r/inventors

How do I get someone to pay for my provisional patent filing fee? Im broke, but what I've been developing is Patent ready. How can I find help paying for the filing fee?

Hi all, I'm a biotech stuff inventor. I bet most of you here in this community are inventors. I just wonder what the biggest challenges you have or are facing on the way to actually making an invention. I'd love to hear your stories.

I'll start with sharing the challenge I have been dealing with on a regular basis:

FUNDING

My tech inventions are in the deep-tech category and are still fighting for taking their place in the economy. I have fixed the business model as a native business architect (I was born with this ability to desing and model :), but so far my team and I managed to ensure a non-failure, which is not a success yet :)

I bet there are many other challenges out there. I've shared mine. Please share yours and let's try to solve them

Hello, I’m a woman with a weird issue with both my feet and I do not want to get surgery because it’s highly invasive and would require me to be laid up a long while.

I can’t find anything that has worked online or elsewhere so I thought I’d try here. The issue is my second toe wayyy overlaps my big toe. I need something made out of maybe Velcro? that is fastened over the last four toes and pulls them all to the outer side of foot. I think it should go around the heel to keep from squeezing the toes, tension distribution.

I get this is highly unconventional asking here but I’m desperate. Any idea on what I can do or make myself?

Thank you so much for anything anyone might come up with.

Hey there My fellow Smartees, My one and favorite, my Supporters and Q/As. Its John again!

Ive sketched a another of my Prototypes. Being a MRI machine thats portable and all which can be used either by Standing or Laying. Now the reason why I made this is so that 3rd world Countries can have access to it ( i did my research and it cost MILLIONS to even make one) i feel bad knowing that I have a friend Who's father owns a hospital in which they have an MRI machine, but it cost like $300-$500 just to get a scan.

Ill so a sketch later on but as of now all I know about MRI is just using a bunch of Superconductors that forces the water molecules to move with that, then it stacks and make a sorta like image.

That's all I know by far. Ik that my Science teacher taught me this is just forgot the rest yey.

So can you all help me with this. Prob when j get my 3d printer and 3d resin printer I can begin already with this, along with my Glasses and all.

Pls anywhere will do from being a norm or a professional, your contribution will soon make this to a reality.

Let's cut down cost and make medical affordable for all!

( this sounds cringe ik, but im practicing since I wanna try joining the news team in my school.)

Thank you reading

From: John

To: r/inventors

So I recently completed a car product in the car safety niche. My original goal was to license it to car brands and earn royalties from it. But now one car brand really likes it and is offering to buy the full rights to the product for $2 million. I have never seen that kind of money in my life, so I’m really tempted to take it. At the same time, I’m not sure if it would be a bad move because I feel like I could potentially make more long-term through royalties. The product itself is pretty complex to manufacture, and I already have a patent for it. I also didn’t invest that much into developing it, it cost me about $5,000 to turn it into a proper manufacturable product.

I’m kind of stuck on what to do here. Any advice would help.

Reddit moderators have decided that this subreddit needed to have moderators, so we are your volunteer moderators. We will be changing some rules, but the spirit of it will be around inventions and inventors still. Please be wary in the next couple months about posting to be sure that they follow the rules.

I used to work at Nokia as software developer. I think Technology Connections is making some solid points here.

I hope this way I reach some people who can at meetings with their product owners point out the importance of sound design. I know back in ~2007 I could (at Nokia).

With which I don't mean the sound design of your irritating ringtone.

So here’s the gist, I had a successful campaign on Kickstarter and raised a little over 20k. I had made a concept for my product, but it was not a DFM version. So I was planning on using the money I raised to create a DFM version and ship out backers’ orders. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and there was a local small company named Perv Pete Labs, run by a local guy. They engineered products, so I went with them to create the DFM version of the product. I talked to the guy, he seemed legit and showed me other products he had made for people, which was cool. He also said he had contacts in China for small batch manufacturing, which was perfect because it would save me a lot of headache.

So he gave me a quote, and everything was around 20k, so I wired it to him. Well, a month later it turns out ol Pete had a gambling addiction and lost all our money. Now he’s on the run because everyone is looking for him, including his unpaid employees. I have lost all hope of getting that money back, so I was thinking of a Plan B, using the rest of the funds and my own personal money to complete backers’ orders.

Any recommendations of overseas companies that are cheap would be great.

Has any one individual inventor -- in this century -- ever actually filed and won a Patent Infringement case?

Lemulson -- the famous Patent Troll -- made that his life's work -- but that is the exception.

I'm asking if a patent is even worth it for individual inventors -- since they can't afford to sue anyone. Not only that -- it's just too easy to work around and "improve" a Patent.

So why bother with a Patent? It just helps those wanting to copy it. What do you think -- are patents dead?

"In this century, two major legal shifts have made it much harder for individuals to win:

1. ^(eBay Inc. v. MercExchange (2006))^(: This Supreme Court ruling made it much harder for small inventors to get permanent injunctions (court orders to stop a company from using the inve)^(Message Mods)^(ntion).)
2. ^(The America Invents Act (2011))^(: This created the) ^(Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB))^(, which allows companies to challenge the validity of a patent in an administrative court. This process is often called the "patent death squad" by individual inventors because it is expensive to defend and results in high invalidation rates.")

