Thread: invention from idea to production

i am going to see if i can start a little discussion that might help out a number of our members. lets say some one has an idea for a new product that they believe has a good market. could some one who has gone through the process explain in a little detail of how to take the idea, protect (trademark, copyright, or patent), prototype, sell production rights, find producer, etc.

Might not be a bad topic for next month's webinar!

I was just thinking about this a few days ago, haha. Would love to learn more about this.

subbed. Great idea for a thread, op.

Great question.

having just graduated with an industrial design degree i definitely look forward to hearing what other people have to say about all of this, subscribed

would love to know about this as well.

well obviously we have some interest. from what i have been able to gather the first thing you should do is put idea on paper. written down with sketches and everything. make 2 copies, one you will use to work off of and the other mail to yourself. certified letter requiring signature and DO NOT OPEN IT!!! this serves as a psuedo patent. this proves that you came up with the idea at a certain date. so if it comes down to it you can take this letter into court. of course you should still file for the proper patent, but the certified letter is quick, cheap, and will hold up in court.

great topic... in for what others have to say

Originally Posted by htfomaha

well obviously we have some interest. from what i have been able to gather the first thing you should do is put idea on paper. written down with sketches and everything. make 2 copies, one you will use to work off of and the other mail to yourself. certified letter requiring signature and DO NOT OPEN IT!!! this serves as a psuedo patent. this proves that you came up with the idea at a certain date. so if it comes down to it you can take this letter into court. of course you should still file for the proper patent, but the certified letter is quick, cheap, and will hold up in court.

We've all heard this theory, but in the end, afaik, it doesn't do you any good. Just because you have the idea first(or second or third), doesn't protect you from anything. That is what patents, trademarks, copywrites etc. are for. If you don't legally protect your idea, it's up for grabs. Again, this is what I gather, so if anyone else knows this to be false, please speak up.

If you have an idea, you start by either patenting it(if possible), or you build it(however possible). From there you market it around and go from there.

Building most ideas is the hardest part. Normally due to lack of funding or lack of expertise. You either need to convince someone you know to lend you money to pursue the idea(not likely in most cases), or do whatever you have to do to come up with the capital, or just figure out a creative way to build what you want. From there, it's marketing and shopping it around. Somewhere in there you have to try and protect your idea, so back to patents etc. I've heard positives and negatives about NDA's or Non-competes, and a lot of people/companies will not sign them.

This was just off the top of my head, so if this topic starts to develop here, I'm sure some better advice/info will come about.