How to get my invention idea started ?!

[unwashed potato!]

The thing is, if everyone thought like that, then nothing would ever get invented

I know where you are coming from and it's one reason why I've never really put much thought into coming up with physical innovations. But there are infinite possibilities for inventions and watching Dragon's Den something I think "Crikey, that's really smart". One guy I remember made this device to water your plants when you were on holiday, it was cheap, came in different sizes, reliable etc and was all round a brilliant concept I thought. He blew it on the show in the end due to trying to deceive them about what he was offering (not including North American market, something like that) but I was in awe of what he'd achieved.

yeah i remember that idea, was very smart but iirc he walked away with no deal due to lying or something like that

Another way to do it is post it to yourself via royal mail special delivery.

what would that prove?

 

[kaiowas]

You obviously need to visit the dragons den

If you go to them with nothing more than an idea and no clue what to do with it, they'll rip you apart.

 

[Sinque]

I used to always have clever ideas when I was younger, there should be more to help us get those ideas out as I'm sure many kids have awesome ideas.

 

[Raumarik]

My dad built a prototype for an inventor a good few years ago (he use to run the CDT department of a high school). The inventor chap went to him as he knew he could trust him to keep his mouth shut about it, made a contract with the school for confidentiality and paid them for costs and time with a little extra.

It probably didn't cost him much but he got it made to the exact specification he wanted, I helped out a bit but still couldn't understand what it was (as I only saw one part) some sort of collapsable ladder though and as far as I'm aware it's now for sale on the open market. pretty sure I saw a very similar thing on QVC recently.

you need a prototype though and get registered before taking it anywhere, that's the advice the inventor chap gave me

 

[One More Solo]

Another way to do it is post it to yourself via royal mail special delivery.

That doesn't work, you could post yourself an open envelope and put something in at a later date.

 

[Clinkz]

It must be some sort of death clock!

 

[wordy]

course not, its so simple but useful

Be honest, it's a chocolate fireguard isn't it

 

[InvaderGIR]

Another way to do it is post it to yourself via royal mail special delivery.

Apparently they don't like that so much these days, as envelopes can be tampered with. Best way is to post to the bank, tell them they'll be getting it, post it and then it has the postmark as well as the acceptance/sign in date of the item to their safe.

We had a few lectures on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) last year, was quite helpful info actually.

InvG

 

[Tomsk]

It's an automatic signature size checker for internet forums isn't it? You want to put Zefan out of a job.

 

[AthlonTom]

Remember - you cant patent an Idea, ideas are the property of society. So for example someone couldn't say: "I've got the patent on bins". Instead designs get patented, so you could patent a clever new design for a bin, but not a bin itself.

Make sense?

 

[InvaderGIR]

Just putting you name the © and the date on the design gives it copyright.

You don't pay for copyright, but you do pay for a patent.

InvG

 

[Jonny69]

My mate at work invented the "idea" of the Ipod when we were teenagers..
Always a sore point when you mention it.

Don't worry I actually concepted a heat transfer heating system in my final year at university but was poo poo'd off by my superiors and told it would never work. How gutted am I now it's a patented product being released to the market?

Refridgeration: put 200J of energy in and it moves 1KJ of heat from inside the fridge to outside. Reverse the system and you can pump heat into a house from apparently cold outside air by taking the residual heat out of it. So you make a lot of ice on the outside bit, big deal, bury it deep in the ground to melt it off using the large amounts of stored heat in the ground. This is currently revolutionising the 'green' heating market and I invented it

 

[AthlonTom]

Don't worry I actually concepted a heat transfer heating system in my final year at university but was poo poo'd off by my superiors and told it would never work. How gutted am I now it's a patented product being released to the market?

Refridgeration: put 200J of energy in and it moves 1KJ of heat from inside the fridge to outside. Reverse the system and you can pump heat into a house from apparently cold outside air by taking the residual heat out of it. So you make a lot of ice on the outside bit, big deal, bury it deep in the ground to melt it off using the large amounts of stored heat in the ground. This is currently revolutionising the 'green' heating market and I invented it

I came up with a with a way of delivering mobile phone signals/3g/wifi to tube stations - some company bought it off the uni, I also came up with an awesome idea for an alarm clock - which also dissapeared too.

It sucks that uni's own the IP of projects from the off.

 

[Mat]

If its round and rolls... its already been done. Sorry.

 

[Psyk]

Apparently they don't like that so much these days, as envelopes can be tampered with. Best way is to post to the bank, tell them they'll be getting it, post it and then it has the postmark as well as the acceptance/sign in date of the item to their safe.

We had a few lectures on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) last year, was quite helpful info actually.

InvG

Fair enough, I was just going by something I heard from here. Looks like a few people have pointed out the flaws in it. The bank safe deposit box sounds like a better way to do it.

 

[andywalsh]

Fair enough, I was just going by something I heard from here. Looks like a few people have pointed out the flaws in it. The bank safe deposit box sounds like a better way to do it.

Sorry but that will acheive precisely nothing as far as getting a patent is concerned.

To get a patent you need to apply for one. A patentable invention is

1 Novel
2 Inventive or non-obvious
3 Industrially useful.

To be novel the invention must not have been disclosed anywhere before, so websearches are a good start, but the patent databases are a another good route. The US one is a good place to start
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

Inventiveness is a bit more of a subjective judgement but if you can prove novelty then you are more than half way there (if it was obvious then someone else would have done it). Most things can be argued to be industrially useful.

To be patented you need to describe the invention such that anyone skilled in the field would be able to practice it. You will eventually need to come up with a set of claims that define the invention. That is probably best done by a patent agent.

Two other things to bear in mind.
1) Patents are reletively cheap to file, but it is expensive to get them granted especially if you want to do so in many countries.

2) You will need to plan the commercial development of your idea and fit your patent application to that not the other way round.

 

[Mat]

2 Inventive or non-obvious

What?! Everything is non-obvious until someone thinks about it, surely?

A wind up radio for people far from / cant afford power sources... fantastic idea, its so obvious when you think about it!

 

[Zip]

I came up with a with a way of delivering mobile phone signals/3g/wifi to tube stations - some company bought it off the uni, I also came up with an awesome idea for an alarm clock - which also dissapeared too.

It sucks that uni's own the IP of projects from the off.

If i was you i think i would cry

 

[andywalsh]

I came up with a with a way of delivering mobile phone signals/3g/wifi to tube stations - some company bought it off the uni, I also came up with an awesome idea for an alarm clock - which also dissapeared too.

It sucks that uni's own the IP of projects from the off.

Did you not get a share of revenue? That is unusual to say the least.

 

[lolism]

About 6 years ago I thought of an idea of a stand alone Petrol Pump which you Pay with credit card / no need to go into the Garage. Now it seems they're everywhere.

So get it patented!