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[dtpater]

What are the Realities of Inventing?

Value of Inventing= If you stand with 100 Inventors at the Patent office only 3 will see the dream!
100 Inventors only 3 make a profit or 2% of all Patented Inventions, maybe 1% without Patents.

100 Inventors Invest $20,000- in their Invention = $2,000,000- invested in Inventions

3 Inventions make profit from that= $60,000- Money spent well

For $2,000,000- invested by 100 inventors =1,940,000- wasted on the dream?

So for every $1- Invested in Inventions $32 is pointless, why?

Research Patent and Market, also research with Manufactures, distributors and the Retail Buyers for your price point so you can work backwards from retail to manufacturing costs

From my perspective that money wasted is busy creating the Invention HOT AIR BALLOON! That will POP!

Does your invention add up?

Why not spend your money developing your new product and prototype, get the manufacture to bear the costs, it’s all about your presentation market and Patent researching, also what happens if the manufacture likes your Invention/Products and wants to change it?, once you are just about to go to market that’s when a Patent should be lodged full application, use NDA’s and have a Provisional before hand.
You need to have a new Product Invention/Product at a Stage that the Manufacture is very keen, that keen they will pay all the costs otherwise it’s a slippery and expensive slope.
That’s why I let the manufactures launch it’s their baby not mine, and these Invention babies take a lot of feeding being money.

[dtpater]

Free Info for Taiwan:

Many retail Chain's are buying direct from Asian Manufactures, this method plays into the price point needed to break into markets worldwide!

Success for an Inventor in China is only 20%, Taiwan is 80%

If you go direct to deal with a China Manufacture, look for older companies who have local government approval

You need this information to help yourself, because basically I cannot help everyone only a select few! , this way you can help yourself.

1. Taiwan Manufactures only (use a NDA and Provisional Patent)
2. Create a dialogue with the Owner of the small Manufacture, they make the decisions
3. Look for trading companies, that have the contacts and money to bank roll a project
4. Cross reference between different search engines listed below look for gold members
5. Find out who they make products for, say a known brand, even if they make one product for a brand that is great and have at least one Patent applied for a Product.
6. Look for a Company that has been manufacturing for at least 10 years (then they know what they are doing)
7. There are many small operators who are not on the internet also; new products could be what they are looking for, get your hands on a local Yellow Pages Book.
8. I work with an expert and he said 80% good in Taiwan for deals and they honour them.
9. By looking for a trading company who supplies European or USA Companies they understand what is required.
10. There are risks involved, but reading post’s from U.S Inventors the risk is better in Taiwan less legal hassles.

This information is provided on as is basis, (Fortune favors the brave) , the more risks you take the less you need to spend
this industry is full to the brim of risks, please be aware that patents and new products/Inventions are a very risky industry!

Search Engines below
http://www.alibaba.com/
http://www.manufacture.com.tw/

[JimIvey]

What are the Realities of Inventing?

Value of Inventing= If you stand with 100 Inventors at the Patent office only 3 will see the dream!
100 Inventors only 3 make a profit or 2% of all Patented Inventions, maybe 1% without Patents.

100 Inventors Invest $20,000- in their Invention = $2,000,000- invested in Inventions

3 Inventions make profit from that= $60,000- Money spent well

For $2,000,000- invested by 100 inventors =1,940,000- wasted on the dream?

So for every $1- Invested in Inventions $32 is pointless, why?

Where did those numbers come from?

Regards.

[ManOfManyBadIdeas]

Where did those numbers come from?

Regards.

You do not wanna know... 

Until your reply I wasn't really paying attention to this, but looking it over, I am puzzled
not only by the origin of the numbers, but also the way they are manipulated. For proper
cost benefit analysis one has to count all the money made from successful patents rather
than just tallying up the patenting expenses as "not wasted". For example:

100 Inventors Invest $20,000- in their Invention = $2,000,000- invested in Inventions
3 Inventions make profit from that, at $1,000,000 each, money spent well.
$3,000,000 - $2,000,000 = $1,000,000 profit! Which is 50% return! That's awesome, man!
(and no, you do not wanna know where those numbers came from either )

[JimIvey]

I wasn't even going to check the math until I had some reason to believe that the numbers really meant something. 

And, as Mark Twain once noted, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics -- and that's when there's support for the numbers and the math is right.

Regards.

[dtpater]

Here is a good site

http://www.inventionstatistics.com/Innovation_Risk_Taking_Inventors.html

 

[JimIvey]

Okay, where did those other people get those numbers?

For example:

99% fail.  Only 1 out of 100 patented products make money.  “Even an inventor whose product is unusual enough to receive a patent faces daunting odds. Only an estimated one out of every 100 patented products makes money.” Percentage of patents that make money. Percentage of inventions that make it to market.  (Mimi Whitefield, Herald Business Writer, Miami Herald, February 5, 1996, p. 22BM)

Over 7 million patents have been issued.  How many inventors did he interview?

