Should you manufacture and market your invention right now, or apply for a patent before anything else?

If you have a unique invention the first question that comes to mind is how to protect your intellectual property. To patent or not to patent your invention. Patenting can be a long and expensive process. Therefore the second important question  to answer should be “How long is the estimated life cycle of the product?” Will this only start a trend or a fad? Then there is the expense of policing the patent in the courts, which few small businesses can afford. 20 years ago we had a neighbor who actually invented the touch-screen cell phone before there were any I-phones in the market. He spent too much time worrying about how to protect his invention than bringing the product into the market. If there is a patent conflict the courts also look at whether the invention was ever produced. The U.S. Patent Office has thousands of patented inventions that have never seen the light. It may be that you’ll be better off marketing the product before anyone else gets the same idea, sell as much as you can, and go into something else when the product’s life cycle appears to be on the wane. This is, therefore, an issue that has to be approached from a marketing point of view as well as a legal one.

Selling Your Invention Or Raising Funds

Many inventors do not have the funds to undertake a marketing program to sell their inventions or they want to sell the invention to make a quick profit. As they have found out, it is not easy to raise funds for a concept on paper or to sell a piece of paper that hasn’t yet seen the light of the day. This can change dramatically with a touchable and usable prototype or, better still, a successful test marketing with actual figures to prove it. Taiwan Trade Service makes it easy for new inventions to come into the market with inexpensive prototypes and reasonable test shipments. You can have a prototype and start selling your product even when you have a patent application in process.

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