John's been working on his vehicle for about a decade. Losing the the prize because the judges decided to go soft on the rules has really got to hurt.
Heck, Carmack's spent so much money on his vehicle that he's had to take time off to put out new versions of Doom and Quake just to refill the coffers.
Unless you are experience with manufacturing the type of item you are talking about or running business in general, license the idea and move on. I know someone who had 24 toys licensed (this was several years ago). All he does is come up with toy ideas and get checks. That leaves him a lot of time to get into trouble......"oh, lets build a rocket to take me up so I can parachute out of it."
If you got the patent, is the idea marketable?
If it is marketable, you can get mall business lines of credit to use for the patent process.
The downside is that you then have to pay this money back. So, only do this if you can patent it and then immediately sell the license to someone who can produce it. Many of the lines have 6 month grace periods and that would be just long enough to the the patent finished.
As someone already mentioned, you can also do this without the patent. You just need to keep copious notes and do them the right way. You can probably find books on protecting your intellectual property in the library. Read them.
Personally, I would use what ever money you save on the patent to spend on a good lawyer for your negotiations.
In the end, you will get more money from a license if you patent the idea.
For a short term solution, I can help you get funding that will probably take you through the next 12 to 18 months if that will help.
For a long term solution, you need to start making contacts with hardware makers and license it out. Unless you know how to run a business, you don't want to run the business. Let someone else run the business and send you a check. One key is to retain a good contract lawyer to look over your contract. A lot of companies will screw you six ways from Sunday if you let them and you can bet that they have lawyers writing their contracts for them. The better companies will fix any contract "problems" your lawyer finds.
Also, watch ABC's Shark Tank (on Sundays or on the ABC site). Watch the show to learn what the investors are looking for and why they offer the deals they offer. One of the lessons you learn each week is: do you want to make $1M or do you want to run your company into the ground. When they ask for 51% of the company they aren't being greedy (well, except for the bald guy in the center). They know that they know how to run the business in a way that will make money and that the business owner does not.
Doesn't anyone remember BSA's extortion letters?
They generally went something like this: Pay us $x,000 to perform a license evaluation or face a civil suit.
Those letters were mass mailed, by zip code to, AFAIK, anyone with a business license.
The only reason BSA is not still reviled is because they had to stop doing that or face a class action lawsuit (and likely racketeering charges).
Why store the docs on the drive at all? Keep them on a memory stick and keep that stick on you.
Then all you have to worry about are temporary files. If you learn where they are stored for each app you can write a script to delete them. In Windows XP, they are usually either stored in the same folder as the application or in the hidden folder Application Data.
There are also apps out there that phone home whenever the computer is connected to the internet. These apps typically log the timestamp and the IP address. Some collect more data and/or geo-locate the IP.
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John's been working on his vehicle for about a decade. Losing the the prize because the judges decided to go soft on the rules has really got to hurt.
Heck, Carmack's spent so much money on his vehicle that he's had to take time off to put out new versions of Doom and Quake just to refill the coffers.
This is a much more elegant solution.
Unless you are experience with manufacturing the type of item you are talking about or running business in general, license the idea and move on. I know someone who had 24 toys licensed (this was several years ago). All he does is come up with toy ideas and get checks. That leaves him a lot of time to get into trouble... ..."oh, lets build a rocket to take me up so I can parachute out of it."
If you got the patent, is the idea marketable?
If it is marketable, you can get mall business lines of credit to use for the patent process.
The downside is that you then have to pay this money back. So, only do this if you can patent it and then immediately sell the license to someone who can produce it. Many of the lines have 6 month grace periods and that would be just long enough to the the patent finished.
As someone already mentioned, you can also do this without the patent. You just need to keep copious notes and do them the right way. You can probably find books on protecting your intellectual property in the library. Read them.
Personally, I would use what ever money you save on the patent to spend on a good lawyer for your negotiations.
In the end, you will get more money from a license if you patent the idea.
For a short term solution, I can help you get funding that will probably take you through the next 12 to 18 months if that will help.
For a long term solution, you need to start making contacts with hardware makers and license it out. Unless you know how to run a business, you don't want to run the business. Let someone else run the business and send you a check. One key is to retain a good contract lawyer to look over your contract. A lot of companies will screw you six ways from Sunday if you let them and you can bet that they have lawyers writing their contracts for them. The better companies will fix any contract "problems" your lawyer finds.
Also, watch ABC's Shark Tank (on Sundays or on the ABC site). Watch the show to learn what the investors are looking for and why they offer the deals they offer. One of the lessons you learn each week is: do you want to make $1M or do you want to run your company into the ground. When they ask for 51% of the company they aren't being greedy (well, except for the bald guy in the center). They know that they know how to run the business in a way that will make money and that the business owner does not.
Doesn't anyone remember BSA's extortion letters? They generally went something like this: Pay us $x,000 to perform a license evaluation or face a civil suit. Those letters were mass mailed, by zip code to, AFAIK, anyone with a business license. The only reason BSA is not still reviled is because they had to stop doing that or face a class action lawsuit (and likely racketeering charges).
Then all you have to worry about are temporary files. If you learn where they are stored for each app you can write a script to delete them. In Windows XP, they are usually either stored in the same folder as the application or in the hidden folder Application Data.
There are also apps out there that phone home whenever the computer is connected to the internet. These apps typically log the timestamp and the IP address. Some collect more data and/or geo-locate the IP.