Sam Jelfs Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 With regards to patents - If you only take out a patent in one specific country it is pointless, nothing stopping a company in another country copying and selling your product, so long as they don't reside / produce / sell in the country where you hold the patent. As an indicator, for the company I work for to get worldwide* patents on an invention will take at least 2 years and cost in the region of €50.000. The other thing to consider is Trade secrets vs Patents - Is the thing you are selling the main invention, or is it a method of manufacture, underlying code etc? To patent it you make it public knowledge, all the important bits of code, the manufacturing process etc etc. Sometimes it is better to keep that secret. Allow competitors to copy the end product, but dont tell them how you did it and how to make it efficient... *Worldwide is typically America, UK, France, Germany, China and Japan, so not truly worldwide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dj Dunc Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Many thanks for people input. Ive decided that im going to stick without a patent. As many people have said, its not financially viable for a new starter company, versus trade secrets. Regarding the tradeshow. Im holding it off until I can get some demo units into the workplace and some hardcore user reactions down. When recieving a product to demo test (such as a desk etc) do people like having the packaging and all added extras as it would come out in production, or do people prefer just having the bare essentials? many thanks Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 If you take the design to a trade show without product to SELL then the Chinese will have production out there on the market before you do. There was an incident at Plasashow where Martin unveiled a new product on the Sunday and Pearl River (I think) launched the clone from photographs on the Wednesday, OK it caused issues but if you have just sunk everything in stand fees who will pay the solicitors etc to sue the Chinese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 When recieving a product to demo test (such as a desk etc) do people like having the packaging and all added extras as it would come out in production, or do people prefer just having the bare essentials? Just the product, usually - however, some solid support on the other end of the phone/email is very important to ensure they get the most out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.