Inventors... come on in

[NSXRguy]

are there any "successful" inventors on here? im talking inventors of "gadgets" thats actually available to the public and sold in stores.

what did you invent? im mainly interested in the whole patenting process...

 

[sahtt]

Several years ago I had an interesting idea involving solar panels, a specific integration mechanism into automobiles. One of my best friends is an exceptional electrical engineer and structured the designs etc. I spent a lot of time and energy just to find out it had already been patented but never utilized. It is a bit rewarding to note that in the newest generation Prius has a very similar system to the one I thought of as being a great idea.

I found out through personal experience that patents are not cheap to deal with. Note I didn't say "get". Just figuring out if an existing patent is without a doubt not overlapping substantially on your idea can be exhausting, think $25k+ if it's a complex idea.

I think without an extremely high level expertise in a field it's difficult to get a patent edge over corporations and universities. The best bet is probably something seemingly stupid that can sell on late night TV.

 

[NSXLVR]

been working on a few ideas for the past 2 years. I will say this, be prepared, as it will consume your life. As far as patents go, sweet lordy, I hope you have a lot of hair, because you will be pulling it all out. Money, time all are the biggest factors, not to mention the searches, to make sure it's not been thought of, or the time spent on finding loopholes, on the ones closest to it

other than that...it's been some of the most liberating work I've done in my life.

 

[Russ]

Forgive me but I am obligated to say this: It should be understood that my comments here are not legal advice and do not form an attorney-client relationship with anyone, rather I am offering personal opinion and general information to my friends in the NSX community.

With that out of the way, I find myself nodding in agreement with saht's and NSXLVR's posts. One thing that is frequently overlooked is: a patent grants a right of exclusion. In other words, it grants you the right to keep others from making, using, or selling your patented invention. However, it does not grant you the free & clear right to make, use, or sell it. You think, how can this be???

There are two main aspects to the patent game. First is that to get a patent, your invention must be new, useful, and non-obvious.

New=Your EXACT invention has never been disclosed previously.
Useful=Your invention does something - easy to meet this requirement.
Non-Obvious=Where the money is. VERY basically, that your invention goes beyond a solution at which a person of ordinary skill would have arrived.

(BTW these are for a US patent - other countries have their own standards)

The second is that your commercial product, even it you've patented certain aspects of it, must not infringe on someone else's patent(s).

The classic example: You invent the chair. Your patent claims a seat, a back, and four legs. Nobody else can make, use, or sell a chair without infringing on your patent.

Now someone else invents the rocking chair. His patent claims a chair with a seat, a back, four legs, and two rockers fixed to the bottom of the legs. However, he cannot make, use or sell his rocking chair without first obtaining a license from chair guy. Chair guy can't make a rocking chair without first obtaining a license from rocking chair guy. At this point the laws of economics apply, and they cross-license so that both may profit from their inventiveness.

Now, a third guy comes along an invents the stool: a seat and four legs. He applies for a patent but is denied, since a seat and four legs has already been disclosed by chair guy. BUT stool guy can go ahead and make, use, and sell all the stools he wants, since his stool has no back and thus doesn't infringe on the chair patent.

 

[lowellhigh79]

Had a successful run from 1999 to 2007 of my photo-album wall clocks (design patent). Sold in Thing Remembered stores, Hallmark Gold Crown stores , Home Shopping Network and many clock and gift stores. Almost got it into Josten's. Basic idea was twelve hours = twelve picture slots to place school pictures. A larger thirteenth window for Kindergarten or Senior portrait. At one point, I owned a wood mill and assembly factory and even OEMed clocks under the Danbury label. We won Rookie of the Year in 2000 at the Things Remembered Vendor Banquet in Ohio. Sat at the same table as owner/VP/GMs from Seiko, Howard Miller, Bulova, and RS Owens (maker of the Academy Award). Labor and operations costs kept climbing along with knock-offs (a patent allows you to sue them that's about all)and finally the Great Recession so I closed up in late 2007. Sold a total of 400,000 units from 2000-2006 (about the time my NSX was on a lift at JG Engine Dynamics). Lots of work and trips to China but a once in a lifetime experience!

Best Regards,

Danny

 

[steveny]

I have a prototype in use in a lot of our rentals. It allows you to remove the smoke alarm from a high ceiling without the use of a ladder. I would love for someone to take the idea and my prototype and run with it of course also splitting some of the profit with me. The device is not on the market now and not available in any country. It's a simple idea that is very useful.

I need a lawyer who is willing to work for a split
a person who is willing to do all the run around work
someone with contacts in China to handle manufacturing.

I have about 30 minutes a day to do anything. Right now my life is VERY busy. Property is cheap and I am spending my time adding more of that.

If the above idea takes off I also have 6 notebooks full of ideas, sketches of other inventions that I would also offer up.

One of those ideas was for redbox and my notes are time stamped years prior to the release of redbox. My idea was similar except that you could call ahead to the machine and order the movie you wanted. IOW the machine would be full of blank DVD's and plugged into a library of files. In fact it wouldn't be just movies it could be anything that could be printed on the DVD. Most everything now is available on the net so it's a fading idea that soon will have no worth but back in the day I sure would have loved to drive a mile to get a copy of some piece of software rather than 60 miles. Best Buy could have put these machines in front of every post office.