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Overview

Full coverage of the ins and outs of inventing for profit

Protect your idea, develop a product - and start your business!

Did you have a great idea? Did you do anything about it? Did someone else? Inventing For Dummies is the smart and easy ...

See more details below
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Overview

Full coverage of the ins and outs of inventing for profit

Protect your idea, develop a product - and start your business!

Did you have a great idea? Did you do anything about it? Did someone else? Inventing For Dummies is the smart and easy way to turn your big idea into big money. This non-intimidating guide covers every aspect of the invention process - from developing your idea, to patenting it, to building a prototype, to starting your own business.

The Dummies Way
* Explanations in plain English
* "Get in, get out" information
* Icons and other navigational aids
* Tear-out cheat sheet
* Top ten lists
* A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:
* Conduct a patent search
* Maintain your intellectual property rights
* Build a prototype product
* Determine production costs
* Develop a unique brand
* License your product to another company

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780764542312
  • Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 4/26/2004
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 384
  • Sales rank: 351,359
  • Series: For Dummies Series
  • Product dimensions: 7.50 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.75 (d)

Meet the Author

Pamela Riddle Bird, PhD is the founder and CEO of Innovative Product Technologies, a Florida-based company that assists inventors in marketing their inventions.

Table of Contents

Foreword xix
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 2
How This Book Is Organized 2
Icons Used in This Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part I Making Your Idea Yours 5
Chapter 1 The Innovation Process 7
Deciding Where to Go with Your Idea 7
Protecting Your Idea 9
Keeping good records 9
Participating in the Disclosure Document Program 11
Spinning Through the Product Life Cycle 12
Chapter2 Patent Basics 17
Finding Out the Functions of a Patent 17
Knowing What's Patentable 19
Looking at the Types of Patents 19
Make yourself useful; get me a utility patent! 20
Design patent 20
Planting the seeds of invention: The plant patent 21
Hiring a Patent Agent or Attorney 21
Patent agent versus patent attorney 22
Knowing what they can do for you 22
Choosing the right attorney or agent for the job 23
It's a Small World: International Issues 24
Applying for foreign patents 24
Foreign applicants for U.S. patents 25
Chapter 3 Conducting a Patent Search 27
Do I Really Need to Do a Patent Search? 27
Determining Whether Your Idea Is Really New 28
Searching for Existing Patents 29
Searching for patents via the Internet 29
Searching for international patents 31
Getting Professional Help 31
Questions to ask 32
Knowing the cost 32
Using Your Search Results 33
Chapter 4 Applying For and Receiving Your Patent 35
Knowing Who Can Apply for a Patent 35
Applying as co-inventors 36
Choosing a representative 37
Filing for Different Types of Patents 38
Paying attention to the process 38
Filing a utility patent 40
Filing a design patent 42
Filing for a plant patent 42
Filing for a provisional patent 43
Making the Most of a Pending Patent 44
Getting Your Patent 45
Chapter 5 Maintaining and Defending Your Patent 47
Keeping Current by Paying Your Fees 47
Valuing Your Patent 49
Taking a businesslike view 49
Assigning your patent 49
Licensing your patent 50
Defending Your Patent Against Infringement 50
Insuring Your Patent 51
Offensive patent insurance 52
Defensive patent insurance 53
Part II Securing Other Intellectual Property 55
Chapter 6 Trademarks and Trade Secrets 57
What Is a Trademark? 57
Federal versus State Trademarks 58
Using the Trademark and Service Mark Symbols 60
Understanding the Basics for Filing a Federal Trademark Application 60
Having a basis for your application 61
Filing electronically 62
Filing via snail mail 62
Owning the trademark 63
Providing correspondence info for the USPTO 63
Drawing your mark 64
Listing goods and services 65
Including a specimen 66
Paying to play--filing fees 67
Filing an Intent-to-Use Application 67
Trade Secrets--Shhhhhhhh! 68
Looking at examples of trade secrets 69
Pondering the pros and cons of trade secrets 70
Protecting your trade secret 70
Chapter 7 Stopping Copycats with a Copyright 73
What Is a Copyright? 73
Who Can Claim Copyright? 74
Copyright Protection 75
What works are protected? You took the words out of my mouth 76
What's not protected by copyright 76
Securing copyright protection 77
How long does copyright protection last? 80
Registering Your Copyright 81
Knowing who may file an application 82
Applying for an original registration 82
Renewing your registration 83
Registering unpublished collections 84
Considering special deposit requirements 84
Effective date of registration 85
Correcting and amplifying existing registrations 86
Paying registration fees 86
Contacting the Copyright Office 87
Transferring a Copyright 88
Chapter 8 Mum's the Word: Keeping it Confidential 89
Spilling the Beans about the Basics 89
Sharing with the People in Your Life 91
Securing dinner-table talk 91
Signing on employees 91
Zipping your lips at work 92
Talking to the big boys 93
