Million Dollar Idea. What’s next?

[Tech Tonics]

"parent attorney"???

You mean to say patent attorney?

You can 3D print butt plugs already.

Yeah. Duh. I typed it on my phone and it must’ve autocorrected. I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed but I’m aware I’m not looking for a parent attorney.


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[Tech Tonics]

Wheeeeee!!!!!




But has it been described (in writing, on Youtube, during a evangelical broadcast, etc.) in any way, shape form, or function? If yes, your putative patent position may be irreparably weakened.



You don't know what you don't know.



Yeah, but does anyone WANT to use / buy it?




Well, what are you contemplating, exactly? Do a start-up? License to a company with three-D printing infrastructure and at least some semblance of curiosity in this hudge market? Make the product, stockpile in your garage and sell on E-Bay as an individual? If start-up, figure out exactly who the market is and then start doing research.- you're gonna need to convince investors that some people will buy this. Develop a business model. Make assumptions (on your business model, the market, costs, supply, shipping, investment capital, potential competitors, etc.) and test those assumptions rigorously. Be prepared to revise and go through multiple iterations of your business model. At some point you ought to be able to figure out how many of your gadgets you'll be able to sell, at least initially and what kind of profit you'll actually realize. Don't waste time with patent counsel until you're convinced that you're on to something.



If you're interested in forming a start-up company, look up "Lean Start Up" and become familiar with the principles relating to that concept. It'll be instructive.

Being at the beginning of something new like this so so much fucking fun! But it's a lot of work, and most enterprises will fail or not be worth pursuing in the first place once the requisite market research is performed.

Good luck!!!

This is all very good. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

-Not that I’ve hired a professional. But I can’t find it online. The patent search was unsuccessful (though it’s a dense website). I know how to use Boolean searching, but i was getting more hits than I should’ve.

-Yeah, you’re right. I definitely don’t know what I don’t know. But this product is somewhat similar in size and scope as the components I use every day in my profession (prosthetics)...so I feel good that it wouldn’t be hard to manufacture. Getting ripped off by a Chinese manufacturer sounds more likely.

-Yeah. I do *think* people would want it. The market it would be in is huge. I definitely want it. My friends would want it. My parents want it. I actually want a few of them. Nearly half of American households could be potential customers.

-great question about what do i want to do with it. Of course, right now I’m just thinking of the assembly/engineering of a prototype. Because of my connections in my field I know a lot of people with 3D printers and cad/cam skills. Probably would like to form a start up and hope to get picked up by the big-box stores. It could sell online easily too. No, this has nothing at all to do with Prosthetics.

-Yeah, I’m not buying any new houses yet. I’m aware of the likliehood that this never goes beyond sketches. I’ve had a couple ideas over the years that I’ve let go after doing some cursory researching. Both related to Upper Limb Prosthetics so pretty damn niche. This one has a pretty wide potential market (unlike above elbow amputee mountain bikers).

Thanks again!


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[Viva]

It's not just about published patents. Any existing disclosure of your invention, or critical aspects of it, or just some simple notion that your invention can be made and may prove useful, even in just concept form, may be consider "prior art" and may destroy any claim you may have to novelty. Well, maybe not, but you'll have to fight the examiner and that will cost $$$. * You need to be searching key words across the board, but especially in publications relating to your market. Anything that's generally available to the public is fair game. Basically, you're looking for anything in the public domain that could have potentially given you this idea. Get past this, and you're in good shape.

Now, this doesn't necesscelery preclude you from making and selling your invention, but you may not be in a position to be granted a patent. And you don't need a patent to sell, especially if you can get in quickly

* Back when I was working for a Kalifornia Univ., we were working to have certain objections to a patent application we had filed dismissed. The invention was for a solar-thermal device for generating hot working fluids at very high efficiency. The examiner cited a long expired patent for a type of arcade game (we're talking circa 1920s) that she claimed provided teaching towards our, then, current green tech. Fun times!

[jono]

A client looks specifically for "death threats" as the major focus of any vetting process, which seems pretty accurate. At this stage that could be anything commercial or technical in addition to existing patents. The important thing is that if one exists that you can't get around you want to find out the cheapest/fastest way possible.

There's an argument there for worrying about existing patents first and another for making sure it works before spending a lot on patent activity. Which is the greatest threat depends on the specific type of butt plug.

One thing to consider is a provisional patent application. You basically have to be ready to file the real thing within a year, but in the meantime the provisional can be a lot quicker and cheaper and get you "patent pending" status without having to show potential investors the issued claims.

[garyfromterrace]

Is it an edible butt plug?

Please tell me you were asking for a friend...

[billyk]

To be patentable, the invention must satisfy certain conditions. It must be statutory, useful, novel, and non-obvious.

This link spells out what that means:
https://www.justia.com/intellectual-...-requirements/

[riser4]

An app that automatically switches your phone mic on mute and closes the camera when you are surfing porn.

[margotron]

All this talk about patents is putting the cart before the horse. You gotta make a few and find out if people want it — that’s the hard part, the less exciting part, and the only part that matters.

