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8 Secrets to Patenting Your Invention
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Article 1: Fill A Need
You’ve got a great idea for a better mousetrap and want the world to beat a path to your door?
The good news is that every commercial product at some point was an original idea like yours. The bad news is that only a tiny percentage of original ideas end up patented. The good news is that 115,000 new patent applications are processed annually. The bad news is that only about 2 percent of patented inventions ever reach market.
Brace yourself now for more bad news: The same skills, inventiveness and creativity responsible for great inventions are not necessarily the talents that can transform those inventions into patented products on the open market.
But there is more good news too. With a modicum of common sense, the ability to follow directions and good old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness, you can patent and market your invention, even if you must do it yourself (although it’s probably advisable to get professional help).
The first key to success is to find a need and fill it. Curious or spectacular contraptions that fill no need typically don’t result in marketable – let alone profitable – commercial products. But inventions that provide what people want or need become commercial successes.
An invention without a patent is of little use to you if you dream of mass producing it for sale or selling the idea to a manufacturer. But without a patent you might make someone else rich, since anyone can take your unpatented idea and run with it.
After your creative juices spawn your invention, and after you’ve determined people will pay money for it, get your concept patented.
A patent is a limited right granted by government allowing you, the inventor, to prevent others from making, using or selling what you have invented. The property right granted to the inventor in a patent excludes others from using, marketing or selling your invention in the country where it’s registered, and constitutes a right you can sell or license, which usually is where the money is.
All patents are issued only for the country where they are obtained. In the United States, a patent lasts 20 years from date of the filing the patent application and there are more than 4,676,000 registered.
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