Hey Don,
I basically agree with Robert above.. I have messed with patents alsoand I can tell you what I was told straight up by a guy on the inside at 3m where I picked up my advice.. He had told me no matter how you patent something a major company can take it from you unless you get it out there to market first.. It’s expensive for sure. I was told any item even a $1 item can run you $100K to get it to market.. As for investors- Be Sure They Sign A Disclosure Agreement!!! And good luck on that..
As for getting it started> Don’t waste time with a “We Do It For You Company”. All they do is take your money and do a crappy research job. Do it yourself. Online there are a dozen ways to look up patents that relate to yourproduct. (Patent Search) Before you do anything RESEARCH IT. You may find just cuz you haven’t seen it that it isn’t patented. Witht the way patent law works all you need is an idea and a rough drawing and you can patent something. Trust me theiris everything you can imagine already patented.. Like even stuff from StarTrek.
Anyway, if you need any links I can probably pass you a couple.
Andy
