Category: Marketing Your Invention

The idea of inventing during a bad economy might sound like a recipe for disaster. After all, who has the money to invest in new products. And if you’re unemployed, shouldn’t you be spending your time trying to find a job instead of spending time and money pursuing an invention that may be a flop?

While those are valid concerns, there are many more reasons to pursue your invention in a bad economy. Here are a few reasons for inventing in a bad economy.

1. New ideas stand out in a bad economy. In boom times, it seemed like everyone had a new product or service to offer. Everywhere you turned, someone was telling you how their product or service was better than anything you’ve ever seen before. Businesses figured that if they invested in a new idea and it failed, they could move onto the next new idea with little consequence. Now with the economy staggering, people are afraid to invest in new ideas. They’re afraid to try anything new, and instead they want to stick with the tried-and-true until the economy improves. As a result, there isn’t much new on the market. So if you have a new idea, now is the time to get it out there – when your idea will stand out from the competition.

2. Businesses are always trying to improve their bottom line, but especially in a down economy. If your invention can help a company realize substantial savings, either by reducing employee time to accomplish a task, increasing output, or reducing manufacturing costs, companies are going to take notice now more than ever.

3. You may have more time to invent during a down economy. When the economy was booming, you were so busy working that you never had time to pursue your idea. You kept your idea on the back burner, but never had time to test your idea, much less invest the time necessary to bring your product or service to market. If you’re unemployed or under-employed, you may have more time to invent something new, or invest in your new idea. While you may still need to spend some time sending out resumes, this likely isn’t consuming all of your time right now.

These are just some of the reasons why there has never been a better time to pursue your new idea – go out and invent something!

A patent or patent application for your invention is a property right. Yes, even while your patent application is pending, before the patent issues, you have a property right in your invention.

You can choose to keep the rights to your invention for yourself. Or you can license some or all of the rights to your invention to someone else (typically to a company). Or you can assign the rights to your invention to someone else (again, typically to a company).

A simple way of thinking of licensing versus assigning is to think of real property. Say for example you buy a condo. You have a property right in that condo, just like you have a property right in a patent or patent application for your invention. The right exclude others from making, using, or selling your invention once the patent issues.

Just like you can rent your condo to someone else, you can license your patent or patent application to someone else. The license allows someone else (the “licensee”) to have rights to your invention in exchange for a fee (called a “royalty”), which is typically a percentage of the profits and may be paid to you monthly, quarterly, annually, or on some other basis. Just like the person renting your condo pays you rent.

And just like you can sell your condo to someone else, you can sell your patent application to someone else (by an “assignment”). The assignment transfers rights to your invention to someone else (the “assignee”) for a purchase price (typically a lump sum payment). Just like the person buying your condo pays you to buy your condo. The assignee is then the owner of your patent or patent application.

Most everyone who comes up with a new idea wants to make money from their idea. There are several ways to make money from an invention. Here are three ways to profit from your invention.

1. Sell your invention direct to the customer. This is perhaps the most obvious way to make money from your invention. You come up with a new invention. You make the invention. You market the invention. Customers buy the invention. You make a profit.

Okay, this is an overly simplistic explanation. In reality, coming up with a new invention is the easy part. Making the invention can be expensive, especially if you are not a manufacturer yourself, and if you don’t have connections with manufacturers in China. Marketing the invention can be hard if you don’t have a background in marketing. And hiring a marketing professional can be expensive, with no guarantee of results.

Even if you clear these hurdles, customers may not buy your invention.

2. Sell your invention to a company. Selling your invention outright is the easiest way to make a guaranteed profit. Some companies do buy inventions from individual inventors. A company may buy your invention to keep their competitors from getting the invention. Other companies may have an interest in making, using, or selling your invention.

Of course, first you have to find a company that is interested in buying your invention. Finding a company to buy your invention will take some effort. Typically it helps if you know someone that works at a company in the same industry as your invention. For example, if you have an invention for a new tool, it would help to know someone that works at a tool manufacturing company.

3. License your invention to a company. Some companies may not be willing to outright buy your invention, but instead offer to license your invention. A license for your invention may include an upfront fee that covers your initial investment, along with a promise to pay you royalties (i.e., a percentage of the profit from selling your invention).

If your invention is a flop in the marketplace, the company may discontinue your product and then you do not make any money. On the other hand, if your invention is wildly successful, you may receive a royalty check for many years to come.

You can make money from your invention, if your invention is something people really want, and if you put in the effort.