Selling a design..

Associate
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hey folks,

Bit of background for ya.. After a month of tryin to get my CAD design disertation started and finished, which i shudda started way way back in october, i managed to get it finished and was pretty pleased with the results.

The design was of a multi adjustable DJ deck stand and i handed it in expecting some fairly good feed back, basically because it looks very pretty :D . Anywho, we had the final part of the disertation a few days ago in the form of a poster presentaion which i wasnt really looking foward to, but thought it best to give it a shot.

Long story short, the presentation went much better than i could have ever imagined because the panel seemed very impressed with the design (PLEASE NOTE: THIS AINT A BRAGGING THREAD, I'M AS SHOCKED AS THE NEXT GUY/GAL!!) and went on to tell me that i should really consider trying to sell and manufacture the design. Yup, shock shock shock.

Anyways, any body have a slight idea of the best way to go about this?

Not sure if i will but do this but just wanna look into it really and aren't sure where to start..

Cheers muchly
 
Man of Honour
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Build a prototype

That will tell you if you need to adjust anything in the design.

May also help getting someone who works with them and get them to try the prototype and let them make suggestions to modify - then go for it from there.

Even better if they will write a letter of approval - that will help with the manafacturers.

Again - the more people who comment - the better. Same with people who are well known in the field too.

Then approach companies that manafacturer them with the working prototype and do a sales pitch

Simon/~Flibster
 
Caporegime
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Who was on the panel? Its usually the case that all intellectual property (i.e. your design) relating to a dissertation belongs to the University, in which case you may have problems selling the design as unfortunately its not yours to sell any more.

I would say your options are to find out what the university on IP from dissertations is, it may be that the University will want to work with you selling or manufacturing it, or go see a lawyer/CAB about who owns what and how to protect yourself.
 
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scorza said:
Who was on the panel? Its usually the case that all intellectual property (i.e. your design) relating to a dissertation belongs to the University, in which case you may have problems selling the design as unfortunately its not yours to sell any more.

I would say your options are to find out what the university on IP from dissertations is, it may be that the University will want to work with you selling or manufacturing it, or go see a lawyer/CAB about who owns what and how to protect yourself.

Was going to say something along the lines of intellectual property, as usually any designs for products etc you come up with over university will be owned by the university.

I know at Birmingham there's a department / scheme thing set up to actually help students make their ideas more of a reality, and support is there to let the students take a bit of control over the whole thing. You'll really have to find out the specific details regarding IP from your Uni as scorza has said though first.
 
Soldato
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at sussex it was only the university's property if you used any university resources on it.

so basically if you didn't use their computers, facilities or tutors... lol
 
Associate
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Check with your uni for ownership though. I`m not convinced they can claim 100% ownership, but they may be able to claim a share.

My research didnt really prove anything, but being a student in a hospital department the findings of my research would have been mine with no obligations to pay anyone :D - would have been wicked if i had found something.
 
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yeah, i was talkin to my tutor about ownership rights etc and he seemed to think that no one at the university would be that bothered if i tried to sell it as my design and not affiliate with the uni.

Plus the fact that i didn't once use the uni's resources, just used a copy of solidworks from home and didnt discuss my project with my tutor (maybe stupidly??) until i went to see him with the final bit of work. You were supposed to see ** allocated chap once a fortnight but it didnt happen.. ever

So prototypes and sales pitches ay.. hmmmm, starting to sound pricey. May have to work for a while then carry on with it
 
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you may also want to patent it, probably not the best idea posting it around forums as people may steal the idea and do it for themselves but if you patent it first you will have no problems with this. It can be pretty pricey mind.
 
Man of Honour
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Aspecto said:
you may also want to patent it, probably not the best idea posting it around forums as people may steal the idea and do it for themselves but if you patent it first you will have no problems with this. It can be pretty pricey mind.

And also check that no such patent already exists too.
 
Wise Guy
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Aspecto said:
you may also want to patent it, probably not the best idea posting it around forums as people may steal the idea and do it for themselves but if you patent it first you will have no problems with this. It can be pretty pricey mind.
If it's just a design, you can't patent it. Patents are for inventions, for processes and functions with NEW technical aspects. The actual definition is quite complex, but if this is (as implied), just a design, it's not patentable.

Also, having presented the idea to a panel of individuals, unless you had non-disclosure agreements signed in advance, that'll prevent a patent being granted because the idea must never have been publicly disclosed in any way, anywhere in the world.

However, what you can do is register the design. That gives you IP rights over the design.
 
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