 

^(THESE GUYS WON A CASE:)

• Michael Kaufman (2022): After a decade-long battle, inventor Michael Kaufman secured a $10 million award against Microsoft. The case involved a user-friendly interface for computer databases that Microsoft's software development programs infringed. Kaufman noted that the process was "sobering," as he nearly ran out of money before reaching a verdict.
• Thomas Campana / NTP (2006): Although acting through his company NTP, Thomas Campana's patents on "push-email" technology led to one of the most famous settlements of the century. Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry, was forced to pay $612.5 million to settle the infringement claims and avoid a court-ordered shutdown of its service in the U.S..
• Jacob Krippelz, Sr. (2012): An individual inventor who successfully sued Ford Motor Company over a patent for an "exterior vehicle lighting system" (puddle lights). After years of litigation, he initially won a $56 million judgment, though such awards are often subject to adjustments during lengthy appeals.
• Lonnie Johnson (2013): The inventor of the Super Soaker won a $72.9 million royalty dispute against Hasbro. While he was a successful aerospace engineer, he maintained ownership of his toy patents and successfully held the toy giant accountable for unpaid royalties.  Bartlit Beck +4

I'm currently in a situation. I have a patent pending both in the USA and Canada for my invention. The compay i went with helped with everything the designing of the product , patent applications the works. Now we are in the licensing process trying to get a car manufacturer to buyout or even get a royalty deal with no luck. It's been 6 months they pitch the invention follow up every month to 20 different companies no response any of the decision makers in the manufacturing companies. Not even a yes or a no . Or even my invention is trash. No feedback whatsoever. I just feel stuck, do I continue paying every month to hear nothing , do I give up cut my losses or go to another compay for help. My knowledge is also limited in this invention process and the timelines on how long these process take. Manufacturing on my own is not an option right now according to the marketing team. I just want to know if im taken for a ride or the process actually takes this long .

I have my crude prototype.

im trying to find out how to get a custom piece made for my invention. I have most of the parts are cheap and readily available from online manufacturers but I need a custom part for my invention.

Almost everywhere I reach out to that manufactures wants a minimum of like 100,000 units for a custom item.

I dont have the budget for that.

it would be a custom plastic cap for a bottle.

I don’t think I can reasonably modify an existing cap on any scale.

My business partner and I were taking out and installing new trim in a house. LOTS of multitool work. Every time we hit a nail/screw we'd have to change blades.

Which, not a big deal, we had everything priced right in the job. The bigger issue was getting up, finding a new blade and getting back to work. Had to be a better way.

So we invented a new oscillating tool blade! Woo! Took 5 years, but finally got design and production down. Getting the first 3k later this month. Basically it allows you to snap off the first row of teeth and have a fresh set behind it.

We created an Indygogo to raise capital for marketing and packaging. So far we've been able to fund this guy on our own with no outside help!

Check it out if you would!!

https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/zachward-38310757/multi-snap-oscillating-tool-blades?ref=search

I just checked www.ipaustralia.gov.au and it says you can get a provisional patent for $100. That seems really cheap!

I'd like to know if this is a good game plan for an invention I almost have ready to launch (a safety/comfort product for roof workers):

1. file for provisional patent

2. launch new product with 'patent pending' on packaging/website

3. test sales over first year

4. a) if sales make it worthwhile, pursue full patent

b) if it doesn't take off, no point pursuing patent, let it slide

I have a product to take to DFM.

Looking for legit company with some third party reviews. I’ve been screwed over before by outsourced and overseas contractors so looking to avoid that.

I've done a few engineering consults for hardware startups recently, and it made me realize that a little bit of knowledge about part design and the manufacturing realm would be incredibly useful when physical products need to be made.

Manufacturing gets complex quickly, and if you don’t have experience in it, it’s easy to get pushed around or over-rely on supplier feedback. Some suppliers are great, some are not.

If you’re building a physical product and trying to get ahead of that, I made some practical manufacturing process breakdowns that walk through how different processes behave and what to watch for from a design standpoint.

These overviews go over ideal volumes, part characteristics, pros and cons, decision criteria, common materials and use cases, design basics, and possible defects. There is also an engineering and design basics section that gives overviews on CAD, 2D drawings, tolerancing, etc.

I'm hoping this can be a resource that you can use to hopefully avoid costly design iterations, more deeply understand the most common manufacturing processes, and get empowered to be able to push back on your suppliers when they try to get fancy with you.

Jerome H. Lemelson taught us what a patent troll is. He gamed the system for a cool $650 million. He showed us how weak our patent system is. Here are some of his exploits.

• Method of Operation: Lemelson often didn't produce or commercialize his inventions. Instead, he used his patents to sue large corporations like Ford, Motorola, and Toyota, often long after the technology was adopted.
• "Submarine Patents": He was accused of manipulating the patent system by keeping applications pending in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for decades, allowing them to "surface" only after an industry had already adopted the technology.
• Proponents' View: While many in the industry viewed him as a troll, others recognized him as a prolific independent inventor who was defending his intellectual property against infringers, particularly in his early career with toy companies.
• Impact on Patent Law: His litigation tactics and the subsequent backlash played a key role in the development of the modern definition of "patent trolls" and led to legal challenges against his methods.

 

He did leave a charitable trust to bequeath all the money he sucked out of inventors -- but given his M.O. in Life -- I must wonder about the veracity of his charity.