Coming up with new invention ideas for your business or product line is entirely possible, for anybody. And its much easier than you may think. Let us break the procedure down into six simple steps. Always keep an open mind, look for new opportunities and potential areas of development, and make sure you do have your new invention ideas in a reasonable amount of time. Here goes…
Step One – Locate existing solutions to problems and then find ways to duplicate their usefulness. For example, if you are dealing with a problem of producing fresh oxygen in your automobile, one way you can solve this problem is by finding out how fresh oxygen is produced in a closed environment. If you do not know how this is done, then you should contact someone that does. Then, you would need to use your invention idea to duplicate that solution. If you are looking for something similar, try talking to someone who has used and liked a product that you have seen.
Step Two – Search for products and/or services that already exist and see if you can improve upon them in some way. If they are useful in some way, then they probably do not need a patent as such. This is called utility patents, which are granted by the USPTO on an “as is” basis. Say, for instance, that there are already a number of devices that allow an individual to surf the internet via his phone. If you could improve upon that existing service by adding an additional feature (not necessarily a better one) or by doing something similar, then it would probably not be necessary for the USPTO to patent the product.
Step Three – Always make sure that the invention ideas you are considering are ones in which the inventor will get some type of monetary reward for their creation. If you do not believe that you can receive such an award, you should at least consider other types of monetary rewards. The idea behind the “innovation tax credit” that President Obama supports is that it will help new companies with the cost of researching and developing their products.
Step Four – Once you have completed the first four steps above, you should proceed to step five in order to determine if your invention ideas are really unique. One way that you can do this is to have a discussion with an expert in the field who can explain the difference between what would constitute an original and a prototype. Original is something that is constructed in a laboratory and has been around for a certain amount of time. A prototype is an idea that has been developed for something to be sold. It usually only needs to be tested, but if it does, it can still qualify as an invention.
Step Five – Lastly, if you are still not happy with the number of invention ideas that you have, you may want to consider hiring a patent attorney to look over the documents that you have written. These lawyers will be able to tell you what kind of protection you are going to receive when trying to patent your idea. They can also give you advice on how to protect your invention from competitors. Patents are a very valuable resource and should not be overlooked by inventors.