Protect my idea to a company?

D

Dai Vu

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
Hi. I have an idea how to make driving far safer for everyone by offering an idea to automobile manufacturers on how to apply an existing technology, which i have searched but have yet to find it in practice. How can i offer my idea to automative giants and still get "protection", if possible? Regards
 
Hire a patent attorney to see if your idea for using existing tech is patentable. If it's patentable, apply for a patent. Yes, that will cost you money, maybe a few thousand. But if your idea is worth anything at all, it's worth spending the money for the protection that a patent affords.

OTOH, if you want to do it on the cheap then you are at the mercy of whoever you mention your idea to.
 
If it is truly novel and non-obvious, a patent would work. You can get a provisional patent that protects it for a year while you work on the non-provisional application and shop the idea around.

What you do not want to do is disclose the idea before getting at least the provisional. DIsclosure blows the novelty claim out of the water.
 
While a few thousand dollars may get you a patent through a patent attorney, unless you have unlimited resources to protect your patent, the patent is just something to hang on your office wall.
 
welkin said:
While a few thousand dollars may get you a patent through a patent attorney, unless you have unlimited resources to protect your patent, the patent is just something to hang on your office wall.
Click to expand...

Whether the few thousand dollars to get the patent is worth it depends on how valuable the idea turns out to be. If turns out to be a good idea and the inventor is making piles of money off it, spending some cash to defend the patent won't be that big a deal. While patent litigation can in some instances get expensive, it does not take "unlimited resources". But if the inventor fails to get the patent and the idea is wildly sucessful then the inventor has nothing to use to protect his/her invention. Patents can be extremely valuable, hence the reason the patent office gets over 600,000 such applications each year. So if the inventor really thinks the invention might pay off, he/she should get the patent. At worst he or she is out a few thousand bucks for it if it flops. In that case, the inventor doesn't care if someone else tries to market it and won't spend the additional cash to defend the patent. But if the invention does take off, the inventor will have something really valuable and that patent could make a huge difference in how much the inventor makes off it. Obvisiouly in that case, the inventor (or whomever owns the rights to the patent at the time) will be willing to spend the money to defend it.
 
Tax Counsel said:
At worst he or she is out a few thousand bucks for it if it flops. In that case, the inventor doesn't care if someone else tries to market it and won't spend the additional cash to defend the patent.
Click to expand...

I got a patent back in 1981 and though it would make me rich. But when products starting to show up that infringed on my claims I didn't have the money to defend the patent so it just hangs on my office wall.

The average infringement lawsuit today in the US cost between 2.3 and 4 million dollars. You can Google it.
 
welkin said:
I got a patent back in 1981 and though it would make me rich. But when products starting to show up that infringed on my claims I didn't have the money to defend the patent so it just hangs on my office wall.
Click to expand...

That's what patent infringement insurance is for. Did you look into that at the time? No doubt a number of patents turn out not to be the big winner that the inventor hoped for. But not getting a patent on what turns out to be a winning idea means the inventor may miss out on a very large amount of money. So the inventor has choices to make all along the way, which will reflect his/her own risk/benefit tolerance.
 
adjusterjack said:
Did you start production right away? Getting to market is a good way to protect an invention.
Click to expand...
I sent about 30 letters to manufactures asking for a meeting the week the patent arrived in the mail. I had some meetings. There was some interest but in the end, it cost a few cents more to manufacture so no deals were made. It is manufactured by injecting molding and was an improvement over what was already in use.

But the novel components (the claims) started being used by other industries.
 
welkin said:
the novel components (the claims) started being used by other industries.
Click to expand...


Once the cat has been set free or escapes from the bag, unfortunately others will take advantage of the cat and it's owner.

I wish you well, mate.

I pray you'll eventually receive justice and/or compensation.
 

Share this page

Get a free case review from a lawyer
Back
Top