EVERY once in a while, my family will toss around ideas for potential inventions. Like my son’s ultimate alarm clock, which wakes you up, tells you the weather and makes tea and toast.
None of us have ever gotten past the talking phase. But a lot of other people have.
Last year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office reported that 1.5 million patent applications were pending, compared with around 269,000 in 1992.
And the office issued around 270,000 patents in 2012, about 160,000 more than two decades before.
It’s very easy to believe that a multimillion-dollar invention is just a twist of a screwdriver away. Listen to the seductive radio and television ads that promise to help your invention fly off the shelves. Watch reality television shows like “Shark Tank,” where contestants vie to get businesses to invest in their idea.
While they all portray making millions off your invention as easy, it’s not, said Mark Reyland, executive director of the United Inventors Association of America, a nonprofit education organization. “It’s a business of failure.” That doesn’t mean you won’t be the next Thomas Edison, who was granted around a thousand United States patents. But just bring a little caution and a lot of skepticism to the table.
First, do some preliminary research. Google allows you to research patents at google.com/patents. You can also look at the United States Patent and Trademark Office site to see if your crazy idea has already been patented.
If it looks as if you have a unique product, file a provisional patent application with the patent office. That costs $65 to $260, depending on how many pages your patent needs, and is far simpler to do on your own than filing a formal patent claim.
A provisional patent application is good for one year and essentially protects you from someone else claiming your invention. So you have time to develop and see if there’s a market for it before going through the more onerous full patenting process.
That’s what Micaéla Birmingham of Brooklyn did when she came up with the idea of a sun shade for her baby’s stroller, fashioned out of a dish towel in her kitchen.
“That’s the great thing about a provisional patent,” said Ms. Birmingham, an urban planner. “It gives you a chance to get it off the ground.”
Filing a patent, including the necessary research, can easily run $4,000 to $10,000 — or more, said Michael Neustel, a patent lawyer in Fargo, N.D.
Do you need a lawyer? While you can make your way through the complicated and time-consuming process yourself, the patent office strongly suggests using one.
“This is not an area where people should do it themselves,” said Jonathan Putnam, a New York patent lawyer. “You need to understand prior patents and prior inventions. You need to explain how you’ve advanced the product. You need a dedicated adviser who has only your interest at heart.”
Patent agents are another option — they don’t have a law degree, but, like a patent lawyer, must pass an exam administered by the United State Patent and Trademark Office.
Ms. Birmingham said she used a friend who was a patent lawyer, spent about $5,000 on legal and filing fees and just recently received the patent for CityShade — two years after filing. The average wait between filing and receiving a patent is 29 months, according to the patent office.
While the patent was pending, she got her Web site, citymum.com, up and running and has sold 2,500 covers at $68 each ($78 for organic cotton).
The high cost of such lawyers is one reason companies advertise free or inexpensive invention help. But those services might just end up costing you more than you planned.
Nancy Tedeschi found that out. She came up with the idea of a snap-on screw to repair eyeglasses when the earpieces come off.
She filed a provisional patent application by herself and started manufacturing SnapIt Screw. But then she discovered that “the invention was the easy part,” she said. “Marketing and getting it out is horrible.”
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Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/your-money/taking-an-invention-from-idea-to-the-store-shelf.html?partner=rss&emc=rss