Do I really need a patent?

Do I really need a patent? Are patents important? Most inventors and entrepreneurs probably aren’t asking themselves these questions, but they should. On Wednesday, I posted a blog about the necessity of protecting big ideas with a wall of patents. But what about the average product idea? Is obtaining a patent necessary or even advisable?

I don’t believe so. I think things have changed. In the past, it may have made sense to go through the process of filing for a patent before contacting a potential licensee or figuring out how you were going to bring the product to market. But even the conventional method makes me scratch my head in confusion – it doesn’t make sense to go through all the work and expense of creating a product idea without first having identified that there’s a market for that product. Now more than ever, the most important factor for success is the speed with which your product is brought to market. There’s an incredibly fast turnover rate right now. Most products don’t last very long. The company that brings the product to market first is able to capitalize on that advantage; so what if a “me-too” product comes along afterwards? They’ll have already sold a ton of product.

Most ideas just aren’t big ideas. An average of 10,000 to 20,000 is spent filing for patents. I hate to say it, but many ideas aren’t going to be worth this much! By filing for a provisional patent application (PPA), you leave open the possibility of filing for an actual patent later. Do yourself a favor and make use of that year. If you indeed prove that your idea is a big one, then begin investing in the protection of your idea.

over 20 products in the past 30 years. He is a board member of Accudial

Pharmaceuticals and has a new book "One Simple Idea: How to become rich

and successful while others do the work" due to release Spring 2011 from

McGraw-Hill. Along with business partner

Andrew Krauss, Stephen runs inventRight,

a company dedicated to educating inventors about selling their ideas

and the skills needed to succeed. You can listen to the weekly radio show on inventing.

Preorder One Simple Idea now and get access to our database of over 1000 companies looking for ideas.

Visit www.inventright.com to learn more.