Opinions and Suggestions
By Larry Kamm, Inventor
Failure
Most independent inventors fail to profit from their inventions and most end
up losing money. The common hope is that they will sell their inventions to
manufacturing companies which will develop, manufacture, and market the
inventions and pay royalties, or a fixed price, to the inventors. This is a
very, very rare occurrence. Why?
Most companies already have a backlog of ideas of their own awaiting
development and don't want any more.
Most companies fear legal entanglement with outside inventors. Many refuse to
look at outside inventions unless they are covered by issued patents and confine
their consideration to the allowed claims in those patents. Some have separate
departments to respond to inventors. Some send a discouraging list of conditions
under which they will even look at outside inventions.
Some may actually use the invention and defy the inventor to sue for
infringement of his patent.
A number of companies offer to sell your invention for you, for a fee. I have
never heard of a success.
Kamm's Law: "Most people are hostile to most new ideas and are at their most
creative when inventing objections to them."
All of this is extremely frustrating, but unfortunately, true.
However, hope springs eternal, particularly in inventors, so read on.
Success
The most common route to actual success is to entrepreneur a company based on
your invention. Develop it, patent it, manufacture it, and sell it in the
marketplace, yourself, and then earn company profits or sell the company
for a profit. Even Edison made his money this way. I have done so. Every single
step of the way until profits come in requires the investment of money,
usually much more than anticipated. Furthermore most new businesses fail and the
money is lost. No, this is not a path to instant wealth.
A few inventors achieve success by stopping with a patent and then waiting to
sue an infringer.
Some companies start with the inventor's own money and bootstrap with early
results to recruit further investment. I have done so, but it was a near thing.
VERY RISKY. DO NOT USE YOUR HOUSE AS COLLATERAL FOR A LOAN. There is a long line
of inventors with lost houses.
You might do well to pay a consultant a small sum to give an opinion of your
invention before you invest serious money in it. Expect to pay him a retainer
(advance payment) since he does not know you, and expect to receive a
confidential disclosure agreement after you have paid the retainer and before
you disclose your invention.
Investment capital can come from your own savings, bank loans, SBA loans,
family, friends, venture capital companies, private corporation stock, and
public corporation stock. Read up on company finance.
The slow but sure road to moderate success is to get a job with a company
which values internal inventions. There lies praise, promotions, and raises.
There also lies the path to spin off using the employment experience as
training. I have done this.
Get an MBA to learn about business.
Be aware that the Patent Office has an elaborate program to aid independent
inventors. Use their email address
[email protected] to ask questions.
Read the Patent Office publications, starting with "General Information
Concerning Patents" and other books on patents.
Do as much as you can by yourself, particularly do a patent search and file
either a "Disclosure Document" or a "Provisional Patent Application" for small
fees. Both are described in the references below.
Go to a patent attorney or patent agent (they are equivalent) only when you
are ready to invest several thousand dollars to generate a patent.
References
|