Running into Someone Who Won't Sign 93
Part III Developing Your Idea 95
Chapter 9 Prototyping: Making It Work 97
Understanding the Importance of Prototyping 97
Obtaining Your Prototype 98
Going through the process yourself 98
Hiring a prototype maker to do it for you 100
Prototyping with an existing manufacturer 103
Protecting Your Ideas During the Prototyping Process 104
Cost-Effectively Producing Your Product 104
Meeting product safety standards 105
Developing design control documents 105
Considering graphic design and packaging 106
Pricing your product 107
Choosing the right manufacturing materials 107
Chapter 10 Hiring Helpers and Working with Work-for-Hire Agreements 109
Hiring Professionals to Turn Your Idea into a Reality 109
Picking a prototyper 110
Arranging for packaging personnel 111
Protecting Your Idea and Your Product 112
Working Out Work-For-Hire Agreements 114
Chapter 11 Evaluating Your Invention's Potential 117
Answering Questions about Viability 117
Is your idea original? 118
How will your invention be produced? 118
Will your invention make money? 119
Asking for Evaluations 119
Hiring a professional evaluator 120
Bracing for feedback 121
Looking at evaluation techniques 122
Cutting into PIES 123
Maximizing the Results of Your Evaluation 126
Chapter 12 Looking at the Production Process 127
Focusing on the Process 127
Examining product cycling 128
Subcontracting 129
Making Up the Materials 131
Figuring out what you need 131
Taking on tooling 132
Controlling inventory 132
Packaging for profit and protection 133
Shipping news 134
Delivering the goods 136
Storing things away 136
Inspecting Facilities 137
Finding housing 137
Lining up your equipment 139
Calculating Costs 140
Finding ways to save 141
Judging economies of scale 142
Working with People 142
Checking Quality Control 143
Part IV Commercializing Your Invention 145
Chapter 13 Developing a Business Plan 147
Realizing that You Need a Business Plan 147
Working Up a Business Plan 148
What your plan can do for you 148
Who should write the plan? 149
Breaking Down Your Business Plan 150
Making your plan look presentable 150
Sketching it out 150
Writing an Executive Summary 151
Putting your research on the market 152
Introducing yourself 159
The corporate bigwigs 165
The money 167
Getting even and getting out 168
Stuff tacked on at the end 170
Chapter 14 Finding Funding 173
Determining How Much and For What 174
Looking at what you need money for 175
Determining how much you need 175
Figuring Out the Types of Financing 176
Defining the terms 176
Rating risk and return 178
Seeking Out Sources of Capital 179
The most important source--you! 180
Getting a little help from your friends 181
Going the conventional route with bank loans 181
Calling on angels 182
Letting employees invest 183
Acquiring funds though acquisitions--If you can't beat 'em, acquire 'em! 184
Venturing over to venture capitalists 184
Obtaining a government loan 187
Getting Free Money from Your Uncle Sam 189
Locating local grants 190
Going to the SBA 190
Chapter 15 Keeping Control with Your Own Business 193
Considering Carefully 194
Asking yourself some basic questions 194
Evaluating your skills 195
Realizing that most small businesses fail 196
Deciding to Go for It 197
Assessing your skills, education, and experience 197
Planning the steps 199
Finding a home for your business 200
Buying business insurance 202
Building a Business Structure 203
Going solo with a sole proprietorship 203
Partnering up 204
Looking at limited liability companies 205
Incorporating 206
Adhering to Government Regulations 207
Business licenses 208
Certificate of Occupancy 208
Fictitious business name 208
Tax information 208
Sales tax number 209
Employee protection 209
Minimum wage 210
Doing Business with the Federal Government 210
The Prime Contracts Program 211
Subcontracting Assistance Program 211
Certificate of Competency Program 212
Procurement Marketing and Access Network 212
Making Use of Contacts and Sources of Assistance 212
Chapter 16 Partnering and Manufacturing Arrangements 215
Paying and Partnering Arrangements 215
Contracting out or joining up 216
Mergers and acquisitions 217
Teaming Up with a Manufacturer 218
Locating potential manufacturers 218
Assessing plants 219
Examining the manufacturer's track record 221
Negotiating a contract 221
Partnering Abroad 223
Matching up with the right foreign partner 223
Issues to consider when partnering abroad 224
Chapter 17 Preparing to Take Your Invention to Market 227
Discovering What You Need to Know 227
Finding out about your customers 228
Keeping up with the competition 229
Packaging for appeal and profit 230
Pricing your product to sell 231
Doing Market Research 233
Defining the opportunity or problem 235
Setting objectives, budgets, and timetables 235
Selecting research types, methods, and techniques 236
Designing research instruments 237
Organizing and analyzing the data 242
Chapter 18 Marketing Your Product 245
Developing Your Market Strategy 245
Mixing it up 247
Targeting your market 248
Making sales presentations 249
Attending trade shows 250
Getting your product and customers together 254
Steering clear of invention promotion companies 256
Evaluating Your Ongoing Progress 259
Chapter 19 Advertising Your Product 261
Exploring Advertising Basics 261
Designing Your Advertising Campaign 262
Tying into a theme 263
Targeting your audience 263
Choosing the best media for your message 264
Setting objectives and measuring results 265

