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Ask Slashdot: What Is the Best Way To Approach Big Companies With Your Product?
New submitter ily2013 writes: My family have invented a product that will prevent electrical related fires for homes and businesses. A patent has been filed and approved worldwide, which includes the United States. Now I would like to take this product, and ask Apple/Microsoft/Big vendors to see if they would be willing to integrate our product into their existing and future products, because we believe the product will truly change the way safety of electric/electrical devices are viewed. What is the best way to approach this? Should I start by cold-calling Apple/Microsoft/Big vendors? or send them a mail/email?
Well, it's not *impossible*, but it is pretty unlikely. If you have a patent in the US, it protects only
against infringement in the US. And when you say "approved", that's slightly unusual terminology.
If the patent was granted by the USPTO, then please say that (or alternately, the patent was "issued.")
The original description makes it sound as if the invention isn't really a stand-alone thing, but something
which needs to be "incorporated" into other, existing products. Is that right? Hard to advise you without
knowing a little more. Please post patent (or application) number.
and one of us will send it up the chain if it looks useful
Many corporations have policies that ban employees from looking at patents. If you look at the patent, you can later be found liable for intentional infringement. It is better to just ignore existing patents, and document your research, so you can latter show it was independently developed, and maybe invalidate the patent by claiming it was "obvious". If you really need to check existing patents, it is best to do it through a patent attorney who is not involved in R&D.
Many corporations will also refuse to talk to independent inventors. Most of their "inventions" are crap, and it just leaves the corporation open to a lawsuit if they do, or are already doing, something similar.