Invention Idea

dbnavan

Hi all

I have an idea of an invention which I think could make a hell of alot of money however the problem is i dont have the skills, or know how to make it. Obviously I amnt going to disclose it here. But as an example of what I am talking about....Say I had thought of Car Sunroofs(obviously before they where made) but I didnt make cars or even work with cars and I wanted to approach Ford with the idea, where would I start.

D

DEmeant0r

go to the Ford HQ and say you have an idea that could potentially make them millions of quid, and ask them to give you 15 minutes of their time so you can introduce this new idea/invention...

WhiteWashMan

patent it first and foremost.

Ruu_Old

Ah go one you can tell us, we wont tell Id imagine theres some invention convention where you could start at. Thats all I can think of.

Dave!

Demeant0r wrote:

go to the Ford HQ and say you have an idea that could potentially make them millions of quid, and ask them to give you 15 minutes of their time so you can introduce this new idea/invention...

Then they take the idea and kick you out on your ass

dbnavan, you have to get the idea patented first. First is you should check it's not been patented already (on the US patent office website), then get in touch with a patent lawyer (or whatever they're called) and they'll help you write the patent, and I suppose you'll have to get in touch with someone who can draw detailed diagrams of it. Only after you have that done do you approach anyone about manufacturing it!

quazzy

Try Here:

http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/homepage.aspx

Q

edit:

Also if you really believe your idea to be marketable and profitable consult a solicitor,patent the idea, and then worry about design/engineering etc..(depending on what product it is)

dbnavan

DaveMcG wrote:

Then they take the idea and kick you out on your ass

dbnavan, you have to get the idea patented first. First is you should check it's not been patented already (on the US patent office website), then get in touch with a patent lawyer (or whatever they're called) and they'll help you write the patent, and I suppose you'll have to get in touch with someone who can draw detailed diagrams of it. Only after you have that done do you approach anyone about manufacturing it!

The problem with a patient, especially a Worldwide Patient is they can cost thousands!

Fajitas!

Find a patent suitable for it then either a) bring it straight to the company or b) bring it to an industrial designer to map out (Student industrial designers would be cheaper and might be more willing). If you had it fully mapped out before you brought it to the company, they would take it more seriously!

Dave!

dbnavan wrote:

The problem with a patient, especially a Worldwide Patient is they can cost thousands!

Well I guess you'll have to decide whether your idea is good enough to warrant spending that much money on it

Check the various patent websites first though, cos there are alot of ideas that have been patented and not manufactured yet (as I have discovered -- it sucks finding out your idea has been done!)

Guru Maith Agut

dbnavan wrote:

The problem with a patient, especially a Worldwide Patient is they can cost thousands!

Well you should definitely PATENT it first! And not PATIENT it! Good luck

dbnavan

Guru Maith Agut wrote:

Well you should definitely PATENT it first! And not PATIENT it! Good luck

Well done you spotted my mistake and made yourself famous, feeling good now? :rolleyes:

Your so much more superior! ~Bows down~ I am not worthy

Skitbra

dbnavan wrote:

Well done you spotted my mistake and made yourself famous, feeling good now? :rolleyes:

Your so much more superior! ~Bows down~ I am not worthy

It's just interesting that someone can give advice on something important without knowing how to spell it. And it wasn't a typo. You tried spelling it twice. Funny.

On topic, the best thing to do, as somebody already mentioned, is to contact the irish patents office and let them tell you first, if it's patentable and secondly the next step in obtaining the patent.
Best of luck. I hope you make millions!

DEmeant0r

eh... he wasn't giving advice, he's the OP you ningkumpoop(how do you even spell that word?)

hullaballoo

Nincompoop.

If the idea is worth it, go to a bank, get a loan - you should be able to convince them the idea is worth a few thousand to you at least, and then go to the patent office quick-smart.

Patent's are pricey, and to be honest, they're fcuk-all use unless you intend to go around enforcing it, which is even more expensive, but without it, you haven't got a leg to stand on.

I have a mate who's doing industrial design in college, if you want I can get you in touch with him.

Capt'n Midnight

Don't bother unless you can enforce the patent. Patent breaking is big business. Any loophole and they can make something similar. Patents no longer server thier original function of preserving the Intellecual property of an individual. Almost all valuable patents are owned by companies. The only way you could fund enforcing your patent in court of law is to either have no assets so you can't loose your assets or sell your patent to a multinational for a pittance. Unless the device you have invented becomes as common as a Black and Decker workmate or similar you won't see much.