First Chapter

Inventing For Dummies


By Pamela Riddle Bird

John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 0-7645-4231-1


Chapter One

The Innovation Process

In This Chapter

* Applauding yourself

* Keeping your idea safe

* Making it to market

* Pushing your idea through the pipeline

Maybe you can come up with an idea in the morning, make one phone call, receive a check by noon, and reach financial success, all in time to watch the sunset through your lovely rose-colored glasses. It's possible. (It's possible to win the lottery, too. It's possible to earn both an Olympic gold medal and an academy award.)

Being possible doesn't make it likely, however; just as getting a patent doesn't make your invention commercially viable. Try to accept right now that making money from your idea may well be a long, grueling, expensive, and perhaps unachievable task. Prepare to recognize little successes along the way as victories. Many people never see their idea converted into a real working model. Of these, few ever receive patents. Fewer yet ever see a return on their financial investment, much less their time. Only a very small percentage - about 7 percent - of patent holders ever make enough money to recoup even the cost of getting their patents. So, as you reach the milestones that you have set for yourself, be happy and proud of these victories.

In this chapter, I give you some practical advice on deciding what you want to do with your invention, how to protect it, and give you a fewbasic pointers on going to market. I also go over the product life cycle to give you a better idea of the process you need to go through.

Deciding Where to Go with Your Idea

You have an idea, now what? Where do you go? What steps do you take to bring your new idea to fruition?

Decide as early as possible what your true objective is. In other words, what do you want from your invention? Do you want to be famous? Is just getting a patent what you really care about? Are you all about the money? Are you all about the altruism and making the world a better place?

If you're an inventor with a commercialization bent, you're in good company. When Thomas Edison couldn't find a buyer for his first patented invention - an electric vote counter - he formulated a lifelong policy: Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent!

Your goal plays a large part in how you proceed with your idea. If your true desire is to have your name on a patent and commercialization isn't important to you, your task is substantially different than if you're expecting to achieve financial independence through your invention.

