As in any business, there are good and less-than-good service suppliers. Before involving yourself with any company, I would strongly encourage that you to check them out thoroughly. Google is a great resource. Search for people who have expressed their thoughts, reviews, etc. I would also suggest contacting the Better Business Bureau in the state that the company is based — and ask them to provide you with the information that they have on file.

Best of luck with your invention.

– Eric

You’re in the same dilemma of many, many inventors: how to fund the patent and development process.

As you can imagine, investors are approached all of the time regarding the next great idea…and it is very difficult for them to choose which one(s) will be commercially successful. Compounding matters is that it is very risky to approach any outside source for assistance prior to filing a patent on a product.

My recommendation as a first step would be to at least try to create the invention yourself; hopefully it is simple enough to cobble together a working prototype. Maybe you can recruit family members to assist you. Keep the idea as “close to the vest” as possible. Document your construction and testing (as described elsewhere in my site). Once you get through these very critical first steps, jot me another note — and I’ll do my best to provide some ideas on how you take additional steps.

Glad to help. Best wishes as you continue the invention process.

– Eric

I’ve written a post that should greatly help you out in your decision. Please check out http://www.howtopatent.pro/2010/03/three-types-of-patents-how-to-choose-the-right-one-for-your-invention/

Glad to be of assistance!

– Eric

Thank you for your question.

Ideas, themselves, can’t be patented. Only actual, created things. Somehow or another it is necessary to physically create the invention you have conceived. In patent lingo, it is called “reduction to practice”. Here’s a description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduction_to_practice.

Some inventors team up with someone (or a company) to jointly create the device — and then cooperatively file for a patent. That involves some risk — as you are exposing your idea to another person or company. There are contractual ways to help minimize that risk. One way is through what is called a non-disclosure agreement (or “NDA”). But agreements, as such, do not provide iron-clad protection.

Browse through some of the other posts on my site for related information. If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Glad to help.

– Eric

Today I just woke up and an idea struck me. Since I have been trying to search and see if the idea is taken. So far I feel lucky but I really want to pursue this. However, it is only the idea of the product that I can provide. I don’t have the means to draw or create this invention. I just have the idea and know that it is in fact possible with current technology. Is it possible to patent this idea and sell it to someone who can actually make it?

You’re certainly on the right path. In my opinion, the post you are reading is the best way for us non-artists to create patent drawings. I also have another post that is helpful. See below for the two links:

http://howtopatent.pro/2010/03/create-patent-drawings-in-minuteswith-a-digital-camera-and-this-neat-photoshop-trick/

http://howtopatent.pro/2010/03/another-photoshop-technique-to-create-great-patent-application-drawings/

Filing a patent application, and receiving a patent on an invention, is a very structured process. I suggest that you read through the various posts in this Web site for some additional background information.

Ultimately, you do have to create a physical, working prototype. Again, this Web site will provide you with some additional information in this regard.

Best of luck with your invention, Trish. Feel free to jot me another note. Glad to provide as much advice as I can.

– Eric

I DON’T EVEN HAVE A CLUE AS TO HOW TO TURN MY IDEA INTO SOMETHING PHYSICAL EITHER. MY IDEA IS TOO COMPLEX AND MY SKILLS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

I COULD DRAW A PICTURE TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY(WITHOUT THE COMPLEX COMPONENTS OF THE INVENTION IDEA)…AND I COULD EXPLAIN IN GREAT DETAIL HOW IT WORKS, WHAT IT IS FOR, ETC…..,BUT WOULD THIS BE GOOD ENOUGH TO GET A PATENT? DOES IT HAVE TO BE COMPLETE OR COULD IT BE ACCEPTABLE PARTLY DONE AS LONG AS MOST PEOPLE LOOKING AT MY WORK UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS AND KNOW HOW TO PHYSICALLY MAKE IT.

THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP IN ADVANCE.

Thank you for your question.

There could be a number of reasons that a Class / Subclass listed on a particular patent is not findable in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database. For instance, it could be an older patent, and the subclass may have been deemed obsolete by the USPTO. Or it could just be a re-organization / consolidation of subclasses by the USPTO.

Let me take this moment to provide a link to the Class / Subclass database search tool provided by the USPTO. Here it is: http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/

I’m glad you’re finding this blog helpful. Best of luck in your invention endeavors!

– Eric

Thank you for your question. You’ll note that I masked the details of your invention — as you don’t want to be sharing your idea in a public forum until (minimally) you have filed for a patent.

Well, you can dramatically lower your cost to get a patent by following the advice in this (and other) online informational resources. But, no matter what you do, you will still need to pay for filings fees and such with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Click on the following link to see an itemization of fees http://www.howtopatent.pro/2010/03/how-much-does-a-patent-cost/.

I hope the above info is helpful. I wish you the best of luck with your invention.

– Eric

Ruth
Georgia

As you can see, I just tried to answer a similar question in this thread. But, unfortunately, I don’t know how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would feel about such a recording method. I’m intrigued with these questions. So I will research the topic and reply here when I get a credible opinion. Stay tuned.

You’ve posed a great question…one that I’ve never come across before. Every once in a while I receive an e-mail from someone which has an obviously wrong time or date. So the possibility of an error seems to exist. But this is certainly not my area of expertise.

I’ll check into this topic some more and see if I can find any specific information. Again, superb question. I’ll let you know what I discover.

Would email be an acceptable route to logging? Rather than keeping a handwritten notebook, I’ve started emailing my daily log (drawing and notes) to myself (at a second account) and to my wife. I figure records exist on the both the outgoing mail server of my Gmail account and both my Hotmail account inbox and my wife’s Gmail inbox. I just “reply all” to the last email I receive, keeping all my notes in a single string so they are all time stamped and kept neatly in one email. What do you think? I work in an office full of lawyers and they always tell me to keep my business emails as they can be used as evidence in court.