I am not in the invention-evaluation business, and I would be skeptical of anyone who claims to be - most are fraudulent.
But there are some common-sense factors you should take into consideration before spending tens of thousands of dollars on Patenting, prototyping, and marketing an invention.
1. Market Size: A gadget that has a limited market, for example, only a few hundred or few thousand customers, might not be a good candidate for Patenting, unless the invention is a nuclear reactor or something and could generation huge royalties from each sale.
Many inventors lose sight of this simple fact - if there are not a lot of sales of the invention, it is hard to make money from the invention to pay back Patenting costs, as well as development costs. Your invention may indeed be an improvement over the "Prior Art" - but if the market is limited, then it will not make money for you.
So, for example, gadgets and devices for esoteric market segments might be hard to turn a buck on, as once you sell one to every possible customer, you're basically done.
I use the example of the Helmet Warmer invention that an enterprising young man came up with. It was a cabinet for warming football helmets so the elastic would not harden in cold weather. A great idea, but once you've sold one to every major league football team that plays in cold climates, and perhaps some college teams, your market dries up. Will the costs of designing and building the device be offset by profits from sales?
2. Lower Priced Alternatives: I was in the grocery store the other day, and saw a fancy potato peeler on sale for $9.95. It seemed very complex, but moreover it was pricey. The regular kind of Potato peeler that people have been using for decades costs a buck at the dollar store. Was there some compelling reason I should spend ten times that amount? Particularly since I don't peel a lot of potatoes!
And that is a second factor most inventors don't consider. Yes, your bracket, jig, fixture, tool, or other device may be the cat's ass and make a 20 minute job into a 15 minute one. It may be a labor-saver! But, if the alternative costs far, far less, it will be a hard sell to the average consumer.
An awful lot of inventions fall down on this simple point - they are improvements, yes, but expensive improvements that the market just doesn't want to pay for. The inventor has answered a question no one is asking.
3. Easy Design-Arounds: It is possible to get a Patent on nearly anything, if you claim it narrowly enough. But many products are very difficult to claim broadly at all. If you have an improved container, jig, fixture, or the like, where the point of novelty is in the field of use or application, it can be hard to get a useful Patent on it.
And even if you get a good Patent, if the device is pretty generic (a clamp, fixture, container, or the like) then it is likely that a competitor could "design around" your Patent claims, if the device became popular.
Then you are stuck in the situation where you can't stop the competitor from copying the device, because the Patent claims are too narrow - and broader claims are not available.
And even if your claims are narrow enough, do you have the money, time, and effort to sue him for damages - particularly if (as in #1 above) the Market Size is not very large?
This is a heartbreaking scenario I have seen play out more than once. An inventor has a good Patent, and the invention is a good idea. But someone decides to just copy it, and since the potential damages, even with treble damages applied, are less than a million dollars - so it isn't worthwhile suing to prevent infringement.
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If all of these concerns make it sound like I am not cheer-leading for people to file Patents, it is because I am. Some inventors are successful with their inventions, some with their Patents, some with both. But it requires a significant market share and royalty base to make an invention worthwhile developing and Patenting.
Think hard before you spend a lot of dough on marketing, selling, building, or Patenting your improved gadget. It could be a lot of money down the drain.
