LEGAL PROTECTION FOR YOUR PRODUCT
When Dealing With a New Product, You Should Protect it Any Way You Can.
By James F. Riordan
PART ONE
When it comes to marketing a new product, the more avenues of protection available, the better. Winning products are those that can use all of the available forms of protection, including trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, utility patents and design patents.
The ideal product will be able to be protected by:
1. Proper records kept in a bound notebook and signed by the inventor and witnesses.2. A disclosure document filed with the U.S. Patent Office.
3. Trade secrets as to methods of production.
4. Trade secrets as to contents.
5. A utility patent to cover its functions.
6. A design patent to cover its overall shapes.
7. A trademarkable name and logo.
8. Copyrights on written procedures, plans, instruction books, safety and test results, artwork, etc.
9. Foreign patents, trademarks, etc. in countries you plan to trade with.
10. A licensing agreement for unpatentable "know-how" and "intellectual property."
ON PATENTS
The following is my opinion, based on my years of working with my clients, their questions, and my own experience with inventing, marketing, and licensing my own products. I am not a patent attorney.
As far as the patent office is concerned, the primary purpose of a patent, and one which many innovators are unaware of, is to disclose the intellectual property, thus informing and teaching the public in order to build on the knowledge disclosed, and thereby furthering economic growth. A patent grants certain rights of restriction to the inventor in return for the disclosure of the invention to the public.
A PATENT IS NOT A RIGHT TO SUCCESS, A RIGHT TO MANUFACTURE, OR EVEN A RIGHT TO USE. Basically it is the right to prevent someone else from practicing your invention without compensating you, for the term of the patent.
Most of my clients, who have not yet filed for a patent, always ask me how to decide whether to file a patent or to proceed without one. The answer is, you should always do a cost versus benefit analysis to decide whether to file a patent or not. Once you have established how many people are likely to buy your product during its life cycle, and you have a good idea what the WHOLESALE price will be, take the number of prospective buyers times the wholesale price, times 3% (an average royalty figure), and you will have a rough estimate of your possible income from the product.
The number you come up with had better well exceed the cost of the patent. It is then up to you to decide whether you should file for a patent on your product or technology. That is why you have to evaluate an idea carefully, BEFORE you go to see the patent attorney.
The great Will Rogers once said, "I never met a man I didn't like." Many patent attorneys take after him. Their motto could be "I never met an idea I didn't like." The reason for that is they get paid well for every patent they file, and it really doesn't matter to some of them whether you make any money or not. The real sleezeballs will file for patents on ideas that THEY KNOW HAVE NO CHANCE OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS, just so they can make their patent fees. Good reputable patent attorneys will not do that, and will instead suggest that you not file for a patent for an idea that appears to be flaky.
The bottom line, however, is that it's really YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to decide whether to file or not. In my years of consulting to inventors, I have personally seen many patents issued that never would have had a chance at commercial success. YOU must take the initiative, objectively evaluate your ideas, and file for patents on only those ideas which have a good potential for success.
The above article was taken from James F. Riordan's classic book, HOW TO EVALUATE THE POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS OF A NEW PRODUCT OR TECHNOLOGY. Riordan's highly-acclaimed, 36-point system is a valuable tool for inventors, product evaluators or anyone interested in the invention process. Each section is followed by a comprehensive questionnaire that can be used to evaluate your product.
The highly-recommended book can be ordered through the Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501. The phone number is (310) 328-1925.
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