Forget the patent. Same with the NDAs

[toast2266]

A patent is only as good as your willingness and ability to enforce it. Plenty of people patented their idea, had it ripped off, and didn't have the money / desire to spend years enforcing their patent.

That said, a patented idea is licensable, which might be a worthwhile avenue to look into.

[mangle]

So serious note - Ideas generally aren't worth much in the end. Being the idea guy is a low risk, low reward path through this sort of thing.

If you want to retain equity in it for a big payout in the end, go out and buy a 3D printer, learn how to use a CAD package to draw this up, and make the first couple prototypes yourself. Do a few iterations on it. Then, if you still believe in it, scrounge up the money for a good patent attorney. Don't hire your college roommate's friend who became a patent attorney, grab one of the big name guys that charges 5x per hour as much as the connection. It'll be worth it. There's always an angle to be played to protect IP.

Then bootstrap it. Hire people to do the things you're not awesome at. Bring in a real mechE or CAD guy to clean up your work. Bonus points if he's done production stuff before (if you're 3D printing a prototype, I'm going to guess it's eventually going to be molded, and prototype molds have recently gotten ridiculously cheap and fast). Pay the guy competitive wages and keep your equity. Once you have a legit finished-quality product and have the manufacturing figured out, you get to decide if you bring in an investor to scale quickly or do it yourself and let it grow organically (again, choose your spot on the risk/reward scale).

tldr; at each point, you can invest more of your own time and money to get to the next level, or you hedge your bets, spread risk, and dilute reward. Hedging at the idea stage results in a ton of dilution. Further investment at this stage changes dilution considerably in your favor with minimal risk. A small fraction of $1M isn't life-changing.

[Self Jupiter]

So serious note - Ideas generally aren't worth much in the end. Being the idea guy is a low risk, low reward path through this sort of thing.

[MataPaw]

Look up Provisional Patent, no real formal requirements (should have all essential elements of your idea) and essentially gives you a year to gauge the market while getting your ducks in row and see if it's something that you really want to pursue. Can be much cheaper.

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-r...-you-need-know

You can file in China/Taiwan, etc. to keep them in line. Also, a patent can allow you to keep those knockoff goods from at least entering the U.S. market.

Google patents is a good resource too.

[GoldMember]

I don't know where you're located but just about any decent sized city has some sort of entrepreneurial ecosystem with local economic development interests involved who are looking to help mentor new ideas. They can assist with a number of elements including market research, defending your IP, business organization, connecting to potential investors, etc. In addition to the mentors, you'll network with a number of other wannabe entrepreneurs who may, at times, be good support partners for various elements of your efforts. There are also great contacts made with entrepreneurs who've been successful in building a business from scratch and scaling up. They've all made mistakes along the way and can help you avoid some of those same mistakes through their mentoring.

Read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries as a starting point. Then research who/what organization in your local area is engaged in incubating new idea companies and involve yourself with them. It only takes some of your time, usually no cost (or very little) for what you receive. Good luck.

[Buster Highmen]

In my experience, the years of playing ping pong with the patent office was expensive and exhausting.

We wrote the application, sent it in through an expensive patent attorney, the patent office rejected it with questions and we iterated 4 times times over the course of 2 years.

We got the patent and immediately had it infringed upon with no real resolution.

[GoldMember]

We got the patent and immediately had it infringed upon with no real resolution.

This is a very legitimate point. A lot of people don't believe in pursuing patents due to any really great ideas that someone patents can be infringed upon by someone with deep pockets. It's incumbent on you to fight to enforce your rights but without significant financial resources to fight for it, most just drop it and your idea has been successfully stolen.

If this is something that has broad market appeal and is relatively simple, the best avenue is to figure out how to get to market fast and dominate through successful branding. Focus your IP on trademarks, brand names, things the market really sees.

[Art Shirk]

My brother stubbed his toe and then punched a cabinet in anger and fucked up his finger. He had to put some hardware in it and he told me after the fact that he asked his doctor if he could make it retractable like Wolverine. Which got me thinking I could probably become a billionaire if I opened a chain of plastic surgery clinics that installed weaponry and other mall ninja shit in/on people. There are probably ten thousand fedora-wearing weebs out there right now who would pay 50K a pop for Wolverine hands. Old Goat, wanna help with the business plan. What ever happened to that JimS doctor guy? Anyone else willing to put their license on the line if I draw up an air-tight liability waiver?

[stealurface831]

My brother stubbed his toe and then punched a cabinet in anger and fucked up his finger. He had to put some hardware in it and he told me after the fact that he asked his doctor if he could make it retractable like Wolverine. Which got me thinking I could probably become a billionaire if I opened a chain of plastic surgery clinics that installed weaponry and other mall ninja shit in/on people. There are probably ten thousand fedora-wearing weebs out there right now who would pay 50K a pop for Wolverine hands. Old Goat, wanna help with the business plan. What ever happened to that JimS doctor guy? Anyone else willing to put their license on the line if I draw up an air-tight liability waiver?

where do i sign up?

i haint got a license to lose but i do have some knives and shit.