Who has inventions?

[Musick17]

Obviously we all come up with things that we would consider inventions. But who has taken it to the next step and protected their idea?

Ive got quite a jumble of things in my head that are my million makers I'm sure

But I just dont know the best way to go about getting them started.

So, I wanted to know if anyone else has done anything with patenting/securing ideas.

Feel free to chime in with any information. It would be awesome to find someone thats gone through all the red tape before!

 

[straycat]

Try Legal zoom.com. You always need to patent an idea so nobody else can steal it from you!!

 

[Musick17]

Patenting an idea is Extremely expensive and worthless if the product has no commercial value, that much I do know. One man I talked to has many inventions on the market and he advised never to patent until you know you can make that money back. I wish I knew how to get ahold of that guy again...

 

[88_Eddie]

patenting is a lot of work. i have a degree in product design and we spent a couple weeks studying different types of patents....damn was it boring. there's is a TON of different ways to patent stuff or trademark it. you can also patent intellectual property, basically, an idea that someone may come up with down the road. lots of work to get it done. the cost depends on how long you want the patent last. seems like the longest is 20 years, but i dont remember. the course i took was 3 or 4 years ago and again, it was BORING stuff.

you can check with the US patent office and they'll give you info on ways to do it.

you'll need a set of working drawings for the idea, lots of money and someone to buy the idea off of you.

this is the closest thing i've ever had to a patent. i designed it while in school one semester. we were desiging tools for the alabama construction industry fund. the university owned ANYTHING that i came up with while there. it was up to the them to patent something and i'd never know about it.

 

[robertc1024]

I came up with a new pressure controller design and my company took it to a patent attorney who did all the prior art research and stuff and submitted our claim back to me. Never filed it though. The problem is that the patent doesn't protect your invention - it just gives you the ability to sue others that encroach on your claims. That costs even more money - and once it's published, any Chinese Tom, Dick or Harry can copy your invention and it's up to you to find out about it.

 

[Musick17]

Thanks for the input guys. It seems like actually getting royalties for what you come up with is almost an unreachable playing field, especially on your own. The only thing that I have found in my research that could possibly help the single handed entrepreneur is a system an old man has been developing for 30 years or something. Of course this 'system' will cost you 500 bucks to purchase, Do you think it could be worth it in the end? It details and guides you through all the steps you need t follow to protect your ideas and inventions without having to deal with getting patents or anything. It guarantees that they will get your product into the global market or find out why it does not hold any commercial value.

Ill see if I cant dig up the website for it so you can form your own opinions

 

[88_Eddie]

on your own, yes, i agree with you, pretty unreachable. unless you have gobs of money.

i had a professor in college that received royalties on a design of his. they werent crap though. i think he got $600 every 6 months from a company that was probably making millions on his design. (on second though, that could've been $600 a month, but i dont think so...it was a long time ago) still, that's pretty cool. i could use an extra $100 a month.


the problem with those invention.com places is that they're there to make money, not provide you with any kind of service. how do you know that dont just go, "oh yeah, someone already patented that, thanks for the money though." i just wouldnt trust them.

you need to win the lottery, then you can patent everything and try to sell it. if you dont, oh well, you just won the lottery so you dont need money. lol

and like robert said, someone can pretty much copy your idea, but add some different bell or whistle to it and then it isnt your design anymore. you need billy mays!

 

[Mac]

add some different bell or whistle to it and then it isnt your design anymore. you need billy mays!

It's kind of like you did with the age old shovel, put a different twist to it and call it new and improved. I think it was real early in the 1900's they were going to close the patent office because everything had been invented.
Dave of the Nord

 

[Musick17]

It's kind of like you did with the age old shovel, put a different twist to it and call it new and improved. I think it was real early in the 1900's they were going to close the patent office because everything had been invented.
Dave of the Nord

If they were so naive, how naive are we?

 

[hoosier1104]

Check the signature to see what has been spinning in my melon. Grad Project.

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[straycat]

I came up with a new pressure controller design and my company took it to a patent attorney who did all the prior art research and stuff and submitted our claim back to me. Never filed it though. The problem is that the patent doesn't protect your invention - it just gives you the ability to sue others that encroach on your claims. That costs even more money - and once it's published, any Chinese Tom, Dick or Harry can copy your invention and it's up to you to find out about it.

Yes, that can happen, but that is why you need to have a TM as well. Look at the Gibson SG. You can buy a copy of it. Same with other guitars and other stuff as well. Nothing is guaranteed in life. Ha!! I remember test tube babies...who needs a womb??...lol

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yup, getting something patented is tricky business. And all it takes is a little tweak here or there and the person copying you can get away with it. Of course you can fight it, and you might even be lucky enough to win..... after a long and expensive court battle of course.

I have come up with a number of good ideas, so has my dad. Neither of us have ever tried to get a formal patent and neither of us have tried to mass produce it. We looked into some of that stuff years ago, and after discovering the real truth of the matter, decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

 

[Mutant Pony]

I spent years and lots of money trying to patent a steering system for TTB's. As with everything else, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I have a friend that has about $250,000 in a bow hanger that I built the prototype for. Every penny of his investment was wasted! It sucks.

 

[robertc1024]

Ha!! I remember test tube babies...who needs a womb??...lol

My kids are in vitro.

 

[Will]

My brother is a patent attorney. If you have an idea you want to shoot by hime, PM me.

I will tell you, he will ask if you have a few thousand available for a patent search. You don't have to do a search, you can spend your $15,000 just filing the patent and see what happens. You can try a little on-line search and get an idea whetehr your idea is already patented. The thing about a good patent attorney is, they are very good at knowing what to look for.

I'll tell you something else. Your idea, when you approach the attorney, might not be developed enough. A good patent attorney often has to help the inventor finish their design. It's crazy how much my brother knows about everything from helping invent stuff.

Marketability matters a lot. Most things fail. Your best bet, most likely, is to just build it yourself and sell it on Ebay and hope it isn't being built under a patent somewhere.