Ayers Concepts

Patents and Idea Protection

It has been my experience that it is far more important to spend your time and money on the prototype of your invention than the patent. I have four patents on toys and have not made money on those toys in excess of the expenses of the patents. However, the last product which brought in royalty money for me, did not have a patent. My partner and I on this invention decided to wait for it to sell before we spent any money on a patent. Please note that this is not legal advice.

In order to make money on this most recent invention, I presented at least thrity other product concepts to them. Can you figure out how much money I would have had to spend to patent all of them first?

Agents help you protect your idea.

I use agents and act as an agent myself. I feel that when I use an agent, my invention is in the hands of a professional upon whom the toy companies rely. They need his inflow of inventions every year to find the best products, or they cannot compete. A toy company would not be wise to bite the hand that feeds it.

Types of Intellectual Property

Utility Patent
Design Patent
Trademark
Copyright

For a Patent Search, try this free service from IBM --use it for quick overviews

Things You Should do to Protect Your Invention

Register it with the Patent Offices Document Disclosure Program for $10.00 (verify this amount with the Patent Office). Click HERE for a form you can view and print IF you have Adobe Acrobat software.
Put the "TM" superscript on all names you plan to use as trademarks.
Keep your invention records in a bound notebook. Put a date on the page of each entry and have a non-relative sign at the bottom of each page: "Witnessed and understood by _____" and the signature date.
Don't send your invention in a sealed letter to yourself. This method can be counterfeited and doesn't stand up in a court of law.
Whenever possible, have persons who must look at your invention sign a confidentiality agreement.