Bringing gear to market

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Jake

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Let's pretend, for the sake of discussion, that I have designs for a product that I know would be of interest to many, many people in the scuba marketplace. Does anyone have any idea how to best proceed? Would I shop the idea around to equipment manufacturers, do I try and patent it (assuming the idea's patentable), or do I bring it to market myself? I have few to little resources, so the last one will be tough.

I know, I know: everyone has come up with the new invention for scuba, but this one really is a darn good one that I'm confident would sell. Any ideas on how best to approach this?
 
If it's a really good idea, just send the idea over here and I'll take care of it for ya :eyebrow: all kidding aside, I did some work for a patent lawyer at one time and I'm pretty sure you would want to patent it BEFORE discussing your idea with manufactures.... if it is truely a good idea, I would suggest you persue a patent first... protect your idea.

Mike
 
Mikey0929:
If it's a really good idea, just send the idea over here and I'll take care of it for ya :eyebrow: all kidding aside, I did some work for a patent lawyer at one time and I'm pretty sure you would want to patent it BEFORE discussing your idea with manufactures.... if it is truely a good idea, I would suggest you persue a patent first... protect your idea.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I've heard that the patent process is obscenely expensive to do correctly. Any idea if this is true?
 
Not being a patent lawyer myself but having worked on projects that have a lot of intellectual property rights issues, you should be able to register your idea with the Patent Office fairly easily. From what I recall you basically need to provide a detailed description of what you have using various patent forms. This basically registers the idea so in case there is ever a dispute of who thought of it first you have it on record.

I believe the actual process of getting a patent can be costly since you need to research the other registrations with the Patent Office to determine if the idea exists.

A call to the Patent Office would be a good first start to get the real scoop.

Good luck....
 
Also keep in mind that once you sell or offer for sale one of
your products, you loose certain abilities to patent it.
So if you intend to go down the patent route, do it before
you sell any of these.

Usually, the BIG expense isn't in getting the patent itself
but trying to enforce your patent rights if others copy it.

--- bill
 
Pursuing a patent can be costly and time-consuming (as in years) and there is no guarantee you will get it. In terms of protecting your invention, it is definitely the best way to go, but it may not be the most practical. If you shop the idea to others, the risk is that they will steal the idea. Many companies will not even accept unsolicited ideas from outsiders because they don't want to deal with claims that they have stolen ideas. If you are going to shop the idea around, you want a good confidentiality agreement.
 
I really started out in this business with my product... the "Scuba Tool". I did get a patent, and really... not that expensive. Depending on the scope of the invention maybe in the 5K range. But as pointed out... the lawsuit to defend is where the cash comes in. I had someone do a Taiwan knock off and had to start the suit. Settled out of court just before going to court, and settled for an "undisclosed amount" - which did get me back attorney fees plus a bit more. But it was cash outlay.

Now I tooled up a whole company to make and sell those - but if you don't want to follow that route, I'd say file for the patent, (if patentable) then find the right company that might be interested in making it....

Quick note - do not start naming your new Gulf Stream jet and 60 foot yacht off of this idea... if lucky - plan on getting about 1-2% on a royalty if selling off the idea - and of course that can vary greatly depending on complexity, cost of manufacturer, retail price, etc.
 
Pretty much what Larry said. My best friend is a patent attorney and has his own firm. The process these days will set you back about $10k, give or take. This is assuming that someone hasn't already thought of it and patented it previously. You would be AMAZED how many great ideas have been patented and never made it to market. Let's assume that your idea IS the greatest invention since the aqualung and you get a patent issued. A lot of the "value" in a patent hinges on how the attorney wrote it. The broader the patent on the product, the more it will be worth. But if the product sells really well, good luck defending it. THAT is where the real money goes. I've heard many stories about unscruplous companies being sued for patent infringement, fighting the lawsuit, then filing for bankruptcy just before closing arguements. Guess who loses? You still get stuck with the attorney bills.

Larry got lucky by settling out of court. If the company is small enough, they have nothing to lose by filing for bankruptcy because of pending litigation.

You don't technically "need" to have your patent in hand (it could take years for these kinds of things), but have your patent attorney research it, then have him shoot off a letter to the Patent Office outlining the basics. He'll know what to do on his end.
 

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