RESEARCHING YOUR IDEA
A thorough check should be done to see if your idea already exists as a product being sold in the market, since it makes no sense to develop the idea into a working tool if it already exists. This will cost you precious time and resources. With the internet and a computer this is easy to do. Many past inventors made terrible mistakes by spending thousands of dollars to develop working models of their ideas, called prototypes, only to realise in the end that their product already existed in the market or a larger Company had recently launched that product.
The first step to take to avoid this costly mistake is to visit the supermarkets, variety stores, tool stores, pharmacies and other retail outlets in your community and city, to look at similar products. You can also visit these places at other cities outside your immediate city. By browsing around carefully one can easily see if his idea already exists. If it already exists, then the idea can be abandoned completely, or a refinement (improvement) of the idea be made. It the product does not exist, then quick action will be needed by the individual.
The next step is to make a thorough internet search to ensure that the product is not being sold in another country. Amazon and eBay sell hundreds of thousands of different items, so a careful search for your intended product should be conducted on these two websites. If for example, you have an idea for an improved toothbrush, you can search all the different types of toothbrushes on these two sites. Another search strategy is to conduct internet searches on ‘photos of toothbrushes’. This will show photos of all the different kinds of toothbrushes. The next way to see if your product already exists is to do a search for toothbrush manufacturers and then go to their individual websites. Most times these manufacturers have photos of their products, so you will be able to see any similar product.
Then you should do a patent search. A patent search will tell you if someone else already came up with the idea and is the holder of an official patent for the product. A patent or patent pending status gives a person legal and exclusive right for that particular invention. This is the legal way to get protection for someone’s intellectual property. Intellectual property is another area that one needs to research online to get a better understanding of. Simply type in ‘Google patent search’ on any internet browser and click enter. The search results will come up. Then type in the word toothbrush on this web page and all the different types of toothbrushes that were already invented and patented would be shown on the screen. Each patent would show abstract, images, description, patent citations, referenced by, classifications, legal events and other relevant information. You can also download patents to have a detailed look at how they are written and how the diagrams are drawn and labelled. Some of these terms will be complex and confusing for you initially, but do not worry too much about that, because like everything else with a learning curve, the inventing and patenting processes are something new to you and you will eventually learn the process and what seems as complicated language and explanations will become easy for you. Remember you were not born with knowledge. Every single bit of knowledge that you presently have, you took years to gain, plus you would have taken longer to learn something that was harder, like Mathematics and Science. You will need to be patient and take the entire process slowly and in stages. You will learn as you go along and you will be able to understand fully.
Finally you can visit the ‘United States Patent and Trademark Office Official Site’ website to get more information about the patenting process and the legal aspects of it. This website will explain a lot of things about the patenting process that you never knew before. Try and understand the vital information on this website. You will also be able to do patent searches on this website. A list of fees for the different services being offered by the USPTO is given on this website. Further explanations of terms that you did not understand before is given on this website. Essentially this website practically walks you through the explanation and the steps to take to make an application process.
It is important to research your idea, so that you will not waste valuable time and resources, only to realise that the product exists in the market. This time and resources will be better spent developing an improvement for an existing product or developing something totally new. Once you use the steps outlined above, you will be able to save valuable time and resources and be able to make a better decision for the next step and how to proceed.