(Short Answer: “Rarely.” Except…) As an inventor myself, I know the enthusiastic feeling that your invention is going to be an incredible success, and wouldn’t it be a tragedy if you had only the US market protected and the rest of the world was knocking off your invention willy-nilly without paying you a penny. Unthinkable, right? But good business decisions are [...]
Reality Check: The Bubble I’ve Busted a Thousand Times The classic newbie inventor has a good idea, falls in love with it, and wants to sell it to a big company. That NEVER happens, almost. Here’s what I counsel clients a dozen times a year: your odds of success increase vastly the farther along you are with your invention, your patent, your product, and your [...]
As a few years have passed since Congress threw a little bone to start-up inventors, we’ve learned a few things. The good news is that you might qualify for reduced patent fees under the patent laws, thanks to a “gift” from Congress to small inventors. I didn’t follow the battle, but I expect it was a way for them to look like they are being generous in some small [...]
A typical marketing consultant would tell me I’m crazy to reveal the secrets in this month’s newsletter, but I have to be honest with my readers: Y’all worry too much*. *Yes, you might have detected a change in my language since our relocation to Texas now more than 10 years ago. DFW is now our home port. The classic marketers say that the two greatest [...]
Unpatented but Legally Potent (Photo Courtesy of Randall Rausch) It all started when I was on Facebook, innocently minding my own business. OK, as usual I was actually minding everyone else’s business on Facebook. Sometimes, when Karmen hears me typing furiously in the next room she calls out: “Honey, is someone wrong on the Internet again?” I have a zillion [...]
The Surprises and Secrets of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) Photo Credit: Oleg Volk In the patent world, one of the most important, yet surprisingly overrated, issues is secrecy. Yet while it’s a needless fear for many, it can make sense to protect yourself when you have to trust someone else with your secrets. An NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) is also known as a [...]
