Market Potential: Have you done the necessary research to determine the true market potential for the idea? There are many types of useful, clever and marketable products with a fairly limited or local appeal that can make an entrepreneurial inventor a lot of money but might not be worth the effort to seek patent protection for.
Understand, a narrow or specific market focus doesn’t automatically mean a product isn’t worth the time and expense of obtaining a patent either. The intelligent inventor knows that there is a balance between what can be patented and what can be enforced effectively. There are also patenting agencies, such as InventHelp patent services helping inventors in patenting process.
Licensing or Selling The Invention: When companies acquire the rights to inventions and new product ideas, they’re actually acquiring your right to profit from the product. If you have not effectively established ownership or asserted those rights however, it is exceedingly more difficult to convince a company to invest in the idea. That said, many inventions require the refinement and assistance of the manufacturer to finalize the design specifications of the product and premature patent filings can hamper this elemental aspect of early product testing and development.
The use of non-disclosure/non-compete agreements can be very effective in protecting you ability to still make first claim of ownership, while keeping the product specs open to improvements that are discovered through testing and refinement as explained in https://washingtonindependent.com/amazing-ways-inventhelp-can-transform-your-career/.
Perceived Value: The more expensive the product is, the better a candidate it becomes for the investment necessary to obtain patent protection. A product that sells for $1.99 will take a lot longer to recoup patent expenses than a product that retails for $1,999 will.
The good news is that once a patent is granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and issued, you will have successfully become a patent holder and truly “own” your invention.
