Product Development Tip #1

This is a true story.

There was a young man who was relatively new to this country but had worked hard and with the help of his extended family, had established a life in a neighborhood in the northeast.

He had a simple idea for a small, household, item and a lot of ambition, and he decided to contact a “inventor services” company to help bring his idea to life. He chose a company that claimed to be able to conduct patent searches, develop prototypes, even develop packaging and present the item to big retail buyers.

He signed some papers they sent him and then began paying, and paying, and paying. He was repeatedly told that things were proceeding. He even received a digital picture of his prototype. Every step of the way he encountered additional fees. Eventually he had actually gone through his entire

life savings and was on the way to spending all of his family’s money as well! Yet he still hadn’t received a real prototype or any proof that a patent search had ever been done. The final straw came when he happened to see the digital image of his prototype being displayed, with a new name, for sale on a different website!

Don’t let this happen to you!

There are more FREE resources available to inventors and product developers than ever before. It is always in your best interest to consult an IP attorney to provide you with guidance to protect your intellectual property, however, there is a considerable amount of leg-work that you can do from your computer.

Follow the free tips in our series “Product Development To-Do List” and your story will have a better ending!

“The first thing you should do is determine how much money, if any, that you could afford to loose without seriously affecting your family. Then make a decision that you will not spend more than that to start the process of developing your product.”