Without gettting into the details of your idea, how difficult is it to produce?

Are there many components to the final assembly?

Are there tight tolerances (i.e. +/- .001")

Can it be produced on a Rapid Prototype Machine (out of plastic components) or does it have to be machined from metal?

Do you have concept drawings or detailed engineering drawings?

Is there still some engineering that is required before a prototype can be built?

 

I had a guy from Honda-tech IM me that he worked at the patent office when i thougt i had a NEW idea.....he quickly searched and showed me how someone else had patented it back in 2003

it was a website that would track doctors's offices....kind of like at the airport.... to tell whether or not the dr. office was on time or running late....

anyway..... i can give you his email in PM if you want to make double sure you aren't wasting your time.?

I am with Vader on this...damn near everything has been invented.

Goodluck...

 

it is not hard to produce, but it will be hard to market and distribute. thanks for the help, but i also have manufacturers in asia that could do it, but it would cost a bunch to make the mold. i need help in making technical drawings and filing lawyer speak paperwork.

scot, plz pm me.

 

"my only risk is if no major companies are interested."

OK, you need to get them interested by doing the hard work for them. Produce and market the item yourself, and demonstrate the market exists. Build a business out of it, and then sell it.

Figure out the size of the market. Several years ago the general rule of thumb was $1 billion worldwide. If the product or service market was that size or greater, it was worth someone else's time to bring to market. Less than that, and you wouldn't get many bites. People are looking for a return on their investment. More than that, they are looking for enough of a return to pay for the investments that didn't pay off, and seed others.

And don't cheap out. If it is something like a simple cosmetic car part, make it out of titanium or plated precious metals. When people stop shopping on price, they spend a whole lot more money. Just look at the prices for cosmetic mods for cars like Ferrari and Porsche. Hell, even BMW. Yes, the tiny crap they buy isn't worth the money, even made out of titanium, but these people have checkbooks that don't care. You could try to sell 10,000 aluminum trinkets for $50 ea. to a bunch of pikers, or 500 titanium trinkets for $500 ea. to people who have a demonstrated willingness to spend too much money for anything automotive. Which do you suppose would be the lesser headache?

 

Google Patent search is a lot easier to use than the USPTO search engine: http://www.google.com/patents

I have a patent which was filed via the company I work for. Keep in mind that it takes quite a few years to get the patent granted. Mine was filed in May of 2000 and granted in September of 2003 - almost 3.5 years. It's been a while since I followed any of the backlog stories, but I heard it was getting worse since there are an increasing number of patent filings and not that many examiners.

During the process, I found out is that there's a lot more to patent law than what's on the surface. The concept of "prior art" is interesting... even though you may hold the patent, if someone else without a patent can show that they produced the item before you, then your patent is considered invalid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_art. I'm not a lawyer, and you'd really need to speak with one to understand all the ins and outs. And regarding leaving the patent description vague... if someone else files an "improvement" to your patent, then theirs will override.

So, before you plunk down $11k, my recommendation would be to find a reputable patent attorney who will represent your best interest and pay them a few hundred dollars for an hour of their time. I think that few hundred will either save you thousands or at least help you make sure you're doing the right thing.

 

Ah, you mentioned a mold. That's a highly variable start-up cost. There must be a 20-to-1 cost range or more between a cheap tool-steel proto mold that is not finished well and a multi-cavity production mold with tight tolerances that'll stand up to millions of shots. I'm not a molding specialist but I've worked on projects with them.

Tooling is always a big-ticket item for us.

 

You never want to give someone a percentage of your profit. That has bad idea written all over it. You are better off paying a little more, and getting the full shebang. If you believe it will be successful (and you obviously do, since you are spending all this time and money creating it), you want 100% of the right to it, and all the money. If its the next big thing, you dont want to give 10% of your profits to someone for a lousy 11K.

Take a out a loan, whatever it takes, just dont give anyone a share in the profit.

 

I heard the patent process may take a couple years.Check to see if it's not already patented and if it's a go then make your product and release it while you have the patent pending.



peace

 

Please take my advice (I have patent experience):

1. Start keeping detailed documents of your invention (keep an inventors notebook and sign and date each entry).

2. Keep details about your meetings with this company

3. Stay away from this company you have already talked to.

4. File your documents with the USPTO patent disclosure program

5. If you are not going to do this yourself, go with a top-tier firm and spend the money for professional work. If you can't afford it, you have to either do it yourself or go with a cheaper attorney or have them do the toughest parts (enabling disclosure/specifications and most importantly--CLAIMS) and you do the rest.

6. If you cannot do the above, make sure you do #4. The US acknowledges first to invent while the rest of the world recognizes first to file.

Reasons:

These agencies that are supposed to help inventors are usually scams. They will either: 1. rip you off (draft an app for you that is filled with holes) 2. rip you off (steal your invention by using their legal expertise and savvy).

I don't know about the company you specifically mentioned, but in general, these companies are not to be trusted. Google it, there have been many cases of fraud. 11 grand will not pay for any attorneys. Attorneys bill out at 200-600 dollars/hour. You $11k will only get you 10-30 hours of work. Of course, maybe you have a really simple idea...but if that were the case, you should be able to do it yourself. The patent app itself will be around $5k. $6k for lawyers, engineers and product presentation? Sounds like BULLSHIT to me.

In any case, asking for $11k + 10% of the profit is absurd. Then again, maybe you have a brilliant invention and they recognize that. If that were the case, then everything would cost much more and they are just giving you a break because they see your potential. I just have not have heard of anything like that myself.

I recommend:

At least scheduling a meeting with a top-tier firm. The initial consultation is usually ~120-150 dollars. If they see potential in you as a client, they will usually waive this fee after the meeting. At the meeting, ask them about this company you dealt with and how you should protect yourself from then on. The thing is, all attorneys take an oath (attorney-client privilege) and risk losing their bar admission as well as the reputation of the firm overall (trust me, a top-tier firm is bringing in 100s of millions in revenue per year and is not about to let their rep be ruined by 1 or 2 attorneys).

I cannot stress how important it is to record your invention down now and file with the USPTO. Also look into a provisional patent. This offers you no protection, but it holds the date of the invention.

Good luck.

 

[QUOTE=DaveZ,Jan 17 2007, 08:22 PM] Google Patent search is a lot easier to use than the USPTO search engine: