PEOPLE WHO DID NOT PATENTED THEIR CONCEPTS, PRODUCTS OR PROCESSES
While there are people searching for new ideas to cash in on by making inventions, there are also people and companies on the look out to steal a person’s idea or ideas. Yes, large companies steal ideas and make millions of dollars from them. The counterfeiting industry in some countries is a multi billion dollar industry. You can research the extent of this on the internet. You should not let this discourage you, because on the other hand there are many companies that will be honest and upfront with you and will do everything legally. If someone or a company steals your idea or ideas, you will loose out on what you could have earned financially. If you can prove the theft in court with your records and logbooks, you will be adequately compensated. The internet article ‘Ford loses patent suit on wipers’, explains how an Engineer was compensated for his invention that was used in the Automobile Industry without his permission. After a lengthy court battle the inventor was awarded millions of dollars in compensation. Then there are those who were not aware of how valuable their concept or invention was and they did not get a patent pending status or patented their concept or invention and they lost out of millions or even billions of dollars that they could have earned.
Daisuke Inoue invented the first karaoke machine but did not patent it. He lost out on an excess of $110 millions in royalties and this is just a minimum figure quoted here. Doctor Jean and Alastair Carruthers discovered the Botox system as an anti aging treatment for the body, but never patented this system. Today Botox is used globally, so they lost out on billions of dollars in royalties. Shepherd Barron invented the automated telling machine (ATM) but never patented it. Today there are million of ATM machines around the world. He spent the remainder of his life as an average individual because he lost out on royalties. George Crum created the first batch of potato chips, but could not patent the process because he was of a minority race that lived in America from 1828 to 1914. In that era, minority races were not allowed to patent their concepts, products or processes. Walter Diemer invented the bubble gum but did not patent his product, so he like the others lost out on royalties. Totally all these individuals lost out on trillions of dollars, because their products are used on a global scale.
One reason why they did not patented their concepts was the fact that they did not see the full potential of their products. Since these were new products at the time, there would have been the belief that no one would want these products to use because they have been doing well so far in life without them. They also did not see that outside their immediate vicinity or region, that these products can be used. If your immediate circle of friends, relatives, neighbours or community did not see the need or use for your products, this does not mean that others outside your immediate village, town, city or country would not need the product.
The other reason why these individuals did not patented their products was because they did not have any business or marketing skills. They could not have seen the business aspects of their products in terms of earning money. They could not see that market creation could have been done, whereby the products could have been introduced to people as something that will benefit them. Once people are convinced of the benefits of a product and they try it and like it, they will buy more. So encouraging people to use a product by marketing it is vital for any new product to be sold and become popular.
The third reason is that some people are humanitarian by nature and want to improve the condition of their fellow human beings freely. They want to give of themselves freely and think that by asking for money in return is not right or it is morally wrong. For example, Nikola Tesla just wanted to invent machines to help improve the lives of human beings, but he wanted to do so as a humanitarian. As a result he did not look at the money making side of his inventions and died in poverty. On the other hand George Westinghouse was a businessman as well as an inventor, so he always saw the financial potential of new inventions and invested in these for financial rewards.
The fourth reason is the mere fact that to get a patent pending status or patent status takes time. One has to gather the information, visit the office, collect the forms, complete these forms, complete the schematics, pay a fee and then submit the documents to the patenting office. This was time consuming for the inventors mentioned above when they made their inventions. Therefore they decided not to go through that lengthy process.
The fifth reason is that back then, getting a patent was costly for the average individual. So if an individual had a small salary or no salary at all, he could not have patented his idea. As a result, the individual do not pursue the idea further.
There are many reasons why someone will not get a patent pending status or patent status for his concept. These reasons vary from one individual to another and from one country to another. Once an individual sees the value of his product, concept or process and gets the relevant patent protection, he will be able to earn royalties, once his patent is licensed. This chapter was about not getting patent protection and the eventual loss of royalties. If one fails to get the right legal protection with a patent pending or patent status and someone else does so, the individual who did not get the patent protection will loose out on royalties, while the person who patented that same idea will earn royalties.