Well, I have been writing a very shortened version of what has been happening over the last few months, I only came up with this idea in March and now it's August, so really 6 months condensed into a mini blog!
A lot of my time has been spent doing research, having meetings with different companies and playing with my prototype. It has occupied my thoughts whilst awake and also whilst sleeping, it has been my baby and I have been so very protective of it and still am.
Well, where am I at this week. 2 weeks ago I received the first draft of my patent application. On first read it may have well been written in Klingon as I didn't understand a word of it. However after several reads it did start to make sense although I did have some questions about it. having chosen a patent lawyer so close to home, it was great to be able to pop round the corner to see him and have him explain things face to face and draw concepts on paper to help understand things more.
A few minor changes were made and another draft sent to me to check. I was glad there were only a couple of minor adjustments out of a 12 page document. My patent lawyer had a complete grasp of my idea and this was an added bonus to be working with someone who understood where I was coming from.
So, last week I finally had my patent filed!! I have a filing date and an application number which means my idea is classed as patent pending! I now need to play the waiting game to see what will happen with the patent office. I have had my expectations set and it really could go either way.
I have a lot more work to get done over the coming months,My main focus is to see some potentail buyers.
So, I find myself in a position to tell people what my idea is but I still worry about being laughed at, and I still feel very protective towards my idea which I understand so many other inventors do.
I have a few other milestones I want to reach over the next few weeks and I think then I will be able to comfortably tell all about it!
I feel I owe my readers of this blog a tiny hint, so for now I would love you all to answer the following 2 questions for me. Just leave your answers as a comment.
What is the best thing about doing a barbecue?
What is the worst thing about doing a barbecue?
Thanks very much for reading and for your answers.
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Monday 8 August 2011
Protection
Sorting out some form of ptotection for my invention was going to be my biggest challenge yet.
I had been given advice from several companies, some suggesting protection was a must, and others saying it was a waste of money. I decided to do what I had done so far, and go with my gut instinct, that meant looking into protection.
I knew that I could potentially apply for a patent, I could also register the design of my product. Exactly what either of these entailed, I wasn't sure but I knew it would be expensive, I still wanted to pursue it though.
I thought that registering the design would be easier than sorting out a patent, so decided to look at patents first.
I contacted 3 different companies that had patent lawyers working for them. I got costs from each of them for doing a worldwide patent search, how much to draft my patent application, how much to file the patent application, and also what help they would give me along the way.
Surprisingly (or me just being naive!), the costs and services varied a lot. For example, for doing a patent search I was quoted these 3 amounts from the various companies £250, £495 and £900+VAT. The patent search would tell me if my invention already existed, or a similar invention already existed. I was informed of a website called esp@cenet.com which would help me attempt to do my own patent search. I knew that just because I had not found my product online, didn't mean it didn't exist somewhere with a patent.
Drafting and filing a patent for me varied between £1500 and over £4000, so for me this was not going to be cheap!
I knew that anything to do with the patent was going to be complicated and would require discussions and meetings with a patent lawyer. I decided to choose the company that was closest to where I lived, actually they were just 5 minutes away from me! This meant I could pop in and see them and discuss things face to face, this was my preferred option as I knew I would get confused with emails and even explaining things over the phone. So my choice of patent lawyer was made, I had emailed my lawyer an outline of what the invention was so that he could look at it prior to our first meeting.
As usual I was nervous about how my idea would be received, I had been encouraged to think positively, think like an inventor, refer to myself as an inventor and that would help me succeed. Some days this was quite hard to do,.on some occasions I would wonder what on earth I was doing, little old me, mum of 4, trying to create a product, on other occassions I would think, 'I'm a genius'!
So, my first meeting with my patent lawyer went well. He understood what the product was, understood how it worked and even said he wanted one! I showed him more photos of the prototype and other related photos. He wanted to set my expectations and explained that whilst I could apply for the patent, there was no gurantee it would be granted, however to use his words, 'it's not a dead duck'! So there was a chance it could get granted.
We discussed costs and how they could help me along the way and I felt comfortable with the information I was being given. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone about the invention in detail and I left the meeting feeling positive.
Applying for the patent was my first big financial outlay, and really the only financial risk involved. If the patent was rejected then I potentially had wasted my time and money. If however it was granted then I would be in a good position.
