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Getting a USB Peripheral Idea to Market?

Posted by Cliff on from the turning-possibilities-into-realities dept.

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?"

2 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Patent Submission... by MadWicKdWire · · Score: 5, Informative

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

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    1. Re:Patent Submission... by beegle · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

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