While many late night television commercials would have you believe that priority one is getting a patent, this is far from the truth.  That type of message is more about boosting their sales than moving your invention closer to success.

 The cold truth is that several important questions must be answered before deciding whether a patent makes sense. Some inventors are ready to proceed, while a great many others would be wasting their time and money. Use this quick and dirty checklist to see where you stand and what (if anything) you need to do before setting your sights on a patent.

 1) Does anyone want your invention?

 World-class direct marketer John Carlton once said, “a lot of people want to sell something, but just because you like it, that doesn’t mean anybody else does.” In this case, what’s true of direct marketing is true of intellectual property. It should go without saying that you should only patent something people want, but it’s astounding how many patent applications are sent in before the inventor has really established any demand at all for what he created. Obviously, this is not a situation you want to find yourself in. If you haven’t done so already, do some market research before you even think about getting a patent. Do not proceed until you can answer the following questions:

1)   Who are my customers? (age, sex, income, etc.)

2)   Where are they and how can I reach them? (what magazines/newspapers do they read?)

3)   What quantity (and quality) do they want? (are there surveys that gather this data?)

4)   What is the best time to sell? (Seasonal, yearly, etc.)

2) Do you have a commercialization strategy in mind?

Once you have established a market for your invention, it’s time to consider how you will capitalize upon it. Believe it or not, there are actually several ways of commercializing a patented invention. The more lucrative but increasingly less pursued way to be the entreprenurial soldier who takes the invention from the drawing board to the consumer. Under this scenario you will be responsible for creating, pricing, packaging, mass producing and getting your invention into stores. While undertaking all of this yourself is difficult and risky, you also stand to rake in the lion’s share of the profits. Other ways of commercializing your invention include selling or licensing the patent to someone who will do all the things discussed above. In this arrangement, you will make less money in royalties but also invest less time and risk. No matter what you choose, you should decide on one strategy or another before diving headlong into the patenting process.

3) Do you have a prototype?

Despite one infomercial’s claim that “any idea, big or small, can make millions!”, you cannot actually patent an idea alone. Instead, the US Patent and Trademark office will seek an “identifiable embodiment” of your idea; ie, a prototype or at least the early workings of one. While this might seem like a hurdle, you should actually embrace it! See this as an opportunity to get a head start on actually creating your invention, of leaving your comfort zone and marching boldly toward the day you discover whether your idea is really feasible. This will give you an edge over many first-time inventors and take you one crucial step closer to obtaining patent protection.

4) Are you going for a provisional patent first?

Most, if not all, inventors should apply for a provisional patent before a non-provisional (real) patent. Very simply, a provisional patent is a cheaper and greatly simplified way to get patent protection for 12 months. If you have ever heard a product advertised as being “patent pending”, that’s because the company in question has a provisional patent. What this allows you as an inventor to do is “test the waters”, and determine whether the market for your invention is real before committing to the expensive, years long non-provisional patent process. Savvy inventors use this window for all it’s worth, and you should too! If and when you have the above three steps under your belt, move straight to getting a provisional patent.

If the infomercial or shiny pamphlets didn’t mention these things, it’s because they get paid whether patenting your invention helps you or not. For this reason, you should dismiss invention advice that seems exclusively obsessed with starting the patent process. Instead, ask yourself the hard questions above. When you can confidently answer them, you will know with far greater certainty that a patent will move you closer to commercializing your invention.

About the author of this article:

Eric Corl is the President of Idea Buyer LLC, a new product development company and the parent company of IdeaBuyer.com.  IdeaBuyer.com is a marketplace for new technology and products that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com.

If your invention is done, functional, and ready for sale, congratulations! You have reached a plateau that few inventors ever see with their own eyes – a finished product that is destined for store shelves. But now, it’s crunch time. You want to be in stores 30 days from now. What do you do to prepare? That is the focus of today’s article.

If you want to sell in stores, there is a rule you need to know front to back, inside and out: “Show me the inventory.” That is the mindset of buyers and managers at nearly any store worth selling in. A BeadingTimes.com article called “Selling to Stores” explores the issue further:

“Forget catalogs - store owners want to see the merchandise. Your sales will increase if you approach them with samples in your hands. Sales will increase even more if you have inventory to leave with them at that moment. While some stores will pay cash for their merchandise, most prefer terms of thirty days net.”