Regards.

[dtpater]

I know its very bad, the success rate: 

This is why I get the Level of interest required for the manufactures to fund all tooling and Patents cost's, I still get a standard royalty and upfront payment's, I had one new product that i could not do this, so my plan is to beat the market on the best price point manufactured out of China, otherwise dump the project and move onto something better!

I see it all the time, many Inventors blinded by the dream, and they are burning up cash left right and center, the worst I know of is $4,000,000- one new power tool and its still not in the market after 10 years and all that cash

The lowest I have read is only 1 in 600 Inventors are successful about 12,000 from the 7 million patents in the U.S

The below proves just how hard it is, no matter how many $$$$ are spent or marketing,

Its the Level of interest is what is needed from the Manufactures, distributors and Retail Chain store buyers

and of course the end user


http://www.davison.com/legal/ads1.html

You should read all of this information carefully before proceeding.

The total number of consumers who submitted new product ideas to Davison during the past five years is five hundred eighty nine thousand four hundred eighteen (589,418). Davison does not provide evaluation of commercial potential; thus, it has provided no positive or negative evaluation of this or any other product idea in the last five years. The total number of consumers who were offered a Pre-Development agreement (or similar contract for research services) is three hundred twenty two thousand nine hundred ninety two (322,992). The total number of consumers who were offered a Contingency Agreement (or other contract for licensing representation) is three hundred twenty two thousand nine hundred ninety two (322,992). The total number of consumers who purchased a Pre-Development Agreement or similar contract for research services is fifty thousand five hundred sixteen (50,516). The total number of consumers who signed a Contingency Agreement or other licensing representation agreement is fifty thousand five hundred sixteen (50,516). The total number of consumers who were offered a New Product Sample Agreement (or any other contract for design services for a virtual or a product sample) is thirty eight thousand three hundred seventy six (38,376). The number of consumers who signed a New Product Sample Agreement or similar agreement is thirteen thousand eight hundred forty nine (13,849). The number of consumers who obtained a written license with a company that is not affiliated with Davison is three hundred seventy six (376). The total number of consumers in the last five years who made more money in royalties than they paid, in total, under any and all agreements with Davison, is fourteen (14). The percentage of Davison's income that came from royalties paid on licenses of consumers' products is .001%.

[dablueman]

9.8% fail.  Only 3,000 patents out of 1.5 million patents are commercially viable.  “In truth, odds are stacked astronomically against inventors, and no marketing outfit can change them. ‘There are around 1.5 million patents in effect and in force in this country, and of those, maybe 3,000 are commercially viable,’ [Richard Maulsby, director of the Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office]

Note that they're asserting as fact guesstimates that look like they were said on a whim. To my knowledge the Office does not have any way of determining what percentage of patents are "commercially viable".

As an aside:
Maybe I'm in an unusual position but I'm pretty sure I can name a product that the patents I've allowed can be found in for at least 50% of my allowed applications. If only 3,000 out of 1.5 million are "commercially viable" I think I need to buy a lottery ticket or something.

Edit: OPPS...didn't see this was a thread for promoting an inventor's submission website till now.

[dtpater]

Some interesting links!

Comments from the below link

Think about it, it's only common sense. It is smart business, not wishful thinking. Sales earn money and patents cost money. You want to get sales, and you want to protect them with patents. Besides, your marketing experts will confirm the desirability of your invention/product concept. They will inform you what the best attributes are and will help you mold your invention into a high-volume, sellable product. Your manufacturing expert will work along side you and the marketing expert to make the prototypes and working models for testing. So, get these experts on your team early on, before you file for patents, and develop your inventions/products with all the right attributes and excellent patent coverage! Know you are going to make money before you spend it on patenting!

http://inventors.about.com/cs/basicshowtoinvent/a/aa041599.htm

Great Insight into the World of Inventing, below on a very low budget

http://www.rogerbrown.net/projects/

It all comes back to the (level of Interest) and if your Invention is good enough, then yes the manufactures will pay Patents and Tooling costs, these 3 below will have about 20 patents with me as the Inventor and the assignees will pay all the costs

First shipment going to Europe next week, Importer pays Trademarks and website, plus importing costs also for the Stair Square,

The stair square only owes me $4,000- going into Europe, royalties 84 cents per unit, I get $2,000- USD for every approved Patent that they apply, should I tell them to get hundreds of patents?, I will recommended these  China,Taiwan,USA,Germany and UK would that be good value for the manufacture?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd9O5nFwk4s    PCT, China,Taiwan and USA Patents applied, starting point

http://www.youtube.com/user/mgburke888#p/u/7/RQjSYQvsI4s    9 Countries applied, 6 approved , Royalties $1.50 per unit

http://www.youtube.com/user/mgburke888#p/u/9/Q3U9F8mt9CM   Taiwan, China, USA Patents applied   royalties 20 cents per unit

Help from a Good Friend Below!

