Smart Marketing For Inventors Chapter 1 - Why protect your invention first?
There’s a new way to market your invention, and you don’t need a Kickstarter campaign or even a website. The first thing inventors need to do is protect their invention. Fortunately, securing the right form of intellectual property protection is inexpensive and relatively fast. This chapter will cover some common mistakes inventors make when it comes to marketing their inventions, as well as how you can avoid them.
Chapter 2 will cover the importance of using patents for marketing purposes and how this process works from start-to-finish.
Chapter 3 will detail the pros and cons of using a provisional patent application as a way to establish an earlier filing date for future non-provisional applications.
Chapter 4 will cover how and where to find relevant patent classes, keywords and titles. It will also focus on how to conduct patent searches online.
Chapter 5 will explain the different types of patents available, such as regular utility patents, design patents and plant patents. Chapter 6 will cover some alternative forms of intellectual property protection you might consider. Chapter 7 will focus on how to create a provisional patent application yourself. Chapter 8 covers an important part of the process – getting your invention reviewed by an expert prior to filing any type of patent application. Finally, this chapter will cover how to get a patent issued in your own country.
Chapter 9 will cover other sources of intellectual property protection, such as trademarks and copyright. Also covered is the role of patents and trademarks in marketing, especially in Asia.
Chapter 10 will detail some mistakes patent applicants make during the review process, including missing filing fees and getting the examiner to sign off on a non-obvious extension (NE). Chapter 11 will cover issues that inventors should avoid when selecting the most appropriate provisional application to use. Chapter 12 will outline how to handle a non-combatant with whom you have a dispute over patents being issued anywhere in the world.
Chapter 13 will cover how and why you might consider filing a provisional patent application for a design patent in your own country. Chapter 14 will outline how to protect your invention during the approval process. This chapter will also briefly touch on what inventors might encounter when dealing with an examiner who has a bias against their invention or product.
Chapter 15 will explain the pros and cons of registering intellectual property protection in foreign countries, including the European Union, China and Japan. Chapter 16 will focus on where to find trademarks, copyrights and patents belonging to corporations (“trade marks”). Chapter 17 will outline some common mistakes inventors make when selecting the appropriate form of intellectual property protection before filing an application.
Chapter 18 will cover how to prepare a provisional patent application by yourself.
Chapter 19 will explain how to identify an invention’s closest competitors, whether you are at home or abroad. Chapter 20 will outline when it is important for inventors to seek an extension. Chapter 21 will discuss other sources of intellectual property protection, such as trademarks and copyright. Also covered is the role of patents and trademarks in marketing, especially in Asia.
Chapter 22 will detail some mistakes patent applicants make during the review process, including missing filing fees and getting the examiner to sign off on a non-obvious extension (NE). Chapter 23 will cover issues that inventors should avoid when selecting the most appropriate provisional application to use. Chapter 24 will outline how to handle a non-combatant with whom you have a dispute over patents being issued anywhere in the world.
Chapter 25 will cover how and why you might consider filing a provisional patent application for a design patent in your own country. Chapter 26 will outline how to protect your invention during the approval process. This chapter will also briefly touch on what inventors might encounter when dealing with an examiner who has a bias against their invention or product.
Chapter 27 will explain the pros and cons of registering intellectual property protection in foreign countries, including the European Union, China and Japan. Chapter 28 will focus on where to find trademarks, copyrights and patents belonging to corporations (“trade marks”). Chapter 29 will outline some common mistakes inventors make when selecting the appropriate form of intellectual property protection before filing an application.
Chapter 30 will cover how to prepare a provisional patent application by yourself.
Chapter 31 will explain how to identify an invention’s closest competitors, whether you are at home or abroad. Chapter 32 will outline when it is important for inventors to seek an extension. Chapter 33 will discuss other sources of intellectual property protection, such as trademarks and copyright. Also covered is the role of patents and trademarks in marketing, especially in Asia.
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Inventhelp: My Inventor Story (Part 1)
If you are like me, you are probably at least a little curious about what is really going on at InventHelp. If so, this “Q & A” column is for you. This month we decided to try something a little different. We asked our inventor customers to write an “inventor story” -- how they got started and where they are today with their invention -- but with one condition: We wanted them to make it funny or creative.
The result is my “inventor story” -- and the first part of a long-running series of inventor stories. As you will see, the first story has both a “start” and a “finish,” but most of it takes place over the past month. Here is how it started:
I am an inventor with two inventions in progress, but I don't want to keep them secret. They are based on a multi-step process that I discovered and developed. One product involves an adjustable extension that has a pliable wire shape. I was inspired by a similar design I found online when I saw how it could be used to hold back curtains from falling. The other involves a piece of magnet board that can be placed in the way of nails when you’re putting up picture hanging wire – because you don’t want to run out at the last minute and have to paint over your wall.
The big problem is that my products are still not out there on the market and, worse yet, they will never be out there because I need to raise money for production before anyone else does. And there’s no guarantee that someone else will come along and apply for patents on these ideas before me. That's where inventhelp came in.
I’ve discovered that inventhelp is a lot less expensive than other patent and trademark search firms. The other advantage for me is that it’s based in the U.S. I also discovered that it’s well known in the software industry and PTA groups.
The concept behind inventhelp is pretty simple: It charges you a small sum of money to search the U.S.
Conclusion
You might be wondering why InventHelp won’t just put the invention out there and take a large fee from the inventor for doing so. The reason is simple: There is no money in it for them. No one will pay much for a product that someone else had already invented, even if you did it first! So InventHelp would make no money on anyone.
However, that does not stop other companies from using your designs to earn large amounts of money before you ever get your product line off the ground. What we do at InventHelp is put a barrier in the way of people who have designs similar to yours.