This idea had been my project for a while now and I still had not hit my brickwall yet. So in my mind I knew I had to continue.
I had been given advice from several companies, some suggesting protection was a must, and others saying it was a waste of money. I decided to do what I had done so far, and go with my gut instinct, that meant looking into protection.
I knew that I could potentially apply for a patent, I could also register the design of my product. Exactly what either of these entailed, I wasn't sure but I knew it would be expensive, I still wanted to pursue it though.
I thought that registering the design would be easier than sorting out a patent, so decided to look at patents first.
I contacted 3 different companies that had patent lawyers working for them. I got costs from each of them for doing a worldwide patent search, how much to draft my patent application, how much to file the patent application, and also what help they would give me along the way.
Surprisingly (or me just being naive!), the costs and services varied a lot. For example, for doing a patent search I was quoted these 3 amounts from the various companies £250, £495 and £900+VAT. The patent search would tell me if my invention already existed, or a similar invention already existed. I was informed of a website called esp@cenet.com which would help me attempt to do my own patent search. I knew that just because I had not found my product online, didn't mean it didn't exist somewhere with a patent.
Drafting and filing a patent for me varied between £1500 and over £4000, so for me this was not going to be cheap!
I knew that anything to do with the patent was going to be complicated and would require discussions and meetings with a patent lawyer. I decided to choose the company that was closest to where I lived, actually they were just 5 minutes away from me! This meant I could pop in and see them and discuss things face to face, this was my preferred option as I knew I would get confused with emails and even explaining things over the phone. So my choice of patent lawyer was made, I had emailed my lawyer an outline of what the invention was so that he could look at it prior to our first meeting.
As usual I was nervous about how my idea would be received, I had been encouraged to think positively, think like an inventor, refer to myself as an inventor and that would help me succeed. Some days this was quite hard to do,.on some occasions I would wonder what on earth I was doing, little old me, mum of 4, trying to create a product, on other occassions I would think, 'I'm a genius'!
So, my first meeting with my patent lawyer went well. He understood what the product was, understood how it worked and even said he wanted one! I showed him more photos of the prototype and other related photos. He wanted to set my expectations and explained that whilst I could apply for the patent, there was no gurantee it would be granted, however to use his words, 'it's not a dead duck'! So there was a chance it could get granted.
We discussed costs and how they could help me along the way and I felt comfortable with the information I was being given. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone about the invention in detail and I left the meeting feeling positive.
Applying for the patent was my first big financial outlay, and really the only financial risk involved. If the patent was rejected then I potentially had wasted my time and money. If however it was granted then I would be in a good position.
This idea had been my project for a while now and I still had not hit my brickwall yet. So in my mind I knew I had to continue.
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Testing the prototype
A couple of months ago I hadn't even come up with my idea yet, now I was at home with the prototype. It didn't look pretty, I just had to prove that it worked. Testing the prototype was fairly easy and within a couple of hours of basic testing I knew that it worked and was thrilled. Even if this idea didn't take off, at least I would have a working protoype at home that I could use forever.
It would still need lots of testing and my family would be willing to help with this. In fact over the last few months my prototype has been used more than I thought and I love it!
Whilst not in use it has been carefully hidden away, I have discovered many inventors really do guard their inventions so it is not just me being paranoid.
I know some of you have asked me already what the invention is, I will reveal it as time goes on and will explain then why I havn't told you yet. When you do find out, some of you will love it and want one, some of you will wonder why I wasted my time!
So, at this point, I had a working prototype but still didn't know what to do next. Internet research had become my new best friend and I found out that many companies will offer a free half hour or hour consultation to review an idea and see how they can help. I decided to take advantage of this and booked myself in with a local company in Norwich. Their website looked good, they had helped many others get products to market, even some products that I recognised.
With another NDA signed, I met with the owner. Again, I was apprehensive that my idea would be laughed at however I was meeted with amazing enthusiasm. The company said they had their integrity to think about so would not recommend pursuing an idea that would probably fail. This was good to hear. We discussed what I should do next, and covered the subject of CAD drawings, manufacturing costs and protecting the idea.