SRC: beadingtimes.com/marketing1203.htm

What this means in practical terms is that you had better have the capacity to create and store inventory. This is no small issue, and it should command your full attention if you are even thinking about getting into stores. Do you need to hire people to help you? Do you need to rent storage space to keep a certain number of units on hand? Do you have enough room in your house? (Make sure your wife and kids are on board before saying yes, it only creates problems later if you don’t!) The point is that keeping inventory will be a necessity for getting into (and staying in) stores. Do not approach the matter lightly.

Another consideration is that you probably cannot get your invention into huge, big-name department stores right away. An Entreprenuer.com article called “Selling Your Invention” explains the more likely reality:

“Unless you’re very lucky or very connected, you probably won’t launch your product directly into mass-market retail stores like Target or Wal-Mart. Instead, there’s a product sales lifecycle you should follow that basically takes you from the ground up, allowing you to build sales in a smart, methodical fashion, starting with small independent retailers and moving up to the big guns.”

Instead of staking everything on the ill-premised hope of “Wal-Mart or bust”, the article outlines a more reliable and time-tested approach to getting – and staying – into stores.

o Start by selling directly to end-users. This’ll give you confidence in selling and create “referenceable” customers. You can also get their feedback on the product and packaging to make improvements before expanding your sales efforts.

o Once you’ve ironed out your product and packaging wrinkles, begin selling to local independent specialty stores and online stores. For instance, if you’ve designed a line of greeting cards, approach your local gift shops. Become successful with these retailers, and you’ll have the leverage and negotiating chops to go on to the next level.

If you take this kind of approach, getting into stores within 30 days becomes a realistic goal. However, you must still make sure that the invention itself is prepared for the store environment. Primarily, this is a matter of packaging. This should not be overlooked either, because packaging can add both weight and cost to your product. If it weighs more, it is more expensive to ship. And if the packaging itself costs a lot of money, that gets added to your costs as well, making your break-even point higher.

For this reason, it makes sense to use as little packaging and excess as you can get away with. Early on, cash is king, and you cannot afford to squander it on grandiose packaging that does nothing but make your invention seem big and flashy.

If you have figured out the answers to your inventory questions, set realistic goals for your in-store launch, and square away the matter of your packaging; you are just about ready to get your invention into stores.

What remains is a solid and easy-to-use system of keeping records. Once you start selling in stores, you will encounter a whole new series of record keeping issues relating to taxes, receipts, inventory statements, sales records, and all kinds of other paperwork. Without a reliable way to keep track of all this, your life will be considerably more difficult.

Therefore, you should invest the time to create one before your invention hits the shelves. That way you establish habits of organization before things spiral out of control and leave you in a mess of random papers.

If you do not have the capacity to get your product store ready yourself, you may want to consider licensing or selling your patent to an entrepreneur, retailer, or manufacturer who does.

With all of these matters taken care of, you will be better positioned to push for store shelves. Remember the strategy: avoid big stores at first, and build your track record at smaller outlets. It is a recipe for success that has been tried and battle-tested.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of IdeaBuyer.com, the online marketplace for intellectual property that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com.

Some inventors make the mistake of pouring years of their lives and thousands of dollars into bad ideas. Maybe their idea was ill-formed and nobody actually wants it. Maybe they wasted years pursuing an idea that actually will not work the way they originally thought it would. Whatever the case may be, the end result is lots of wasted time and energy on a dead idea. By this point you are probably thinking, “There must be a better way!” Fortunately, there is. It is a bold, decisive strategy that is best summed up as “Kill your ideas quick.” What does this mean, exactly?

Basically, you want to expose your idea to as much critical scrutiny as you can, as early as you can. In this article, we will discuss two main ways of doing that. The first and easiest way is to collect feedback about your idea. Ask people questions like, “Would you buy this? What need would this fill for you? Can you think of any reason why you would not want to buy it or use it? What about your friends? Do other products do what my idea is going to do, better? How so?” The more detailed feedback you get, the better. However, merely collecting this feedback is just the starting point. What you want to do is implement the feedback you get into your prototype or working model. Doing this as quickly as possible will help you determine whether your idea is a winner or a bust. As you force yourself to actually create it rather than endlessly theorize, you will discover whether it is too expensive or too big or too hard or impossible.

Of course, the best scenario would be if you know someone in your field that you trust and can ask for advice. They above all people will have a good sense of whether your idea is unrealistic or not. The feedback they provide will also be immensely valuable, especially if your idea doesn’t need to be killed.

Another way to kill your idea fast was pioneered by Internet advertising guru Perry Marshall. He advocates using the cheap, fast-response ad medium of Google AdWords to test public interest in your idea before diving headlong into pursuing it. Perry describes the nuts and bolts of his approach in his free e-course on Google AdWords:

“Let’s say you’ve got a product idea. The product itself costs $50,000 to develop, and you’re sure it’s a good idea because it solves a really thorny problem.

