Website design By BotEap.comMaybe you have an idea for a new product simmering in the back of your mind. You’ve done some searching on Google, but haven’t found anything similar. This gives you confidence that you have stumbled upon the NEXT BIG THING.

Website design By BotEap.comEvery day inventors tell me that “they haven’t found anything like it.” And while that’s a good start, they probably haven’t been looking in the right places.

Website design By BotEap.comBefore investing additional money and resources, it is the right time to definitely find out if the invention is unique, determine if there is a market for it, and explore how to improve it.

Website design By BotEap.comInventors must conduct an online search with the goal of finding two or three competing products. If they’re afraid to do the searching, that’s a good thing because, in my experience, it usually means they’re on the right track.

Website design By BotEap.comAnd yes, the goal should be to find other products on the market that are already trying to solve the same problem as your invention. That shows that a solution is really needed. And if there is a need by a large enough group of people, then they have a much better chance of turning the invention into a profitable venture.

Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, inventors must go to a patent agent or patent attorney with examples of two or three other similar products, and after signing a retention agreement (which establishes the agent/client relationship), the discussion turns to in product details, including drawings, mockups, and/or prototypes.

Website design By BotEap.comAt this point, the agent or attorney will conduct a more extensive search of the US Patent Office and other applicable databases in the United States and/or internationally. They are determining if this invention is truly unique, or if there are even more similar patented products.

Website design By BotEap.comSome inventors consider searching the Patent Office on their own, but this plan has several drawbacks. Your emotional attachment to the invention will cloud your judgment and prevent you from finding other similar products. Although they may have already identified some other competitors, searching the US Patent Office is a more labor-intensive process. In my experience with clients who have done their own research, they have ignored similar products that have already been patented because they can’t face the reality that their idea isn’t as unique as they once thought it was.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, finding additional similar products does not mean that all is lost. The strategy changes to compare the proposed invention with the patented one and discuss ways to improve it and make it patentable. A good patent agent or attorney will provide you with objective information at this stage. The process is to take the invention, ignore the parts that have already been incorporated into another patent or patents, and the rest is a patentable invention.