Question you've probably received a thousand times :)
reykjavik
isn't too sophisticated, is just sophisticated enough to be out of my
reach engineering wise. My friend is an engineer and he has been
helping me, but when you can't afford to pay, you get what you pay for.
He's probably capable of figuring this out for me but I have this
nagging feeling that I should cough up the dough and go see somenoe
like www.engineeredprototypes.com which will figure everything out for
me, blueprint it and have it all ready for prototype and for an
attorney to patent. Of course, they'll also charge probably thousands
of dollars for this service.
What do I do? Cough up thousands and then have nothing left for
patenting, or get free help but possibly end up with something that
could have been engineered better?
Will a service like the one mentioned above costs thousands of dollars?
Thanks!
ThinkSolveDo
mentioned a patent search. Innovating blindly will do many things
EXCEPT MAKE MONEY FOR YOU!
First get a patent search. This will tell you if you can own the
innovation and what others have done to solve the same problem. You
might find you are simply reinventing the wheel or that you are the
genius who discovered a real market with tremendous potential. But you
will not know this until you do a patent search. Visit the referral
section at www.BIZnuts.com to find a patent search company.
Here are some thoughts for you to chew on...
1. If the engineering company INNOVATES your solution they MIGHT OWN
your patent. You need to make sure you own the work they are doing for
you.
2. Engineering firms are like auto mechanics, roofers and other
professionals. Some will be better than others and they will charge
different prices. To do things on the cheap consider hiring college
students or engineers who are retired. They need the money and have
skills you need.
3. Your friend might think he/she are your partner. You must have in
writing how the relationships you are forming work. The US Patent
Office requires EVERY inventor to be listed. If your friend or the
engineer you hire works to bring the invention to life they MIGHT be
required to be listed as inventors. This means they OWN rights in your
patent. How that works should be agreed to BEFORE work begins.
4. If you are trying to prove a concept before patenting it then make
sure you are creating a prototype that proves the theory and not
investing in making it look pretty and smell like roses. You should
prove the concept quickly and then file the patents as soon as
possible.
Last piece of information... get at least 3 quotes for work, make sure
everyone signs a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and make sure all work
and payments are tied to a deadline.
Inventing can be fun and profitable if you do it right.
reykjavik
I had to get the invention down and blueprinted before doing a patent
search but now I realize I don't. My follow-up question is then, are
patent searches done by patent attorneys? and if so, around how much
should I expect to pay?
Thanks again so much for everything!
ThinkSolveDo
actually do the search themselves. They hire a search firm to do the
search. So while you do not need a Patent Attorney to do the search you
might need them to interpret the results. Searchs run from $250 to $500
from a search company and from about $450 to $2500 from a Patent
Attorney. Make sure you use either a PATENT Attorney (not a regular
attorney) or a Registered Patent Agent. They will better know what to
do and where to search.
Once you get the results of the search you have a lot of reading to do.
Make sure you understand what each invention is before you decide if
you can move ahead. This will let you know what has been done in your
field and how they have been doing it. You need to find a way your
invetion is different than what has been patented before.