So here’s what you do: You write a report, e-book or white paper about how to solve that problem. You create an opt-in page where people can get your report in exchange for their contact information.

Then you buy keywords, send people to that page and see how many people you can get to opt in.

That alone will tell you something.

And if you absolutely cannot get anybody to opt-in to your report - or if you can’t find keywords that anyone is searching for - then that’s a good sign you should abandon the project before you throw any more money at it.”

SRC: http://www.perrymarshall.com/google/day4.htm

Perry’s point is that you can use an inexpensive testing medium to see if your idea is a winner. At the very least, you will be positioned to proceed on the basis of actual knowledge instead of wishful thinking. Perry continues:

“Not only will this process validate that you’re solving a worthwhile problem; it will also fine tune your efforts so that you’re dealing with the real problems that real people have!

It’s worth repeating: after testing your concept on Google AdWords, you’ll never throw good money at a lousy product idea. And when you need assistance or investment money, you’ll have proof that people are looking for what you have to sell.”

Perry’s method can be applied to virtually any invention relating to something that people would look for on a search engine. Best of all, it does not need to be expensive. If you can spare a few hundred dollars, you will get real-time market research from people who are actively looking for what you are making. What could be more valuable than that? And like Perry says: if no one likes your idea, it is probably a dud and at least you know for sure.

Whichever method you choose, killing your ideas quick is sound practice. It is also a bold step away from the “Inventor Baby” mentality who seeks to protect his idea from harsh contact with the real world and its desires. You will be facing reality as it actually is. You will not spin your wheels on ideas that are doomed to fail. And most importantly, this will free up your precious time and energy for more fruitful projects.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of IdeaBuyer.com, the online marketplace for intellectual property that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com.

Hollywood and popular literature tend to glorify the selfless inventor who innovates out of benevolence for mankind, with no care for personal gain. However, without the ability to commercialize new ideas, many of the world’s most cherished inventions might not have come to pass. Silicon Valley venture capitalist Paul Graham concurs in his essay “How to Make Wealth.”

“Developing new technology is a pain in the ass. It is, as Edison said, one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Without the incentive of wealth, no one wants to do it. Engineers will work on sexy projects like fighter planes and moon rockets for ordinary salaries, but more mundane technologies like light bulbs or semiconductors have to be developed by entrepreneurs.”

That is the first thing any inventor must realize: there is no guilt or shame in wanting to profit from your idea. That being said, how do you go about doing it? As far as we can tell, there are two main ways of commercializing new ideas.

1) Bringing them to market yourself, or

2) Selling/licensing them to others

This article will offer tips and guidance on how to make either strategy work for you. The first way, as mentioned, is to nurture your idea to maturity and bring it into the market yourself. The advantage of this strategy is that you control more of the process. If your sole hope is finding a buyer for your idea, you are more or less at the mercy of their whims. What if your idea is sound, but the company you want to sell to just wont bite?

On the other hand, bringing it to market yourself lets you use intelligence and skill to increase your odds. So let’s start there.

Bring Your Idea to Market Yourself

The first step in bringing an idea to market is really firming it up in your own mind. Have you determined who your target market is? How will you reach them? Do you know what it truly costs to build your product? Do you even know how to concretely build your product, starting from nothing but raw materials? Our article “5 Steps to Patent Ideas” gives you a checklist for answering these questions.

Once it is created, you can roll out your idea in the manner you see fit. Want to sell it online? Want to sell it in retail stores? Want to do both? With a finished, tangible, honest-to-God product to sell, you have the ability to start making these things happen for yourself. Most of the popular retail outlets have buyers who you can talk to about getting your products sold. Selling online is simply a matter of setting up a website and publicizing what you have to offer. By this point you have firmed up your business plan and are intimately aware of what it takes to produce and sell your invention.

Again, the key benefit of this approach is that you are in the driver’s seat for important decisions. Another option that offers less control but also less stress is selling or licensing your idea to others.

Selling/Licensing Your Idea to Others

The chief benefit of selling or licensing your idea is that not everything is riding on you. Some people are not cut out for the task of inventing, creating, marketing and selling a product themselves or simply do not have the desire to spend so much time and effort doing so. It is hard, long, diligent work that you simply won’t do if your heart isn’t 100% in it. Therefore, selling or licensing your idea to others can be an attractive option.

