for any single US patent (we use good patent attorneys and, IIRC, they now get $450 an hour!).

Bear in mind that a single region patent (e.g. US) doesn't protect your idea in all other markets. It could be ripped off and become a screaming success in some other country.

 

thanks for the help.

im done my DD. checked the patent office. knew about filing. getting the provisional patent is not the problem. it's getting it made professionally and sent to the right people.

the company im talking to has already done some checking and said in writing that if we pay the money and a patent exists that they didn't see before, it will be refunded completely. my only risk is if no major companies are interested.

 

Depending on how difficult it is to produce, I have access to production lines in a foreign country.