How to get from idea to product?

[who]

HI All

I am new to the idea of being an inventor and would humbly like to ask for some advice. It seems lots of the creative people on this sight have probably gone down this road before.

So I have an idea for a software product per say. (Sorry to be criptic for now.) Unfortunately I lack the skill, time, and access to the base product to develop my idea into something I could sell. And, at least currently I am unable to develope it with available freeware. I have however developed a fully functioning prototype. I think this idea is worth money, but I am not sure how much and cannot take the risk of investing in a full blown patent right now. (If it is even patentable.)

So a couple questions.
1. Any suggestions on which Light Controlling software company might be the best to contact and try to pitch this idea to? I would preferably like to work out a profit sharing agreement for at least a few years.
2. How do I protect myself from a company taking my idea and running away with it. (To that end I am prepared to submit a preliminary patent application so I can take a year and see how much money it is worth before spending all the money on a patent.)

I quess if a company did just take my money and run I could always just freely share the info with everyone/anyone (Which will eventually happen anyways.). With the nature of the idea it would be possible for a company to keep it secret right up till the middle of November and then release it and still make money, which would give them a large leg up and first year exclusivity.


I don't know, am I going about this even remotely right??
Any help would be really appreaciated.

Thanks

[dirknerkle]

I'm no expert, but I don't think you can patent software. You can copyright it. I believe you can patent the idea of a combination hardware/software implementation. You may be able to patent a specific algorithm within software since it's an idea, but not the software itself.

Patents are indeed costly and spending a couple hundred bucks talking to an attorney about how you can protect your idea in the interim may be money well spent. What's costly about securing a patent is the searching through existing similar patents. You can do this yourself but it would then take place of your normal everyday life and you'd lose your income. Perhaps protecting the idea is all you need for now.

A related problem is theft of your idea by a company that you may talk to about it. If you feel that your idea has been infringed but you don't act on it to defend it, you may in fact lose the control of your patent idea altogether. So just because you have the patent doesn't mean that it's protected: you have to make efforts to protect it on your own, which has its own expense.

In the end, it may be worth just selling the idea to a company and letting it go at that because protecting the patent can be extremely expensive, too.

[who]

Thanks for the responce, it echos my frustration with this.

I really don't know how to proceed, I have no idea if my idea is really patentably, it may very well be but i would be surprised if it wasn't.

Meanwhile I don't think its the next million dollar or even 10's of thousands of dollar idea, but I do think it has that, wow thats coool daddy I want it status, which as we all know, kids get what they want around christmas.

So its gotta be worth some money, but I just cannot figure out how to capitalize on it.

[james70818]

I have seen this for years in the RC Boating hobby. I design, fabricate and build several products for the racing side of this hobby. I am good friends with a store owner who is known world wide in the hobby and he sells the stuff I come up with. In this case the market is very small and is full of vendors. The cost to acquire a patent far exceeds the profit margins.

Granted the Christmas light hobby is much larger but is still a niche market. But since there are several software options out there, including a Vixen (a free Software) that majority of the DIYer's. So potential for profits could be limited.

James

[P. Short]

I would say that if all you have is an idea, you have nothing. There are a few people with the right names who can sell an idea by itself, but those people are few and far between. You need to bring more to the table than just an idea.

[LabRat]

I think it goes back to the old addage that you need to have money to make money. If you aren't willing to invest in your idea, why would you believe that someone else should be? In short, if you truly believe that your idea has merit, then pony up the $$ to look into developping a prototype and talk to a patent lawyer. (if for no other reason that to get a generic "non-disclosure" agreement that you could use later when talking to larger manufacturers etc.)

Good luck! (no sarcasm implied)

[who]

Thanks for the comments guys, already do have a prototype.
Unfortunatly the money needed to truely impliment/deploy the idea by meself is beyond me.

To use an example, its kinda like I came up with an amazing idea for door lock on a car. I can build a prototyp of the lock and show it off, but unless I get control of the car design itself I cannot sell it myself. And needless to say, I cannot redesign the whole car myself.

[P. Short]

If the value is as low as you suggest, your best bet might be to try and monetize it through the android or iphone applications store(s).

[mrpackethead]

You coudl take the approach of Open-source and jus see what happens.. It works for me. You can sell stuff that is'nt protected.