When people come to my office with ideas and prototypes, the first thing I tell them to do is to file for a patent. If they already have a prototype made up they think it would be very easy to sell or license the product without going through the expense of getting the patent. That is a very serious mistake.
A patent does many things but the most important is that it protects your intellectual property rights. Intellectual property is anything of value that cannot be physically touched, such as a brand, a franchise, a trademark, or a patent – any intangible asset consisting of human knowledge and ideas.
The intellectual property laws in the U.S. to protect inventors or products and/or services are:
– Copyright law protecting original written work
– Patent law protecting inventions and processes
– Trademark law protecting words, names, and symbols used by manufacturers and businesses to identify their goods and services
– Trade secret law protecting valuable information that has been kept secret by its owner.
I was not always as diligent about getting patents. After all, they were expensive and time-consuming but I learned the hard way.
After inventing an air freshener product that I wanted to sell or license to one of the largest manufacturers of air fresheners in the country, it was a great day for me when I scheduled a meeting with representatives of the company.
I prepared very carefully for the meeting and made functioning models of the product. During the meeting with their R&D and marketing people the model I had made was discussed in detail.
My model was unusual because it could be stuck by sticky tape to the wall or door of any room and when someone entered the room air would move causing a draft that in turn caused fragrance to be expelled into the room! It was truly my own creation and innovative.
We said our good-byes after the meeting, shook hands and I left my model with them for further study after which they were to get back to me. When I didn’t hear back, I telephoned, then wrote letters asking what was going on but I was ignored.
Finally I telephoned my contact and was told by his secretary that he was no longer with the company. Then I saw that the company had developed a product almost exactly like mine, even held up by sticky tape, and had put it on the market. Since I didn’t have a patent I had no claim!
I didn’t have the resources to sue them or know what else I could do. I learned a series of things from this experience that are very important to a young inventor.
– Be sure you treat all ideas and thoughts as intellectual property.
– Write them up or tape them in detail.
– Talk with a patent attorney.
– Keep records of what you are doing.
There are excellent resources on the Internet. Look for a listing of patent attorneys at www.uspto.gov. It might prove to be well worth the extra money!
Article – Copyright 2001 Stanley I. Mason. Syndicated by ParadigmTSA
