Reacting Forward: Patent An Idea

The video has very little to do with this topic, but I think it helpful to know the power of introverts. I meet lots of would-be entrepreneurs who have self limiting beliefs and there is a misperception that only extroverts make good entrepreneurs. I am an introvert. I don’t do networking or cocktail parties. I much prefer a good read.

1995:  “I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.”  — Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com.

To continue flow, you should also consider applying for a patent for a winning idea. Technically ideas are not patent-able, but realistically a strong description turns an idea into an invention. Rather than reinvent the wheel I attach an excellent article from IP Watchdog.

Excerpt:

One thing that many individuals and professional inventors employed by corporations (i.e., “corporate inventors”) have in common is that they frequently do not perceive what they have come up with as being worth patenting. So many have the notion that a patent is something that gets awarded only to breakthrough innovations. As interesting as the philosophical discussion about whether getting a patent should require a breakthrough innovation is, it is important to understand that patents are not awarded only on significant breakthroughs, or only to those in the running for a Nobel Prize. In fact, it is far more common to have a patent awarded to cover an improvement on an existing product.

There are many advantages to doing this. We know the psychological boost it can give us as the person who has the idea, but through the process one can add a patent application number and “pending,” to any customer, corporate, and investor material. Most people don’t understand the patent process and are easily impressed by this. It adds a certain credence to your pitch, service, or product.

The article in downloadable resources is one of dozens of freebies on that website.