Inventors…
What steps to take in order to bring your invention from ideal to market?
By Jackie Winters
It seems everyone has a new invention but don’t know what steps to take in order to protect themselves and then get it to market. I will attempt to give you clear instructions on what and how to do it. I have invented a product named “Ab Radical” it is made to help a person do abdominal crunches with ease and it isolates the abdominals to give you the abs’s you never had, it will also help build the lower back and abdominal muscles. I will give you a step by step process of how I did it and in fact how I got the ideal to invent it.
One day I got my wife a machine called the abs roller, it was bulky and in my opinion was very hard to use. As I watched my wife attempt to do a crunch she could barely get off the floor. I told her let me show you how to do it and I was shocked as to how hard it was for me. I am an X-marine and can do 275 crunches as well as 200 push-ups in one workout non-stop at that time. Now that was when I was ten years younger keep in mind but I still do crunches to keep myself healthy and from getting that old look bent over, I stand straight and still look very healthy.
I called the Lord and said Lord my little princess has gotten to look like a pumpkin and please give me something I can make for her to use. That is when I was blessed with the invention the now called “Ab Radical” (sold by Edison Nation on line). It was in a flash, I saw how to make it.
I put together a prototype and called my attorney Marvin Weiss. He told me to bring it to him and show him how it worked. He quickly closed his door to his office and said Jackie I am impressed and we need a patent attorney. He called one of the best his name is Steve Shapiro.
Steve met with me and said Jackie this is really good and I can get you a US Patent on it but it will cost you, at that time it was just over 10,000. I had that saved and used it to pay him. By the way you can do a self paten at a lot less cost and can get some direction from the US Gov Patent and Trade mark office of the US Gov.
This is what I did but was not what I should have done. I will tell you what I did and then what you should do to save money.
Step one; I made a usable prototype
Step two; I applied for a US Patent and after three years was issued a US Patent.
Step three; I had some prototypes made by a factory and they were very impressive to look at and they worked as I had intended them to work.
Step four; I made packaging for it.
Step five; I had to make a cover insert for the package.
Step six; I started to show it to people.
Step seven; Do not go and tell or show anyone about it or what it does (I have lost five products because of that, yes I have learned my lesson)
This is what I should have done because after showing it to over fifty people that attempted to steal my product I near gave up.
1) Make a prototype
2) Get a Patent, I recommend using an attorney with good knowledge.
3) Make 25 prototypes for showing it to manufactures.
4) Don’t make a package but have a design to show, if a manufactures license the product from you then they will make their own packaging.
5) Do not sign any contract without an attorney reading it first (I near lost all my rights).
6) You will need to find a Manufacture that makes similar products to show it to.
7) Don’t ever leave your product with any company; always take it with you when you leave.
8) Don’t give up, it took me 10 years to find the right company to sign a contract with and I am glad I was patient.
You will meet a lot of people who will tell you how great your product is but if you don’t have a patent then it is over because they will steal it in the blink if an eye, so be protected. Don’t meet with a company without your attorney present, I had a meeting and my attorney could not be there so he told me if they offer to sign a contract with me tell them I am in the office and ask to fax it to him the contract and he will read it and get back within 20 minutes; My attorney told me if he did not call back in that 20 minutes tell them you will call them tomorrow and leave with your product.
The next morning when I meet my attorney he told me if I had of signed the contract as they wanted then it would have been over. He read the contract and explains what all those fancy words mean and they meant I would give that companies all my rights and then that was likely the last time I would hear from them. I told him I would sue them if they ripped me off. He said in a court of law the contract you signed is what the judgment would be on and not what was said because written words can be enforced but spoken words are hearsay and it is like chaff blowing in the wind.
One day I posted and offer on line to give the product to anyone for a small part of the royalty. I got an e-mail from a person who told me to check out the company named Edison Nation on line and I did. I sent them an e-mail; I got a call back three days later and was asking to sign a contract for a royalty. I said look I don’t have any money to pay you and started too hung up and she screamed to me and said NO I want to pay you. I said what did you say, she said I want to pay you a royalty to license that produce from you. She said I will send you a contract for you and your attorney to go over and she did. She said the Edison Nation Company will do all the product making, packaging and design and all you have to do is wait until the reality start to come in. I near cried and so did my wife. The next day I was sent a contract and called my attorney Marvin Weiss, he told me Jackie I am shocked, this company wants to do all the work and pay you a reality and recommend I signed the contract. I am very happy I did and this company Edison Nation has been very good as to giving me up dates on the progress. I was just told it will be on the QVC Channel this year. If you want to see it go to Edison Nation web site and look under health and exercise.
I have also written a book with more information sold by B&N Book ordered and the publishing company is Publish America.
Good luck with your invention and God bless you,
By Jackie Winters
By Jackie Winters
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