Maybe you have an idea for a new product simmering in the back of your mind. You’ve done some searching on Google, but haven’t found anything similar. This gives you confidence that you have stumbled upon the NEXT BIG THING.
Every day inventors tell me that “they haven’t found anything like it.” And while that’s a good start, they probably haven’t been looking in the right places.
Before investing additional money and resources, the time is right to find out definitively if the invention is unique, determine if there is a market for it, and explore how to improve it.
Inventors should conduct an online search with the goal of finding two or three competitive products. If they’re afraid to do the searching, that’s a good thing because, in my experience, it usually means they’re on the right track.
And yes, the goal should be to find other products on the market that are already trying to solve the same problem as your invention. That shows that a solution is really needed. And if there is a need from a large enough group of people, then they have a much better chance of turning the invention into a profitable venture.
Therefore, inventors must go to a patent agent or patent attorney with examples of two or three other similar products, and after signing a retainer agreement (which establishes the agent/client relationship), the discussion turns to in product details, including drawings, mockups, and/or prototypes.
At this point, the agent or attorney will perform a more extensive search of the US Patent Office and other applicable databases in the United States and/or internationally. They are determining if this invention is truly unique, or if there are even more similar patented products out there.
Some inventors think of doing the patent office search on their own, but this plan has several drawbacks. Your emotional attachment to the invention will cloud your judgment and prevent you from finding other similar products. Although they may have already identified some other competitors, searching the US Patent Office is a more intensive process. In my experience with clients who have done their own research, they have ignored similar products that have already been patented because they can’t face the reality that their idea is not as unique as they once thought it was.
However, finding additional similar products does not mean that all is lost. The strategy changes to compare the proposed invention with the patented one and discuss ways to improve it and make it patentable. A good patent agent or lawyer will provide you with factual information at this stage. The process is to take the invention, ignore the parts that have already been incorporated into another patent or patents, and the rest is a patentable invention.