Bad patent experiance
http://www.satcure-focus.com/design/page6.htm

look up more on the patent problems with Dyson's wheelbarrow yourself for when things go wrong
http://www.australiananthill.com/main.php?page=ed_qa14


Just because you invent something does not mean you benefit

The most famous invertor of all Edison
most of the work was done by employees
Swan invented the light bulb at the same time
He did not invent cinema - that was a plot to defraud the french inventors.
etc. etc.

Alexancer Graham Bell did not invent the telephone

Much patenting nowadays is simply stake claiming, preventing things happening. You can patent stuff that can't be made. If you invent a nuclear flying powered flying saucer, well British Rail have it patented it so you'd have to pay them.

How much did the guy who patented combovers get before the patent ran out ?

Oh if it turns out that GIF's aren't patentable the company still keeps $105m in license fees. How much of that do you think will go to the person who developed the prior art ??


PS. Fire, the wheel and thinking have all been patented recently and have not yet expired. AFAIK DNA transcription is still patented as are large sections of the human genome.

Tiesto

as far as i know patents are very costly..
not much point in patenting an idea that doesnt work
I was reading up on the protection of intellectual property yesterday.
You can patent it just in Ireland, or you can do it for the whole of europe..

If your in college, maybe you could ask some lecturer in the field of business studies to help you do a short feasability study.. (You could get them to sign one of those agreements, where they are not allowed disclose any of the info...
i forget what they are called).
At least they could point you in the right direction.

*Tripper*

PM your idea to me, i'll make it for you. Don't worry about the patent i'll take care of that for you

hullaballoo

Nice to see a leaving cert student with boundless funds and resources. It really is...

*Tripper*

What? Well you get to be enterprising!

hullaballoo

What?

dbnavan

Skitbra wrote:

It's just interesting that someone can give advice on something important without knowing how to spell it. And it wasn't a typo. You tried spelling it twice. Funny.

On topic, the best thing to do, as somebody already mentioned, is to contact the irish patents office and let them tell you first, if it's patentable and secondly the next step in obtaining the patent.
Best of luck. I hope you make millions!

I wasn't giving advice, I was asking for it, being able to spell something doesn't necessarily indicate ones intelligence on a subject. So untwist your knickers it isn't a big deal, I spelt something wrong twice big deal! Mr perfect!

While you are nit picking

Irish has a capital I!

Funny. Isnt a proper sentence

Zillah

You need to have a working prototype for a patent don't you?

hullaballoo

I think they give them from plans.

*Tripper*

Like big bra's, isnt it?

blu_sonic

Patent the idea ie the concept, you will receive lots of info if you google the paten office.

When you "invention" is secure (ie is yours alone) talk to an Industrial Designer, they should be able to put your ideas onto paper for you, the will also be able to help you through the manufacturing process. (i studied this at college, though im still not qualified so i can help you lol).

Google Industrial Designers and Industrial Design Consultantcies Ireland etc.

Capt'n Midnight

Zillah wrote:

You need to have a working prototype for a patent don't you?

no - google for "submarine patents"

all you need is the concept, you don't even have to say how it could be made Again I refer you to British Rail's patent for a nuclear powered flying saucer, which could only be a way to prevent competitors in the transport business.

you could patent a cure for a new type of virus or exploit in an existing product.

you could take two widely used technologies and patent the use of them together (cf. the double click patents )
or patent a new use of an existing product after you see someone else do it, but before it's reported in a paper



IMHO you should have to build a working prototype to stop blocking innovation.
Or perhaps you should have no rights to block someone else or charge royalties unless you can show beyond resonable doubt that you are developing the product commercially as fast as is resonably practciable.

The whole idea behind patents was that in return for someone revealing their trade secrets to the market they would have a chance to capitalise on it first.

Instead we have a situation where software development is impossible because of numerous bogus patent claims. - In fact I'd recomend that any claim later proven to be false would count against the patentee in the future.

Say that for each % of patents that turn out to be bogus because of prior art or each patent that there isn't a genuine effort to commercially develop a similar % of existing patents are revoked. The revoked ones to be picked AT RANDOM !!! This should kill off sw patents as over 50% are dodgy.

junkyard

I've two inventions under my belt so far one very sucessful and one so so. P.M. me and I'll give you details of what to do and how to go about it if you want.

rubadub

junkyard wrote:

I've two inventions under my belt so far one very sucessful and one so so. P.M. me and I'll give you details of what to do and how to go about it if you want.

Why not share it here? what was your invention that does work?

I worked for a place and a past employee had designed a lock mechanism and gets about €50k per year from it so gave up work and just invents new things at home, I would love that.

I have thought of a few things but they were already patented. There are millions of ideas thought of already but not being made, yet they are patented.

There used to be a program on discovery I think it was called "the next big thing". people had invested £10,000's getting prototypes and marketing etc set-up. Then they came on the show and found out it was already patented! they kept saying it was the first thing to check.