Guest Blog written by Thomas Haskins – President and CEO of General Inventions, an excellent resource for inventors and small entrepreneurs who are looking for affordable online/live classes/workshops, funding, networking, etc… Thomas can be reached at 508-922-1909, by email at thomashaskins@generalinventions.net, or visit his website www.generalinventions.net
“Getting even a simple patent approved — a process known as ‘prosecuting’ the patent application — can cost up to $10,000 domestically and $100,000 or more for worldwide rights…” – Inventionstatistics.com
Most people do not have the money it takes to hire a patent attorney or intellectual property professional to file a patent on just one invention. Many people, however, have several or many inventions and could never come up with the money to pay a patent attorney to file one for each of their inventions. As a result millions and millions of great ideas go nowhere or eventually are thought of (or over heard in conversation) by someone else who is better equipped to bring it to market and protect it.
Millions of people with great ideas never realize any benefit from those ideas because they just do not have the knowledge or any access to resources needed to bring their ideas to the market.
How many times have you thought of a great idea for a new product that meets a need in society but then did nothing about it because you had no idea what to do next or you knew you could not afford to even start the process? You need to know how to begin the process of turning your great idea into a protected and successfully sold product.
How many times have you mentioned a great idea you had and then some time later you saw it come out on the market? You need to know how to protect your ideas.
It is not just independent inventors that should get informed and well trained. Many small companies that come out with new products spend a lot of money to protect their ideas and often their business plan and strategy is adversely affected by this concern.
“Simply filing patents can be a costly and time-consuming process, making it imperative for small companies to be selective about what patents they file.” – Inventionstatistics.com.
Small companies can save huge dollars by just training their employees how to do much of what they are paying high priced attorney’s to do for them now.
Questions you should ask yourself:
- Should you even bother to get a patent?
- What are the chances you will need to defend your patent?
- If you have to defend our patent, will you be successful?
- If you have to defend your patent, where do you turn for patent litigation and will you be able to afford the legal fees to do so against a large and powerful competitor?
- Should you spend the money on a patent or get your product to the market first and save your money for marketing, advertising and order fulfillment?
These are some of the important questions that you can answer by taking a valuable online or onsite classes on intellectual property.
So let’s take a look at some reasons why you should educate yourself before spending a penny on intellectual property professionals:
- You will be better able to avoid scams and charlatans
- You will be better able to choose the most competent IP professionals to meet your needs
- You will make your patent attorney considerable more efficient
- You can do some or all of the work yourself and save big dollars, especially if you have more than one invention to patent
- You will feel more confident as you go through the process of protecting your ideas
“Simply filing patents can be a costly and time-consuming process, making it imperative for small companies to be selective about what patents they file.” – Roger Brown, edisonnation.com.
What about invention submission companies? Are they safe or will they steal your idea?
Company A has a section in the package that said after they get your idea past a certain review and licensed that you give up all IP rights but you get some royalties as long as it sells. They have made these companies get creative in there schemes. Have a young lady on the site that said her product went through there 200 vote process in two weeks and they are selling it now with no royalties for her. And they are not disclosing how many people’s product actually makes money.” G. Williams, contributor on edisonnation.com
Some of these companies are safe and worthwhile for the inventor that does not have the time, money, resources and/or inclination to take to the invention road alone, however, some are just sharks looking for “flesh” to swallow, so-to-speak.
The educated inventor will know exactly how to avoid being scammed and how to choose the right company(s) with whom to work.
“It is sadly true that there are a lot of fraudulent operators in the invention and patent market, but one of the operators that I have had my eye on for some time is not a true invention promotion or scam company, but rather a patent attorney who gives all of the rest of us a bad name.” – Gene Quinn, ipwatchdog.com
Unfortunately, there are only a few affordable education sources available for inventors and most of them are regionally based. Additionally, few, if any are comprehensive in terms of the kind and scope of classes available. General Inventions is one company to consider since it is Web-based and so it is available to anyone around the world who has access to high-speed internet. Additionally, the classes are available in 9 languages and counting and General Inventions offers workshops in which the inventor actually works on their project (i.e. their patent application) under the skilled supervision of the experienced IP professional running the workshops.
Far too many talented inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs rush down the road to success only to be disillusioned by failure simply because they have not properly equipped themselves to deal with the sharks and the bumps in the road. I encourage you to equip yourself well through quality and affordable education opportunities.
