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Justin Santiago, BAppSc (Hons), MBA, LLB (Hons) comes from a journalism, market research, intellectual property and strategic communications consulting background. Now based in Melbourne he spends his time advising businesses on how to communicate to their customers as well as writing on various subjects of interest in this blog.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Ways to Market Your Invention

GRANTING of a patent does not guarantee commercial success no matter how ingenious your invention is. There are many factors other than patent protection involved in the commercial success of a product.

Obtaining a patent is only the first in a series of steps by the patent owner to make a commercial success of his or her invention. The common saying 10 per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration holds true when getting a patented invention into the market.

Marketing and commercializing is a crucial stage of an invention and could determine whether that invention that was supposed to make people’s lives easier actually gets brought by those same people for whom it was intended!

Marketing and commercializing and invention is an expensive affair. One way is to take a major gamble and go into it alone. The individual inventor would surely be short of cash. A more popular method of raising funds is to get into a joint venture either with a partner (doesn’t matter if he is a sleeping partner or an active one, as long as he is rich!)

There are however many government grants available today to the inventor who has a solid idea and a solid business plan. Next on the lists are venture capitalists and finally banks.

The other option available to the inventor is to sell his idea by way of licencs or assignments to others and let them develop and market the product. In this way, he is able to make some money by collecting either royalties or lump sum payments. In the process he may lose control over the future of the object of his invention, but you win a few, lose a few – right?

2 comments:

  1. Antony Gordon fills his pitches for money and for delay of repayment with inspirational messages from Torah, including the admonition it is not permitted to pressure people for repayment. He told some creditors he would make a big push within his religious community to borrow money before Rosh Hashanah, but apparently he did not have much success.

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Ways to Market Your Invention

GRANTING of a patent does not guarantee commercial success no matter how ingenious your invention is. There are many factors other than pat...