Hi. My name is George Hughes and I lived in the UK. I am now retired, did a bit of model engineering and over the years came up with some ideas I thought I could make some money from – nothing drastic that would’ve made me a fortune, or so I thought back then, but I slipped up big time through naivety with one I didn’t persue at the right time.
It was because of my ideas I began to realize the existing patenting system left a lot to be desired from the inventors perspective, and that is the reason for Inventors Aid being produced.
First off there were problems once the flash of an idea had mellowed a little, so let me give you an example of one of mine.
Around ten years ago I had the use of a motorhome (RV) which was a great idea. The biggest trouble for me was getting the awning pegs driven into the ground in an easy manner, and then extracting them when move-along time came.
Problem: I’ve got bad knees and hips, with a back that hardly bends (early rigor mortis, maybe?), so I had to get down on my knees to even reach the floor, and it was a pain trying to stand up again several times when necessary.
I thought about this problem and used my model engineering background to fashion a long reach peg driver that I could use standing up.
This I achieved relatively easily. It took around a couple of hours to produce my first one and after some testing I modified it into a proper working peg driver and used it regularly.
On my journeys, other people would ask where I’d got it from as they had similar troubles and I ended up making a few in my shed for those people, just to cover my costs.
I’d had no thought about commercially producing any, but this gradually turned into me testing the demand and making ten before selling them on Ebay.
They sold rather quickly, but the trouble was for me to produce that ten, it took ages waiting for materials, producing the products and eventually mailing them off to the buyers.
The demand was there, but I realized I wouldn’t be able to produce them myself and deal with all the marketing, communication, wrapping, postal services and all the necessary rigmarole of running a business.
So I had to think.
I approached a local workshop friend of mine and asked him what it would cost me to use him to produce the product and the first thing he said was he could do it, but he needed an order of a thousand before he would set up any production system.
I didn’t have that sort of funding, so that was a non-starter, plus I’d still have to deal with the packaging and sales.
Think again…
I approached a few other possible manufacturers, but they were adamant they wanted large orders and they would deal with the sales and deliveries as they usually did. This sounded better, taking all the load off my hands, but one thing stopped me in my tracks abruptly.They both wanted either a full patent or a ‘Patent Applied For’ to give them the safety from other businesses robbing the idea from their production, which was fair enough. But I was stuck, big time.
Have you ever applied for a patent?
They cost a fortune before you even know if there is value in your idea or if it’s wanted, and it all comes out of the pocket of the inventor. All the searches, all the legalities, which they baffle you with to get you to need more cover at more expense. They’re all in it for one thing, these lawyers and patenting agents.
So that needed avoiding at all costs.
Why didn’t any business just want to buy the idea directly from me, allowing them to produce it, patent it, manufacture it and keep all the potential profit it provided?
I searched high and low for that type of business, but I was cautious as I didn’t want to be robbed blind. In the end I had to rethink the whole patent apprroach fully, and here’s what I’ve come up with.
- I’d got the idea, so I needed to contact producers, preferably without the expense of a patent – let’s call it a pre-patent idea.
- I needed to check out whether it would sell or not, inexpensively. I found a way to do this, but it required a lot of self motivation, so I needed a simpler method.
- The idea needed advertising as widely as possible, despite the perception of the patent saying ‘keep it secret for your own security’ so I found a way round that.
- My idea needed eyes on it to potentially sell it to industry. That is to be covered with the website.
- My idea needed protection. It also needed to be recorded in a safe place and date stamped to stop theft.
What you are reading now is part of that protection system. It date-stamps the idea or product introduction.
By showing it on this website it automatically becomes date stamped and verified it was your idea with the advertisement picture or wording. All that’s needed now is for you to submit your idea in a very basic format something like:
‘Long reach RV awning peg driver. Sturdy. No more bending bad backs or hips. Easy to use.’
This will be placed on the website for the small fee of $20.00 which lasts for one year and allows 2 changes to your ad in that time. For that price you are not exactly selling the product you are advertising, that is just the advertisement fee. What you are selling is your idea to industry, so there is no need for any pricing to be shown. Industry will bid on your offer.
From there you can test whether your idea or product is likely to sell and what sort of market it will enter. Just advertising the basic text gives you lots of information about marketing. If it is popular, then you may be on a winner. If not, give it the full 12 months and maybe after 3 months review your advertisement or perhaps put it on the back shelf and concentrate on newer concepts.
Submit your idea to https://inventorsaid.com or directly to myself by email [email protected] with a brief sketch if needed, plus you will need a full description, being held by Inventors Aid until businesses request the proper details and after they have signed the NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) provided by Inventors Aid, that way keeping it legal and safe from theft.
This way, you are letting the world know what the product is while keping it safe and proving the ownershop of the idea should there be any challenge to it.
If you are unsure, just drop me a line here, and I’ll help you out as best I can. [email protected]