Are you a new inventor with your first big product idea?

If so, you almost certainly feel you have discovered the “next big thing.” You just know your invention solves a key problem and – if you can just get it out there – consumers will flock to stores to buy it right?

Maybe. Maybe not.

If this describes your situation – is a pivotal moment in your invention journey. What you choose to do (or not do) in the next several months could be key to your success – or failure. Really?

Want to know more?

Read on.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Would you like some tips and tricks to quicker invention success? Grab your FREE copy of – Quicker Invention Success – cheat sheet now.

Just click on the blue button below to get your copy now.

Would you like to learn how to make money from your invention? Tired of just spending money?

Attend the next FREE live webinar – How to License Your Invention for Royalties.

All you need is your cell phone, laptop or desktop computer to attend this LIVE webinar. Get all your questions answered.

Just click on the orange button below to sign up for the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties.

Pay a little now – or a LOT later

Here is a huge mistake your may be about to make: doing little or no market research and searching to see if something very much like your invention. Due diligence is essential – something I have written about periodically in this blog – including this post from 2014. 

I want to touch on two key topics today:

  1. Why do so many inventors choose to overlook this essential step in the inventing process?
  2. What are the ramifications of not doing thorough due diligence early on?

I believe that deep within our psyche as inventors, one of our greatest fears is simply that our product isn't so new – someone has already done it. So, naturally, we find excuses not to really look. We convince ourselves – after a superficial web and retail store search – that our product is truly new and revolutionary, just like we hoped.

Then we proceed full steam ahead, often putting a good deal of money into prototyping and patents and trademarks. If we seek counsel or feedback from anyone, we tend to ask family and friends – who coincidentally aren't inventors or product developers – if they've seen the product anywhere. They will all report that no, they haven't seen it anywhere!

This may set us up for a painful and expensive reckoning later. This brings me to the second topic – what are the ramifications of this minimal due diligence effort?

Typically the bombshell doesn't really hit until about 2 years later when the patent office examiner responds to your patent application with what is called the First Office Action. The examiner will virtually always cite a potpourri of existing patents that either singly or in some combination, suggest to him or her that your invention is not patentable. 

If you had done thorough due diligence early in the process, including a patent search, as well as a thorough marketing search of many different retail outlets, catalogs, QVC, Alibaba, Amazon and others – your attorney can very likely craft a response that will satisfy the examiner. Then, your patent can be accepted and allowed to issue.

That is truly the value of doing your thorough due diligence early – genuinely searching for similar products anywhere in the marketplace. 

But, the bombshell occurs when the examiner finds one or more existing patents that are very similar to your invention. This is the true cost of not doing your due diligence. Either you may have to eliminate many of your key claims in the patent, so that you would get only a very narrowly defined patent – or you simply might have to abandon the patent, realizing you cannot get an allowance.

In either scenario, you would have spent thousands of dollars prosecuting an invention that is unpatentable. Worse, you might have spent thousands more towards marketing and packaging. Now, all of that money is “down the drain.”

That brings me back to the title of this blog post:

Pay a little now – or a lot later!

Stay tuned!

________________________________________________________________________________________

Would you like some tips and tricks to quicker invention success? Grab your FREE copy of – Quicker Invention Success – cheat sheet now.

Just click on the blue button below to get your copy now.

Would you like to learn how to make money from your invention? Tired of just spending money?

Attend the next FREE live webinar – How to License Your Invention for Royalties.

All you need is your cell phone, laptop or desktop computer to attend this LIVE webinar. Get all your questions answered.

Just click on the orange button below to sign up for the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties.