You’ve invented a creative new product. Now what?

On behalf of Kaufhold & Dix Patent Law posted in Patent Law on Thursday, November 9, 2017.

A lot of hard work and thought go into inventing new products. However, it is important for inventors to remember that there is still much work to be done after coming up with a new invention if they hope to get income streams from it. Simply inventing a cool and creative product doesn’t guarantee the product will yield financial benefits.

Rather, what an inventor does next can have some very big impacts on how successful their invention proves to be for their goals. There are a variety of big decisions that can come before an inventor following coming up with a new product. How much thought and care inventors put into these decisions, and the steps coming out of them, can have big impacts.

This includes decisions regarding:

• How to protect their product: There are certain steps that may be available for an inventor for protecting their new product from being copied by others, such as pursuing a patent. When an inventor applies for a patent, how they act during the patent process can have major ramifications. For one, it could impact how effective of protections a patent, if ultimately granted, would provide. So, when making decisions connected to pursuing a patent for a new product, having the guidance of attorney experienced with the patent process can be quite important.
• How to try to profit from their product: There are different ways an inventor could try to get financial gains from a new product they developed. They could try to sell their new product themselves. Alternatively, they could license their product out to others. These different approaches vary in their plusses and minuses. So, giving careful thought to which one would best suit their needs and situation can be important for an inventor.
• How to market their product: When selling a new product, one thing that could have very big impacts on how this endeavor goes is what is done to market the product to consumers. Things it can be important to give thought to when developing a marketing strategy include: their target customer, customer needs and desires and how to stoke customer demand.

Source: Entrepreneur, “Developing a ‘Cool’ Product Is Only Half of a Successful Business,” Stephen Key, Oct. 16, 2015