Carefully consider where you are today and where you want to end up. It may be helpful to take a sheet of paper and list the steps involved in achieving your final objective. I suggest writing where you are today at the top, skipping several lines, and entering your final goal. Now enter the milestones that you consider to be of critical importance along the way. Some of the tasks you may list are

  •   Conducting a patent search (see Chapter 3)
  •   Submitting your idea for evaluation (see Chapter 11)
  •   Building a prototype (see Chapter 9)
  •   Researching the market (see Chapter 17)
  •   Filing a provisional patent application (see Chapter 4)
  •   Forming a company (see Chapter 15)
  •   Meeting with a potential licensee (see Chapter 20)
  •   Writing a business plan (see Chapter 13)

You don't have to fill in all the blanks if you aren't sure of all the steps; having a rough idea of some the steps is enough to get started (you may come up with additional ideas as you go through this book). But preparing even a preliminary list may make you realize that there is a lot more to the process than you had originally anticipated and that you may need some help along the way.

You should continually update the list and prioritize it as you go. If you have a target date for success, then you should include that as well, and then date the milestones that must be met accordingly.

One of your objectives, regardless of your overall goals, should be to make your idea yours. In order to do this, you have to patent your idea. If you're interested only in getting a patent, stick to the chapters in this part. The rest of this book, however, focuses on sharing my experience and expertise in bringing inventions to market. If you want to make money from your idea, and I hope that you do, every chapter and every section should be of interest to you.

Protecting Your Idea

Your idea - or at least your rights to your idea - can slip out of your grasp if you don't protect it well. Just bragging too specifically to the wrong person can be dangerous - people claim credit for ideas that aren't theirs all the time. So, though you may be proud of your idea (and you have every right and reason to be), be careful about how you talk about it and to whom. If you think about it, it isn't logical to share your brainstorm with the world without safeguarding it.

If you plan to market your invention, you probably will pursue getting some legal intellectual property protection - a patent, copyright, or other protection mentioned in later chapters in this part and in Part II. Taking some precautions from the very start can help bolster those claims and establish your ownership rights should the need arise.

Keeping good records

Keeping an inventor's diary, engineering notebook, or logbook is almost essential, not just to protect your rights, but to document your invention's history and progress.

Detailed documentation can be a valuable resource in many stages of your invention's life cycle. Potential investors interested in funding your project can use your logbook to make decisions about your product's potential and about your capabilities. Investors are often more interested in the person than in the product. A logbook that shows attention to detail and an organized, well-thought-out plan of action can mean money in the bank for you. If, for some reason, or no reason, the tax man audits you, your logbook can show and justify deductions you may have taken.

What if someone overhears an explanation of your invention and files a patent application before you do? Or an employee claims that she is the actual inventor or maybe a co-inventor? Or your lab may suffer a break-in, and whether the thief was hired by a competitor or is just an opportunist, you may lose your prototype and equipment. In cases like these, a well-kept invention log can help you prove your claim and pick up the pieces.

The notebook itself should be a bound book - one you can't take pages out of. Use permanent ink to make dated entries that detail the activity on a day-to-day basis. Get two witnesses to sign and date each entry. Keep your journal current and factual.

Record everything into the logbook, including

  •   The title of your invention
  •   The purpose of the invention - what you use it for
  •   A detailed description, including any unique features
  •   A sketch, drawing, or picture
  •   Various uses and applications for your product - these may even vary by industry
  •   The differences between your invention and similar products, if you know of any
  •   Advantages of your product compared to other products or close substitutes
  •   Names of the people with whom you speak with about your product, including consultants, prototype builders, packaging designers, and so on; names of people you know are aware of your product including employees, friends and family, and current or former colleagues
  •   Contact information of companies you talk to about licensing, production, pricing, and packaging

Document not only what you and any colleagues do to further your invention, but add in records of any correspondence, receipts and bills related to the project, and letters of revelations, which are any type of documentation or paperwork written to other companies about your product. For example, you may have correspondence about manufacturing cost estimates, potential licensing agreements, hiring an engineer or prototype builder, and so on. (The record of expenses comes in handy at tax time, also.) This type of information should be kept in a separate folder from your logbook. Figure 1-1 shows a sample logbook entry.

If your invention is very good, you almost certainly face having it copied. Or you may face a situation in which another inventor, working completely separately, comes up with a very similar item. Sooner or later you may end up in court defending your intellectual property rights. In the U.S., a patent is issued to the first inventor of a product, not the first person to apply for a patent on it. In many instances, those two are different people. Even after a patent is issued, it can be disputed by someone claiming to have invented it earlier, or by someone who just hopes to cash in. Often, your best defense is great documentation.

