Invention Marketing and Licensing for the Inventor
Posted by | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 23-12-2009
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There are a lot of but forthright organizations that allegedly facilitate people sell their inventions to industry. In all my years of operating as a patent lawyer, I have never return across one one who ever used one of these organizations to effectively market or sell their invention. But, I have met many who successfully marketed their inventions themselves.
Before you are taking any steps to plug your invention, you should take some preliminary steps.
Preliminary Patent Search – A preliminary patent search is mostly a sensible first step. A preliminary search of varied patent offices can be conducted for a cheap fee (just contact a patent agent/lawyer), and it’s even possible to conduct one free (see the US patent workplace at http://www.uspto.gov/)
Patent Application – Don’t publically disclose your invention till when a patent application is filed. Publically disclosing the invention before filing a patent application can doubtless ruin the chances of ever being granted a sound patent. In fact, several Firms can not even speak to you till you have got filed a patent application.
Prepare a Formal Info Package – You must prepare an informative and concise info package describing you, your invention and therefore the potential market your invention reaches. The package ought to embrace color images of the invention, and a one page govt summary.
Prototype – It’s a ton easier to sell a product if potential consumers will see, bit and feel the product. Building a operating prototype is usually a key step in selling your invention. After all, some products are tough to prototype, in which case a non-working mock-up could must do. In any event, create the most professional prototype or mock-up you can.
Get Financing – Building prototypes and filing patent applications need funds. Finding that initial begin up funding is typically difficult; but, there are two felt methods, namely partnerships and incorporations. A signed partnership agreement is one way for a few individuals to pool their monetary resources into a project. If many investors are concerned, then an incorporated company could be a higher method. Basically, the company takes ownership of the invention and therefore the investors contribute money to the corporate in exchange for shares. The number and value of the shares can be tailored to suit the particular wants of the project.
Currently that we tend to have proscribed a number of the preliminary issues, let us examine the mechanics of selling your invention to a company. The particular steps in the method are as follows:
1. Compiling a List of Potential Buyers – Finding a corporation that is willing to buy the invention is the foremost challenging half of the process. It begins by generating an inventory of companies that may be curious about the invention. You can use a business directory to generate that list. Business directories list firms by the merchandise they manufacture (or services they supply) and embrace basic info about these companies like their address, phone and fax variety, and also the name of the president (CEO or owner). Suitable business directories might be found within the business section of the native reference library.
2. Contacting Potential Patrons – Your list of potential buyers might embrace literally tons of companies. You simply call up every company on the list and ask them if they might be interested in receiving a solicitation for a replacement invention. Then get the contact information concerning who in the company to send your info to.
3. Presenting the Invention to Prospects – Once you have thinned out your list, your next step is to submit your information to every of the businesses on the list. This might involve calling the people identified to be the “contact” for new product ideas and telling them that you are sending them an info package regarding your product. Your package should embrace a cowl letter and a 1 page synopsis of your product (together with a image). The data must be clear, concise and it should appear as professional as possible. Don’t strive to overwhelm the recipient – you want to impress them, not burden them.
4. Follow Up – Do not expect the prospect to return to a quick decision regarding the invention. It might take a chance many months (even a year or additional) to create up his/her mind on a project. You have to be patient. It is vital to periodically follow up with the company however do not “pester” the prospect. Remember, the people considering your invention are in all probability quite busy with many other comes – annoying them could do very little to speed the project up and could cause them to drop the project altogether.
5. Negotiations – If you find a corporation that’s inquisitive about selecting up the project, then be ready to barter the terms of the sale. The key here is to be reasonable. From my expertise, nothing kills off a possible licencing deal faster than an unreasonable inventor. Realistically, the most you’re possible to urge may be a smart come back on your investment. Asking for a smaller signing fee together with a modest royalty is far a lot of seemingly to generate a signed agreement than holding out for a huge payoff.
6. Royalty Amount – I am typically asked the query “how much will I sell my invention for”. I don’t recognize the solution; but, here are some rules that will facilitate you work out a cheap royalty rate. 1st of all, try to negotiate a royalty which is lessened in to two elements, an initial signing payment and an annual royalty payment. The initial payment ought to cowl most of your costs of the project. The annual royalties should represent an amount which is sufficient to represent a good return on your investment without being a burden on the manufacturer. The final “guideline” is to raise for a small percentage (one% to five%) of the web sales of the product. It is also potential, and in some cases advisable, to mend the annual royalty payment to an easily calculated quantity (e.g. $1.00 per unit sold).
Selling your invention to a manufacturer is potential however it’s not easy. How successful are you possible to be? From my expertise, individual inventors are way more possible to successfully sell their invention by themselves then by researching some invention promotion organization. Like any business, the chances of success are a operate of your determination, information and willingness to take risks.
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