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Has anyone sold a design? 8

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TXMEEN

TXMEEN

Mechanical
Oct 7, 2007
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I have an idea that works well in my CAD model and could be very helpful to others. I recognize working on paper means nothing if it doesnt work after being fabricated.

I can have prototypes built but the cost will start to add up during the testing stage and having numerious prototypes fabricated to work out the unforseen bugs. Another option is to prepare a presentation and attempt to sell the design/concept to a company.

Has anyone taken an idea from a design in their head to something on a shelf at a store? Has anyone sold an idea? What are some pitfalls in the process? What are some ways to communicate with the appropriate department at a larger company. I doubt you can just call the main 800 number and say you have an idea.

Thanks
 
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forum784 might be worth a look, at least some aspects of your situation are likely to have been discussed before.

I just emailed my Brother In Law who works for an energy company one of my bright ideas, they weren't interested/already had something similar. Or at least, that's what he told me;-).

Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​
 
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TXMEEN,

Unless you have some significant financial resources at your disposal, your only realistic option is to secure your idea with one or more patents, and then sell or license rights to that intellectual property. Bringing even a simple product to market will require you to spend huge amounts of cash, and that cash will be tied up for a long period of time.

You can get 12 months of protection with a provisional US patent filing that costs a couple hundred bucks and can easily be filed on your own. However, you'll likely want to have a patent attorney prepare the filing of any formal patents, and each one will run you something like 5 to 10 thousand dollars in attorney costs and filing fees here in the US. If you want foreign patent protection, it can easily cost you several times that amount.

Once you have some IP protection in place, you'll want to draft a non-disclosure agreement for any interested parties to sign before discussing your idea with them.

Many large companies have formal idea submission processes in place. Here's one for Ford .

Good luck. Hope that helped.
Terry
 
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I helped a guy get his product market-ready. Took the stupid out of his design; drew up everything; found trustworthy suppliers that would work with a little guy. Then I watched him unravel and scare away all of his investors.
 
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There are also marketing companies, ala "Pitchmen" who specialize in direct TV marketing, and the have associated companies that can front the actual production/product readiness aspect.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
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large companies tend to not buy ideas, they buy companies with IP. So if you're idea is more of a huge scale, start a company and generate the IP.

You can raise VC money, but everyone I've talked to says you are best off going in with a working prototype.

The way I see it, you either develop the prototype with your own cash, or get some angel investors (family, friends, etc.)

Chris Loughnane - Product Design

 
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One thing I see time and time again is brilliant inventors who don't grasp the basic mechanics of investment capital. Investors are not giving you money out of the goodness of their hearts or because they believe in you. They're looking for a return.

Most venture capitalists are going to want a share that gives them a decent return on their capital (don't even think in terms of passbook savings accounts). Five or ten percent is not the number. They will also want some control, especially if you don't have a track record of running successful businesses.

 
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First: Make sure your idea isn't already patented. Without even knowing what it is your working on I'd bet my life savings that someone has already patented it. USPTO.gov is you're friend (assuming you're in the USA). Spend a day or so searching.

Second: If by some miracle it's not already patented, talk to a lawyer about filing a provisional and have him prepare an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) for you. Have anyone you talk to about the invention sign an NDA.

Third: If you see a company advertise invention commercialization on TV, it's probably a fraud. Those companies don't care if your ideas are good, they want to sell you worthless patent searches and marketing studies.

Forth: Good ideas are worth a whole lot less than most people think. You need to put together a business plan/value proposition to show that your idea is worth developing. You'll need to be brutally honest with this assessment.

Fifth: Approach companies/investors with your proposition and be happy if you end up with enough money to cover your legal costs.
 
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I have licensed a couple chemical processes but only after I invented them and put them into production. I came nowhere near recovering my investment.

Patents are very expensive, take years and less than 1% of them are profitable. Then, once you get one, you have to defend it.

Tom


Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.
 
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I think my idea is prety good but I am also aware of the reality that just because you are excited about it doesn't really mean anyone else will be. I am sure there are a LOT of people out there who spend $15-$30k on a product to get it going only to have it flop.

So when you see really creative and useful gadget at a store, would it be safe to say that for the most part they came from a company that was already established or from that one in a million individual who took the financial risk and it wound up paying off?
 
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Everyone has a million dollar idea; most only cost a million to find there a flop.

Many cool items you see in stores are ideas that were patented and someone tried to sell but did not become popular until after the patent expired. Markets adopt new ideas slowly and in some cases begrudging.

A star for tomwalz. I only have one patent out of two applications, neither of these products have been winners so far. The products I’ve developed that were not patented have been more profitable and easier to market as they are incremental improvements.

Ed Danzer
 
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Many companies patent thouands of things, only a few of them are actually worth anything. Conversely, there are companies that patented things, made money, and then had their patents nullified in court. The entire process is a crapshoot, no company has the inside track on being successful. That said, a larger company has the wherewithal to withstand flops, and to spend the money to market test their products before investing gobs on production.

You might want to view old episodes of the show "Pitchmen," which gives you an excellent view of what the small inventor goes through. In the show, they had a couple of instances where certain companies would take on ideas, assuming they passed the giggle test first, and then would develop it further, do testing, do market evaluations, etc., before going with a direct marketing approach. Clearly, however, less than 1 in 10 inventors make it to that stage.

If you attempt to do it yourself, you will most likely lose gobs of money. Even with patent protection, there would be strong likelihood that someone will copy your product and flood the market. A large marketing company can get the product out quicker, and to more markets than you can yourself.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
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I agree that patents are generally more trouble than they're worth, but without one you will not be able to license a purely mechanical invention. Software code and industrial design can be protected by copyright, brands can be protected by trademarks and other inventions can be protected by trade secrets, but with a mechanical invention there's nothing to keep someone from legally reverse engineering the product other than a utility patent.

Patents are like real-estate. A very special few are lakefront lots with mountain views and most of the others are situated next to superfund sites, but without the deed you've got nothing to lease.
 
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When pitchmen get involved in the process, like salesmen, the product and it's attrributes get distorted, overrated and overblown, so things get sticky for the inventor.

Eliminate the pitchmen and the sticky goes away.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
 
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Yes I did, but then deal was cancelled.

Partner and I designed a game. We prototyped everything including injection mold tooling for components, all the parts, printing, instruction manual, packaging, prototyped in store point of purchase displays, complete costed BOM with vendors, drawing package, etc. Video taped kids playing the game. A complete package.

Took it to Big Toy Co. They agreed to purchase, we did some negotiating, scheduled second meeting with other representatives. In between meetings they received new directive that all new product introduction must be endorsed by, with, and include certain TV show animated characters.

Meeting over, no deal.
 
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