Participating in the Disclosure Document Program

One of the services provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the Disclosure Document Program. For a $10 fee you can forward a paper called a Disclosure Document to the USPTO as evidence of the date of conception for your invention. The document is in effect for two years, after which time your papers are destroyed unless you refer to them in your patent application, which must be filed within those two years.

Although there are no restrictions regarding the contents and claims of the Disclosure Document, the overall benefits depend upon what the document claims. You should write a clear and complete explanation of the manner and process of making and using your invention. The use of the invention should be described in detail, especially with inventions that are chemically related.

The Disclosure Document needs to be just that - a document. Write on regular paper (you can use drafting paper) and don't include videotapes, prototypes, or a photo larger than 81/2 by 11. Get the full specifications at uspto.gov.

The USPTO asks that you send two copies of your cover letter (not the whole disclosure document) so that they can send one back in the self-addressed, stamped envelope you include also.

A disclosure document is not a patent application. It merely establishes your invention's date of conception, which can certainly be a very important issue if the validity of your patent is ever challenged.

Spinning Through the Product Life Cycle

You've come up with a practical solution to a common problem and you want to make money from it. Where do you start? Well, first of all, don't quit your day job and take a credit-card vacation just yet. Your inventor's high may soon come crashing down amid the frustrations and setbacks of developing your idea and getting it to market. You must consider many things before running to a patent attorney to file a patent application.

There are specific steps you can take to discover whether you want to spend a lot of time and money on a new concept. In today's competitive market, you must not only have a great idea, but also know how to move the idea through the entire commercialization process.

Your very first step in the cycle is to think about how your idea will be used. Think about your idea in terms of marketability. Can you turn it into a saleable item? If so, will people buy it? Is there something already on the market that's very similar? What other competition is there? Remember, ideas are cheap and products are expensive.

Inventors often want to turn over their idea to someone else to make money for them. A good analogy for this desire is handing someone a newborn child and asking him to feed, clothe, potty train, educate, and otherwise care for the kid until the child is fully grown and through college. No one has more interest in, investment in, or ideas about your invention than you do. In order to maximize the potential profits, you have to be involved in bringing up your baby - er, your invention. Commercializing a product is like having a baby - easy to conceive and hard to deliver!

A product, like the aforementioned child, has a distinct life cycle, shown in the chart in Figure 1-2.

The life cycle of a product is basically seven years. The stages are as follows:

  •   Evaluation and analysis stage: The first two and a half years encompass the beginning stage of the life cycle. You receive no income because you're not selling anything yet. Your idea is in the evaluation and analysis stage, during which you test feasibility, viability, and reality. You conduct a patent search to make sure someone else doesn't already hold a patent on your idea. (Just because a product hasn't been marketed doesn't mean that there's no patent on it.) You make a prototype or otherwise refine your design. You do estimates of production costs, and do some market research to find out whether consumers are interested and how much they'd pay.
  •   Introductory stage: At approximately year 21/2, your product enters the market. After introducing your invention, you continue to develop the markets for it and, hopefully, witness rapid growth and soaring profits. As a product's market presence grows, it has to be competitive in order to survive. Marketing is civilized warfare! Your product will go through all sorts of growing pains, much like a teenager moving to adulthood. You have to be as creative as you were during the invention stage in order to take and hold a place in the market.

In the marketplace, your invention fights for the same dollar that can be spent on a family vacation, a mortgage, a new car, a child's education, and so on. Consumers only have so much money to spend and a variety of ways to spend their money. Your product is in direct competition with other products and services. How consumers choose to spend their money must be analyzed. Failure to do so and to understand consumer psychology can cause them to purchase similar products or close substitutes instead of your invention.

  •   Development and Growth: In Figure 1-2, note the point where managers take hold and their expertise takes over in order to move the product into the next stage, the Market Development and Growth Stage. Management teams come from various walks of life, with different fields of expertise and experiences. In fact, one of the most valuable things an investor brings to a company isn't necessarily funding, but the management expertise and experience to help push your product along.

Clearly, people with money to invest in your product don't have the funds because they're bad at business.

Continues...


Excerpted from Inventing For Dummies by Pamela Riddle Bird Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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    Posted June 7, 2009

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