I've got an idea. How do I sell it?

[atgcpaul]

So I've got an idea for the shop and I don't see that it's commercially available. First I'm going to make a prototype and see if it's worth touting its benefits to the world. Second, it's going to be using bits of pieces of existing "technology" and it could be argued that it's already being done, but not for this application and not in this form. I'm not really interested in patenting it or manufacturing it myself. I'd like to sell the idea to a company. If patenting it isn't a huge deal, then I could explore that route but I keep hearing that is a major expense. I can't imagine I'd ever get rich from this but I do see it as a big convenience to WWers like you and me.

Anyway, looking for ideas on how to get this off the ground without having Company X, Y, Z stealing my idea (probably means I need a patent) and how to approach Company X, Y, Z with the idea without having to appear on ABC's Shark Tank.

Thanks,
Paul

[capncarl]

Ideas are hard to sell. What you see in you brain as a working device is not always seen that way by others. Now prototypes are another thing, everybody sees what you mean the same way and sees other potential uses for it. I'd develope the prototype in the shop to the point you are happy with it. By this time you will have worked out details that just thinking about it runs in circles. At this time hopefully you have a plan and something interesting to show people. If you are using bits of several technologies you may be trampling on several existing patents that would make your device harder to sell.
I saw good ole George Foreman on tv not long ago advertising for a company that takes ideas like yours and hopefully helps you sell the idea to someone that can develope it into something marketable. There are companies out there that do this, honest and legit? don't know, hope so though. You have to watch out because there is Bernie Madolf on every corner.

capncarl

[cwsmith]

I agree that it's hard to sell... but surely there must be a way. I've had some "good ideas" over my years and though most are just considered too crazy to act on, I'm always a bit surprised when they don't pop up somewhere years later by someone who had found the path and was ambitious enough to act on it.

Really big problem is that if you have that great idea and wish to act on it, you had better do a lot of documentation and take the legal steps to both prove and protect your intellectual rights too it. For example, if you take your idea/invention to a company and they seem to accept it and want to do some research and they'll "get back to you". Months later they start producing a product with your idea incorporated into it: What are you going to do? How are you going to prove that the idea was yours? How are you going to prove that they didn't just come up with that idea all by themselves?

There's probably as much or more that goes into the protection of your intellectual rights, than went into the idea itself, unfortunately.

CWS

[capncarl]

A lot of items are built and never patented. Sometimes it may not be worth getting a patent on, the market may not sell enough and no one else may build and sell the object themselves. Or By the time you get a patent the market may not want what you have now!

Many years ago I built a prototype of a high speed volumetric filling machine to meter high viscosity materials into objects. This could be used for an infinite purposes, fill catsup packs, jelly packages etc. I had signed papers with the company I worked with giving the rights to anything I designed. This machine was unique as its volume was easily adjustable and could handle any number of filling stations, which at the time I was not aware of any like it on the market. My company took the idea and are probably still using it today but I don't think they patented it. Since then I have seen a lot of other package filling machines that are using what looks to be my design, I just smile and say I designed that, wish I had the patent on it!

[Stytooner]

If it can be considered a safety product, I might be interested. Not in patenting anything of course, but to possibly help you produce a prototype.
I would sign an NDA for you if that would help.
I got started on 03' with an unpatentable idea and it grew some. Beyond all my expectations actually. Glad I followed through with a prototype.

[wardprobst]

Check out FastCap https://www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/Su...astCap-d67.htm
dale

[capncarl]

Good info in the last fastcap video. A working prototype is a must. Once you got the bugs workd out you may get any number of manufacturers that want to offer your machine. They could possibly patent it but if you get a royalty off sales it may be better than all the hassles with a patent and like the fastcap video elaborated on, defending the patent.

[cwsmith]

Again, what ever you do make sure that you have legal proof of your design, purpose, and actions that you have taken.

At the moment, I remember the movie "Flash of Genius", starring Greg Kinnear. It was a docudrama about Robert Kearns, the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. Mr. Kearns, spent hundreds of hours of research, electrical experimenting and then prototyping his design. Ford Motor company showed some interest, asked to borrow his prototype so they could do a market/production feasibility study... and then they told him it wasn't a viable product. About a year later, Mr. Kearns was standing on a street corner, it was raining, and one of the new Ford models was at the intersection.... and he noticed it had an intermittent wiper system. Ford denied that it was his design and wouldn't talk to him... and when he tried to pursue, their corporate lawyers threatened to sue.

His pursuit of justice cost him his job, and almost everything he had. His wife divorced him and he was for awhile estranged from his children and friends. It cost him tens of thousands of dollars and it took him years before he finally won his rights to the patent. He did win, and received a handsome sum from Ford, but by then most of his life had passed, and you can't get back those years lost with his family. He was well documented, but not good enough to fight the big money of Ford and the massive army of their corporate lawyers. His persistence finally won... but there are not a lot of us that would have that kind of sustaining power.

The point is that you have got to make sure and take every legal step to ensure your idea's security.... and for that you had better make sure your idea is a great one, worth the investment.

From my own experience, I worked for a company for thirty years. During that time, they've got so much on their side in the way of legal clauses, etc. that almost anything that I drew, illustrated, wrote, etc. belonged to them. It didn't matter whether it directly related to their business or not... they basically owned me and any ideas that I might come up with, even if it was on my own time and totally unrelated to their products. I used to do a lot of freelance work as an illustrator and writer and I had to take steps to ensure that such work was protected from their ownership. Depending on your job and your employer, you may have to look into that kind of situation too.

CWS