However, be warned that this approach is often made to seem far sexier and easier than it is. While many people over estimate the effort it takes to get in front of the right companies, they also underestimate the amount of follow-up it will require. The process does not happen overnight and will take time to see through to a successful licensing or sale agreement. The farther along you are with a business plan, presentation, and materials the smoother the process will go.

If you are serious about your idea, take the time to package your invention for a successful presentation. Having a business plan, pictures, drawings, and your USPTO information on hand will accelerate your path to a successful sale or licensing agreement after you get in front of the right companies. This gives you the protection and leverage you need to approach someone about selling your idea.

In closing, these are the two main ways of commercializing new ideas. You should give some thought to which approach reflects your strengths and weaknesses as an inventor and pursue the course that feels best.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of Idea Buyer, a marketplace for new technology and products that allows inventors to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers at www.IdeaBuyer.com. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com.

There’s nothing like the enthusiasm one feels during a proverbial “I’ve got it!” moment. However, it helps to have basic criteria for defining whether your idea is truly worth patenting or even patentable. Here are five steps you should follow in coming up with patent ideas.

Determine how well it will work.

How well will your idea work in practice? Will it work well enough to replace what people in this field already use? One easy way to determine this is to actively work in the field you envision your product being used for. This will give you a first hand glimpse into the current reality of what’s out there and let you tangibly see how your creation would improve it. If that’s not possible, find someone you trust in that field and bounce your idea off of them for feedback.

Who wants it?

There’s nothing worse than wasting weeks, months, or even years theorizing about a creation that’s “gonna be soooo great!” only to discover that no specific segment of customers truly wants it. To avoid this nightmare scenario, tell others about your idea. Ask them if and in what way it would truly improve their lives. The trick here is asking people who don’t know you very well. They are more likely to be honest instead of preoccupied with not hurting your feelings.

How can it be made?

Another common pitfall is glossing over the messy particulars of how something will be made. In the euphoria of brainstorming, your mind is naturally drawn to the sexy aspects of invention, such as the huge market waiting to be capitalized or your pitch to investors. Instead, force yourself to focus on exactly what it will take to bring your patent idea to life. How can it be made? What materials are needed? What types of skills are necessary to put it all together? Having firm answers to these questions turns you from dreamer into doer.

How much will it cost?

If technical particulars are easy to glaze over, forecasts about costs are downright ignored until it is unavoidable. This is a mistake. Crunching the numbers of how much it will cost to create your patent idea is not only necessary for investors to take it seriously; it will also make the idea real in your mind. Once you know what it will take to make your idea, do some basic research. Where can the materials be purchased cheaply? Do you know anyone with the necessary skills who will work for a stake in the profits instead of up-front cash payments? An entrepreneur who can answer these questions will be taken seriously by everyone involved in the patenting process, from attorneys to the professionals in the industry you are trying to enter.

How are products like this usually sold?

Finally, you need to know how your product will reach paying customers. If your idea is for a new, thinner and more puncture resistant bicycle tire, for example, you need a list of the top bicycle manufacturers in the country. These are the people who could potentially license your patent and put your patent idea into practice. A possible next step would be gathering the names of the top bicycle retailers. These are the stores who would be selling the bicycles. This type of analysis forces you to trace the chain of people you’ll need to work with in order to succeed.

In short, these five steps will firm up your patent in your own mind and in the eyes of those who will be evaluating it. As the Patent and Trademark Office gets more stringent about which types of inventions are patent-worthy, the importance of pleasing them cannot be stressed enough. More important than that, however, is that you be able to convince investors and manufacturers that you have a worthwhile and profitable idea. This, ultimately, is what is going to determine your success or failure. Many inventors lose sight of these concerns in the creative rush they feel. While this is seductive, it will not aid in your goals of acquiring and marketing a patent.

Fortunately, this does not have to be your story. By following the simple steps in this article and the advice on this website, you can be confident that your patent idea stands a chance of succeeding in the marketplace.

Documenting new ideas is not just good practice. It may be absolutely critical if you intend on getting a patent and then enforcing it. This is because patent laws in the United States are based on the “first to invent rule.” Clause 101 of US Code 35 states:

“Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore..”

What this means for you the inventor is that you want a set of airtight documentation to prove your idea is yours. But how do you go about doing this? With all the misconceptions and speculation about what is legally acceptable proof, it helps to separate fact from fiction. Let’s begin by dispelling some popular idea documentation myths.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. “Hey man! Turns out we can skip all that paperwork and waiting and huge cost! My buddy told me all we gotta do is mail a bunch of notes and sketches to ourselves and if anyone tries to rip our idea, we just bring the mail to court!”

