Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Sure, Those people are industrial / product designers, engineers and model builders. They mostly serve small companies that can not afford an internal design studio like the big guys, i.e. Toyota, Apple. Sometime they are all under one roof, or they sub work out to each other. Costs could range from $3,000 to infinity.

Can I basically present an idea to them verbally or do I need first an engineering drawing that has been patented??  Are they under contract to not steal people`s ideas? Where can I find these people??

Well, start searching for industrial designers, engineers and so forth, unfortunately there is no main category in the yellow pages for this.
No drawing needed, just a clear idea of what you want to accomplish and a final unit price.
Larger design firms have a boiler plate agreement that signs away any patents that may be invented once they are hired. For small firms (one person) you may need to provide the agreement.
check out...
www.idsa.org
to get an idea of what the industry is like. Its sort of the AIA of products.

Always come armed with at least a non-disclosure agreement.  I would suggest that your first step be to do a patent search on your own at www.uspto.gov before contacting any of these companies.  Once you make sure you are not infringing on someone else`s IP you can go forward with feasability studies.  A lot of the beginning stages of taking an idea to market you can do on your own for little or no cost.  I personally like doing the steps myself instead of handing the idea (and much of the profits) over to a third party company.

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Leslie
Founder and President
Charmed Life Products LLC
Grill Charms™… The MUST HAVE grilling accessory that is revolutionizing the American Cook-out AND The perfect gift for any occasion!
Grill Charms
                                                                                                    

Nothing will protect you like having a filing date for an application with the good ole USPTO.gov people.  A non-disclosure agreement is not a substitute for that.  Be sure to read and understand the MPEP at USPTO.gov - it`s a few thousand pages, but at least you will save the money of hiring an attorney.  Until you have an issued patent, or at least a filed application, you are at the mercy of others.

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Yes there`re a lot of crooks out there.  However they only "steal" successful products, "protected" by a patent application or not.

Inventing is a tough business.  One had better have a good business plan first before spending money on patenting,  How big is the potential market for the new product? How much it costs to make?  How much people are willing to pay for it? etc.....These questions must be addressed first.  If there`s no business case for it, forget about it and spend your hard-earned money on Star**** coffee or other goodies.  Be business-like. Be realistic.


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