100% true and any big corporation with deep pockets that wants your product can just run you into bankrupcy with legal battles especially offshore ones. I watched my sister and brother in-law go bankrupt defending their patent rights.

I made my first clay prototype yesterday, gotta say it's looking good! :yes:

I am a little skeptical of the patent, and may do one just to keep the honest people honest, but I know I can't stop an overseas knockoff. Realistically, my target market is isolated enough to begin with, that I will sell direct, online and out of a trailer at races and swap meets, etc. It's a large market, millions of registered owners, but it's a grassroots industry even to this day, where there are tons of products that are sold by small machine shops and whatnot, that could easily be copied overseas...but nobody would buy them and they are very much overlooked by the 'masses'. I'd still like to prevent people I would otherwise 'trust' from walking down the road and making their own, at least make it more costly and time consuming to do so if they are going to.

With that being said, licensing it to someone with deeper pockets may ultimately be a better solution, but I'm in it to have fun and see what I can do with it, as much as make any real money on it. Sort of like my PT build. I knew it wasn't a profit center, but I did it, and that was worth it. I see it as a way to be more involved with a sport I love and if it simply pays for itself, I'd be happy....well, maybe a new truck and trailer too. ;)

Josh, Im kind of in the same boat as you on an invention.... Keep on task! keep your secrets secret! I've been in meetings with patent atorneys lately, and they stress how important it is to set up your foundation of ownership. It sucks that there's a free-for-all overseas, but unfortunately that's just the case. I see this with pirated DVDs of my PAINTUCATION series from time to time... In country I can bust them in a number of ways ( and have)

Just make sure you establish yourself as FIRST TO COMMERCE as well as being the first to have an official patent either applied for or granted.

Keep on livin the dream! This is one if the reazsons America is still great. :)

KT.

A cautionary note. If you sell one without a patent application on file, it becomes public domain and anyone can copy it.

Just a thought.

Agreed, thus I do plan on meeting with an attorney before the first sale or meeting with any potential supplier or manufacturer.

If I give a buddy a prototype to test for free, does that become public domain if he uses it in public?

This really depends on the product but, it sounds like you may want a provisional because your idea is not fully "cooked" (you are still developing the recipe so to speak). That is less than a $1000 if you do all the document prep.

If your buddy uses this in public it will not necessarily become public domain but ANYONE who sees it is free to apply for a patent if you have not first. It would be the same as if you posted a youtube video here of the product without an application on file. If you show it to people, get a confidentiality agreement (a good one).

You mentioned Protomold. I have used them for years for simple, 2 part "cut" molds. They do well with simple small parts for prototype development however their piece pricing is probably not good for a production part.

This is all generalizations based on speculation. Probably could give you better information if you would estimate how many of these things you intend to sell per year. A 100,000 pc/yr product is a completely different thing than a 1000 pc/yr.

You might want to consider writing a business plan. It's a good sanity check and you will need it if you intend to attract investors.

Best advice is to keep your idea a secret and show it to no one. I made the mistake of having a design I created digitally done by a real dirt bag who sold it to someone else saying it was his to sell because HE did the artwork although I paid him for his services. The purchaser, in turn, bastardized my design making it a ridiculous interpretation of what I intended, but did win a major design award with it.

I was stupid, please learn from my mistake. Lawyer up ahead of time and show it to NO ONE. Intellectual property means be smart (intelligent) enough to keep it to yourself, and ownership will stay all yours.

Good Luck.