This is known as the “poor man’s patent” and it to put it bluntly, it isn’t. Eugene Quinn, patent attorney and founder of IPWatchdog.com, had this to say:

It is absolutely critical for everyone to understand that mailing your idea to yourself will do absolutely nothing to give you protection. All that mailing your work to yourself will prove is that you had it as of a certain date, and that is only assuming there is a postmark on the envelope (which does not always happen) and the envelope is not opened. It provides no rights whatsoever.

So if mailing yourself your work isn’t sufficient documentation, what is? The answer is something called a logbook. A logbook is essentially an inventor’s journal. It is where the inventor keeps track of his progress and dates each step. A logbook proves that you came up with your idea at a certain date and displayed due diligence in pursuing it. However, there are some definite standards you should adhere to when keeping a logbook. This will help ensure that your documentation looks legitimate to patent examiners.

That being said, here are some conventions you should follow when documenting your invention in a logbook.

1) You should start your logbook as soon as you think of an idea. Write down detailed records of key concepts, test results, and anything else having to do with the creation of your idea. This is the type of material that belongs in a logbook.

2) While there are pre-made logbooks for sale, you can easily make your own. Be sure to use a bound notebook, however, and not a loose-leaf. The reason is that bound notebooks make it hard to conceal the fact that pages were added or taken out.

3) Number each page consecutively. This establishes that the progress you made on your idea took place in a sequential order that anyone with common sense can observe. When one notebook is full, begin a new one and specify that this notebook is a continuation of the last one. There should be no visible gaps in your record keeping.

4) Each entry you write should be signed and dated by you and anyone else who participated in that step of the invention process. If at all possible, get a notary public to sign as well.

5) Give each entry a header with information about what is contained in it. For example, the date, subject, number of participants, witnesses, etc.

6) Include records of everything you do. When in doubt, assume that it is best to include it. Do not just include successful test results, for example. If you exclude negative findings or tests, the patent examiner may decide that you “cherry-picked” only the good stuff and reject your application.

7) Any and all other participants in the invention process need to have their roles disclosed. The importance of this convention cannot be stressed enough. If you omit an inventor’s name from an invention he helped create, it is considered fraud.

8) Any loose materials like drawings, photos, or sketches should be signed, dated, and cross-referenced to the notebook entry they pertain to. It is best to tape or staple this material to the notebook entries in question.

In closing, these are some good, common-sense conventions to follow when documenting new ideas. Adhering to them will give you a much greater chance of receiving and maintaining patent protection.

by Dan Stalfire

Patent Selling
Why Sell:

A patent is your property and as such you have the legal right to do with it as you wish. Generally you would choose to sell your patent if you would;

1. Focus your attention on other ideas.

2. Turn over the entire rights to your patent and be done with the venture.

3. Generate a quick income from the sale.

A patent owner has 4 basic choices they can make with their invention:

License Your Patent:
By far the most profitable. This allows you to maintain ownership of your idea, while allowing another company to build and market the idea. This is what InventorsIPO specialize in. We find a company to build, market, and pay you a fair market value for the use of your idea.

Build and market the product yourself:
You can build, market, and do the legal work yourself. This is a complicated process that requires a large amount of capital, time, and knowledge of the market.

Sell the Patent:
All patent owners have the right to sell their idea. This process requires the ability to find a buyer, a lawyer, and understand what the market value of their idea is.

Do Nothing:
Believe it or not, the vast majority of patents granted by the U.S. Patent Office have never been acted upon. About 90% off all patents are never commercialized!

——————————————————————————–

Why License Your Idea?
Licensing your idea to an established company has many advantages.

Your product will carry the label of a company that has a well known and respected name. Most individuals cannot, and should not approach large companies like Wal-Mart, Target, etc. They usually will not look at people who only sell one product, they prefer vendors with multiple products.

Most larger companies have a complete marketing and Public Relations department. Larger corporations have the capital and resources available to launch a product properly. By allowing another company to build and market your product they generally assume the liability also. Thus if for some reason something happens that has legal ramification they will usually handle it.

You get paid royalties for doing nothing. Of course it is your idea, you did invent it and file the appropriate patent application. But what we mean is that you will get paid, while they build it, market it, promote it, and do all of the ground work.

Dan Stalfire is the president of InventorsIPO.com, SEO ONE, inc. and Internet Marketing Images, Inc. Dan has over 20 years experience in inventing and intellectual property. Mr. Stalfire is actively involved in inventing and marketing. Holding a US. Patent and a Federal Trademark he has assisted numerous inventors with their marketing and product launches.

For more information visit http://www.inventorsipo.com

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