The protection of the idea had been the big thing that was worrying me. I could not discuss my idea with anyone who had not signed an NDA, if so they could nick the idea and also there could be protection problems if the idea was in the public domain.
I could patent the idea if it met certain requirements. I knew this would also be expensive, however I had done well to get to working prototype stage with only having spent £100.
If I did patent the idea, I would be free to discuss it and pursue knowing that the idea wouldn't be stolen, however if this did happen it would cost me more money with a legal battle.
Gosh, there was a lot to take in. I was given some manufacturing costs estimates which seemed to fit the estimates gained from online research. If I wanted to do this it was going to cost me a lot of money that I really didn't have.
Despite the costs involved I left the meeting feeling positive and a mini plan forming in my head of what to do next.
Even if I patented the idea and had the CAD and design work done, would a buyer actually be interested?
The catch 22 situation I was in, I couldn't see a buyer without protecting the idea which would cost me money, if I spent the money a buyer may not be interested. So, the only financial risk I was actually going to have to take was protecting the idea.
I had managed to avoid paying others so far by using free consultations and doing tons and tons of research. When I had my free consultations I wanted to discuss things I didn't know about and needed help with, it would have been a waste of time covering subjects I already knew.
I still wasn't sure whether to patent the idea or not as it was such a big risk financially. I booked in to see another local company, they were experts in design and helping startup companies. A lovely couple came to my house and I unveiled the prototype! They loved it and genuinely wanted to help me move things along.
Like many others before, we discussed protecting the idea. They recommended some patent attorneys and I decided to at least speak to some before going any further with the idea.
So, to protect the idea or not protect the idea?
It would still need lots of testing and my family would be willing to help with this. In fact over the last few months my prototype has been used more than I thought and I love it!
Whilst not in use it has been carefully hidden away, I have discovered many inventors really do guard their inventions so it is not just me being paranoid.
I know some of you have asked me already what the invention is, I will reveal it as time goes on and will explain then why I havn't told you yet. When you do find out, some of you will love it and want one, some of you will wonder why I wasted my time!
So, at this point, I had a working prototype but still didn't know what to do next. Internet research had become my new best friend and I found out that many companies will offer a free half hour or hour consultation to review an idea and see how they can help. I decided to take advantage of this and booked myself in with a local company in Norwich. Their website looked good, they had helped many others get products to market, even some products that I recognised.
With another NDA signed, I met with the owner. Again, I was apprehensive that my idea would be laughed at however I was meeted with amazing enthusiasm. The company said they had their integrity to think about so would not recommend pursuing an idea that would probably fail. This was good to hear. We discussed what I should do next, and covered the subject of CAD drawings, manufacturing costs and protecting the idea.
The protection of the idea had been the big thing that was worrying me. I could not discuss my idea with anyone who had not signed an NDA, if so they could nick the idea and also there could be protection problems if the idea was in the public domain.
I could patent the idea if it met certain requirements. I knew this would also be expensive, however I had done well to get to working prototype stage with only having spent £100.
If I did patent the idea, I would be free to discuss it and pursue knowing that the idea wouldn't be stolen, however if this did happen it would cost me more money with a legal battle.
Gosh, there was a lot to take in. I was given some manufacturing costs estimates which seemed to fit the estimates gained from online research. If I wanted to do this it was going to cost me a lot of money that I really didn't have.
Despite the costs involved I left the meeting feeling positive and a mini plan forming in my head of what to do next.
Even if I patented the idea and had the CAD and design work done, would a buyer actually be interested?
The catch 22 situation I was in, I couldn't see a buyer without protecting the idea which would cost me money, if I spent the money a buyer may not be interested. So, the only financial risk I was actually going to have to take was protecting the idea.
I had managed to avoid paying others so far by using free consultations and doing tons and tons of research. When I had my free consultations I wanted to discuss things I didn't know about and needed help with, it would have been a waste of time covering subjects I already knew.
I still wasn't sure whether to patent the idea or not as it was such a big risk financially. I booked in to see another local company, they were experts in design and helping startup companies. A lovely couple came to my house and I unveiled the prototype! They loved it and genuinely wanted to help me move things along.
Like many others before, we discussed protecting the idea. They recommended some patent attorneys and I decided to at least speak to some before going any further with the idea.
So, to protect the idea or not protect the idea?
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