Patent It Yourself - PDF Archive

ChaPter 11 | How to MARKET YOUR INVENTION | 309
under “Model Makers.” Also try “Machine Shops” and
“Plastics—Fabricating, Finishing, and Decorating.” One
service, eMachineShop (www.emachineshop.com), will
supply you with free software which you can use to draw
your part and click to have them custom-make it for you.
Idea Corporation (www.ideaproductdesign.com), designs
and makes prototypes for inventors and their companies.
In addition, your local college or community college may
have a design and industry department that may be able to
refer you to a model maker. If you live near an industrial
plant that employs machinists or model makers, perhaps
you can get one of these employees to moonlight and do the
job for you—put a notice on the plant’s bulletin board, call,
or ask around.
If you do use a model maker and you disclose critical
information, including dimensions, materials, suppliers, or
other data you consider to be proprietary (a trade secret), it
is best to have the model maker sign a Consultant’s Work
Agreement (Form 4-3) before you turn over your drawings
or other papers. Follow the instructions in Chapter 4 to fill
out this form. I also suggest that you add a confidentiality
legend to any drawings or descriptions you turn over to
your model maker. Such a legend can be made in rubberstamp
or sticker form or can be typed on the drawings, and
should read as follows:
“This drawing or description contains proprietary information
of [your name] and is loaned for use only in evaluating
or building an invention of [your name] and must be
returned upon demand. By acceptance hereof, recipient
agrees to all of the above conditions. © 20xx [your name].”
After you’ve made a working model, you should take at
least one good photograph of it. The photograph should
be of professional quality—if you are not a good photographer,
have a professional do it, and order several views if
necessary. Have at least 50 glossy prints made of the photo,
possibly with several views on one sheet. Then write a
descriptive blurb about your invention, stating the title or
the trademark, what it is, how it works, its main advantages
and selling points, plus your name, address, telephone
number, and the legend “Patent Pending.” Don’t get too
bogged down in detail, however. In other words, make
your write-up snappy and convincing. Then have it typed
or printed and have at least 50 copies made to go with the
photographs.
If you can’t build a real working model, you can
build a “virtual prototype” (computer simulation). For
an explanation of this process see Jack Lander’s article,
“Virtual Prototyping: Alive and Well,” in Inventors Digest,
July/ August 2003.
D. Finding Prospective
Manufacturers/Distributors
The next step is to compile an initial listing of
manufacturers who you believe could manufacture and
distribute your invention profitably. You should keep your
marketing notes, papers, and correspondence in a separate
file from your patent application (legal) file. Your initial
list should comprise all the manufacturers who meet the
following four criteria:
• they’re geographically close to you
• they already manufacture the same or a closely related
product
• they’re not too large, and
• they’re anxious to get new products out.
Nearby or local manufacturers who already work in your
field are best. If they manufacture your invention, you can
monitor their progress, consult with them frequently, and
take any needed action more easily if anything goes wrong.
Obviously, it’s a big help to deal with a company that has
experience with devices similar to yours. They already
know how to sell in your field, are aware of competitive
pricing policies, can make your invention part of their
existing product line—which allows them to keep sales
costs low—and presumably want new models related
to their existing products in order to keep ahead of the
competition. If the manufacturer is not in a closely allied
line, both the seller and the product will be on trial, so why
start with two strikes against you?
The reasons for avoiding giant manufacturers are these:
1. Smaller manufacturers are more dependent on
outside designers. In other words, most don’t have a
strong inbred prejudice against inventions they did
not invent themselves (see the “NIH” Syndrome in
Section E, below).
2. You can contact the decision makers or the owners of
the company directly, or more easily.
3. Decisions are made more rapidly because the
bureaucracies are smaller.
4. You are less likely to be required to sign a waiver
form (see “The Waiver,” in Section F, below).
5. Giant companies have more access to patent lawyers
and, hence, a greater tendency to try to “get around”
your invention by investigating and trying to
invalidate your patent or trying to avoid infringing
it. Medium and small companies, on the other hand,
will be more interested in your invention’s profit
potential and its effect in the marketplace.
Obviously, you shouldn’t use companies that are so
small that they don’t have enough money to finance the