“This the right time and the most important time for the Inventor and the Patent attorney to sit down and organize the Patents to be applied and the reason why half of Asian Manufactures prefer a clean skin Invention (That’s with no Patents), this gives them control on how the Patents are written and applied..’

Very good, Derek.
There is a clear difference between a patent written around an invention, and one written around a developed designed , market-ready ,invention based product.
Something about it giving companies a more focused defense strategy.
You can see the sense of a ‘clean skin’ policy, offering designed, invention-based products, using NDA’s ,and then the patent being written around the finished commercial product, enabling companies to effectively plan around the patent.
Patenting then is at its most effective, and written within the context of market realities and optimum defense.
It makes compelling sense.
 

[fb]

A patent has nothing to do with promotion. Marketing and promotion is what controls sales.

[dtpater]

BF,
    you are half right from my experience (The traditional method can be to inflexible, leaving a PATENT holder locked onto the wrong parking spot for their patent reducing the strength of their Patent due to the difference between the final new product and the patent they hold or having to lodge a new patent for the different version of their Invention), what I am saying the advantage by working together with a Manufacture before Patents are Lodged the (Assigned Patents), because the manufacture owns the Patent this changes the whole process, for a Manufacture having issue's with Inventors who are to hasty to retract on the License Agreement due to them holding the Patent rights, it can cause many problems, there are risks either way, remember getting a product to market is different for very new product

My Friend Larry from Canada has summed it about very well below, he has proven sales sand some good food for thought on the traditional method of Licensing, the binding agreement of assigned rights can work to an advantage for both.

Also due to Inventors Investing very heavily in Patents can and has clouded their judgement killing many good deals, even ones from personal experience were the Inventor could make $2,000,000- profit in 10 years from the sale of the new product of 10,000- units at $200- profit each and we are talking only the Australian Market for this.

The product retailed at $900- each and sold 300 units at that original price, new price retail $350- to $499-

I had every thing organised tooling price point was ideal and an investor to Import the first shipment, standing orders, and the Inventors choose to drop it , because the grass was said to be greener on the other side, with other people?

and that Inventor only holds an Australian Patent

http://www.invoproducts.com/invention_page.html

Another thing I see a lot of is Inventors who are un-trusting and create issue's in their own head that have nothing to do with the Real Issue's, many Inventors do not place enough value on what the manufactures or brands need to contribute to a new product in time and money.

Due to personal experiences I have a better understanding than most of the perceptive from the Manufacture who takes on your new product, Inventors need to be patient about the process and most are jumping up and down why Royalties are not being paid into their bank, even though the contract was only signed half a year prior, expect anything from 6 months to 4 years for a new product to make shelves, many delays first product samples sent, adjustments to packaging for example and shipping time also.

So please consider that other people will need to Invest in getting your new product into the market place, importers who place orders for example, so they need to know your new product will sell or they have burnt their money and are stuck with the first pilot run that they receive, so the question is you need to know your market and have market research done before you patent (otherwise why bother getting a Patent), never think everyone will buy it and millions will sell.

I know that by having a manufacture bankroll all the patent cost's and tooling, that is a very good indicator about the value of your new product/Invention, which grows in time as patents are approved and sales come in.

The value of design support is another issue that is undervalued by most Inventors, having patent drawings is nice, but supplying the manufacture the full 3D CAD Spec for a new product is brilliant, and in some ways with holding that has way more value than the Patent in the very early stages, being a new product developer myself with brilliant design support makes all the difference.

Because a Computer video below, does the sell all the way, manufacture, Importer, Retail and end user!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHT4XSw5Fro&feature=fvw


 

[dtpater]

So if you have a new Invention you need the right level of interest!

I like the comments below from this link:   http://www.tenonline.org/art/9105.html

But what business will pay for is your engineering skills.  Your ability to design and develop your ideas.  Ideas aren't worth diddley.  Ideas are a dime a dozen.  It's products -- and only products -- that have value


The reason why, is this link below for me personally, I Licensed the Stair Square to the Taiwan Manufacture and my 3D CAD Designer provided all tooling files instructions, marketing material, sell sheet what ever I needed to get this over the line!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JcjAIqCD9M

[OMG IP]

A patent has nothing to do with promotion. Marketing and promotion is what controls sales.

sincerely,

The Snuggie

[dtpater]

Many Buyers from Retail Chain stores will ask if the new product has a Patent, how can you give exclusive distribution and sales rights without and Patent?, these are other issues that can come into play here.

Things to consider