Getting a USB Peripheral Idea to Market?

WillAdams asks: "I have an idea for an almost embarrassingly simple USB device, which I believe would be fairly popular --- no hardware or device driver development skills though. Ideally I'd like to approach a company, hand the product idea off and just collect a small royalty. Unfortunately the most obvious choice doesn't accept product submissions. Any suggestions?"

Comments

Patent Submission...

[MadWicKdWire]

Submit for a patent... then go to a business. Otherwise, they could steal it from you when you show them the idea.

Re:Patent Submission...

[uradu]

Actually, put your idea to paper and have it notarized. That way you formally create prior art, and if you ever figure out a way to commercialize the idea, you won't be restricted by potential later patents.

Re:Patent Submission...

[beegle]

The parent post has the right idea: get a patent.

A bit of advise, though: there are people through this article claiming that patents cost $20k or more in legal fees.

Bullshit!

Sure, you can spend that if you want to. Just visit a patent lawyer with a nothing more than a vague idea about something that you'd like to patent. At several hundred dollars an hour, the bill adds up quickly.

The alternative is to go to the patent database, read a few patents to get a feel for the format, buy a few books, and write up your own patent. Then, search for prior art yourself and flag anything that's even remotely close. After you've done this work, visit a patent attorney with your patent and research notes and ask him to review it. If you've done your homework and have a reasonably well-written patent, the attorney won't have to do much more than read it. The total cost will probably end up at $2000-$3000 after filing fees.

A bit of warning: good technical artists are -expensive-, so think about ways to minimize the number of diagrams.

My father has several patents, and this is the method that he used.

Re:Patent Submission...

[uradu]

And what do you think you would have to do if someone willfully ignored your patent? Pretty much the same legal song and dance. Or do you think the USPTO will take up your defense just because they issued you a patent? Patents are only worthwhile if you have the financial basis to defend them.

Re:Patent Submission...

[KingPrad]

Not a notary - 2 signed witnesses who have read and understood all your writings and diagrams. Your witnesses need to be able to testify on the device itself and its features and construction, not just that you wrote some thing down on such and such date, which is what a notary is doing.

I recommend the book "Patent it Yourself". It's pretty cheap on Amazon.

Re:Patent Submission...

[boodaman]

Almost...a notary is NOT testifying that you wrote something down on such and such a date.

A notary is ONLY testifying that you are who you say you are when you sign the document. Where the document came from, when you wrote it, etc. are not things a notary handles.

http://www.sdsos.gov/notaries/sevenconc.htm

- A notarization does not prove truthfulness of the contents of a document, nor validate a document and render it legal.

- A notarization provides verification of a document signer's willingness to sign, his competence to sign, and that the signer is, indeed, the person identified by the signature.

Re:Projected numbers

[ddewey]

You can outsource manufacturing to China and get the same device for pennies on the dollar, but Chinese won't talk to you unless you place an order for a million.

Not necessarily true. My company, ChinaForge.com helps businesses manufacture China. Our customers will often only order small quantities at first. The Chinese factories that we use are willing to take small orders (often less than 5000 units) if it looks like the product could be successful eventually. Prices are still fairly low in the hope that if the product is successful in the marketplace much larger orders will be made in the future.

A product idea in itself...

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Is worth almost nothing. Before you go into flame mode, I've spent the last 10 years building my own business from the garage up without VC money so I kinda know what I'm talking about. I have good ideas all the time. Getting the good ideas is the fun part. Turning them into products, regardless of how 'simple', is the hard work.

Here's a tip, go over to comp.arch.embedded newsgroup and post your request over there. There's a bunch of talented people there and someone might be interested.

Believe it or not, you would have had a better chance a couple of years ago. Back then, there were lots of hardware engineers out of work and looking to partner with others. Now most everyone is back to work.

Companies

[ratboy666]

There are companies that can help you...

Try nytric.com (just an example)

They will do hardware design, FPGA, programming, plastics, housing, &etc (marketing, offshoring). For a percentage, of course.

Make sure you get NDA & legal protections with them.

Ratboy.

patent costs exaggerated

[nusratt]

I've been down this road.
In the USA, for about $500-$2000 (depending on your location and willingness to do your own busy-work), you can get a patent atty to help you with an expedited (less paper-work) "provisional patent", which protects you for a year or two while you get your act together.

Search the web for patent attys in your area -- as far away as possible from an expensive big-city downtown location.
I'm sure that there are online directories (by specialty) of orgs such as the state bar assoc, assoc of IP lawyers, etc.
Some will even have emails, which you can shotgun to ask their minimum charge (for provisional) and initial consult.
That's how I found mine, in the fall of 2001.

btw, you might even get it done cheaper with a "patent agent".

provisional patent

[grando]

Three things.

First, if you feel this is a good idea, then write it up and file a provisional patent. It only costs $80 to file a provisional and it will provide you with one year of protection before you file an actual patent. You don't have to have any legal knowledge to file a provisional. The only thing to realize is that your full patent filing will have to match up with the concepts written in your provisional in order to be valid. The only person who will ever look at the provisional is the patent examiner. Diagrams go a long way here, because they can be interpreted more liberally than words.

Second, if you have any affiliation with a University, you may want to talk to the tech-transfer office. At my university, students, faculty, and staff can bring ideas to the tech-transfer office and they will help you with a provisional (for a percentage of future royalties, of course.) If you can find a company to license the idea to after the provisional is filed, they might even help you file a full patent.

Third, the average cost of litigation for patent infringement (assuming you get a patent) is around $750,000. This is a lot of loot to shell out for infringement, and they usually get settled out of court by arranging for licensing.

At the end of the day, you want to make sure that you have this thing wrapped up before you go around telling companies about it. Even if you want to go around and make companies sign NDA's, you will still need a lawyer to write those up for you (if you expect the NDA to hold up), which could cost quite a bit as well.

-grando

Embedded Product Development

[Anonymous Coward]

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