Moving From Idea to Invention to Product: A Legal Guide

It is critical to safeguard your fresh company concept. Discover where to begin with intellectual property protection.

What you’ll discover:

What can I do to safeguard my concept while discussing it with others?
How can I determine if my innovation is patentable?
What are the dangers of bringing an idea to market without intellectual property protection?
What evidence will I need to provide if I want to license or sell my idea to another company?

You can make a brilliant concept for a new or creative product a reality if you have a terrific idea. Taking an idea from concept to reality can be both thrilling and demanding, but also very gratifying. But, if you do not protect your innovation, someone else may replicate or steal it, leaving you with little to no remedy. When you’re ready to promote, sell, and defend your ideas and goods, the following resources may be useful.

What can I do to safeguard my concept while discussing it with others?

Intellectual property, or IP for short, is the legal name for an idea, invention, or creative work that you created. There are laws that apply expressly to IP, just as there are laws that apply to any other kind of property that people seek to preserve. When you’re just starting started, the greatest method to preserve your concept is to share it with as few people as possible. Reduce the amount of individuals who are aware of the concept to reduce the likelihood that someone else will try to utilize your work. But, keeping an idea to oneself might be difficult, particularly if you want to share it with others for feedback.

You will almost certainly have to share your concept with a few individuals as you work to get it off the ground. You may wish to create and employ a Non-Disclosure Agreement if you share your ideas with others. This text may discourage individuals from discussing your thoughts with others. It is a written legal document that defines your ideas and what will happen if someone else utilizes or distributes them.

Depending on the nature of your invention, you may also be able to apply additional legal safeguards. To get the full legal significance of these safeguards, you may need to register or apply for them.
Copyrights

Copyright protection applies to creative works such as websites, musical compositions, and literary works. In general, songs, books, and photographs are protected by copyright.

Copyrights emerge as soon as you create a unique work. To get copyright protection, you do not need to register your work. Yet, you may wish to since registration gives you additional legal protection.
Trademarks

A trademark is a sign, name, or phrase that you use to identify your company or product. It is beneficial to demonstrate how your product differs from the competitors. It might be a company name, a slogan, a product name and description, or something else entirely.

A trademark is created when you begin utilizing it. Unregistered trademarks, like copyright, have legal rights. But, registering a trademark provides you with additional protections and benefits.
Patents

You’ve probably heard of a patent if you’re an inventor. A patent prevents others from making or using an innovation. You may patent a broad variety of unique items, including machinery, chemical compounds, techniques, and components of a larger innovation.

How can I determine if my innovation is patentable?

Not every innovation is patentable. To get a patent, you must normally go through a patent application procedure, and your innovation must meet specific regulations in order to be authorized. Each application is normally reviewed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to determine if it is a novel invention. This procedure might be time-consuming. In other circumstances, the whole procedure might take many years. At that period, you may be allowed to proceed with your pending patent application.

A few elements regarding your innovation must typically be true in order to qualify for a patent. For example, it may be necessary to:

novel or new.
It’s not evident.
Well stated so that others may create and utilize it.
The creator asserted in plain and precise language.

In general, to get a patent, an invention must be novel, and the description must be detailed enough that others can determine what it is and make it. Abstract concepts are seldom explicit enough for a patent. Patent applications may contain technical drawings, product schematics, or working models.

Natural laws and occurrences do not have patent protection. You cannot also get a patent for innovations that are not beneficial or are likely to upset a large number of people.

Music and literary creations cannot be copyrighted. Instead, they are protected by copyright.

What are the dangers of bringing an idea to market without intellectual property protection?

Unfortunately, other individuals sometimes steal ideas and inventions, and the danger is increased if you have a strong concept. If you go from concept to market without legally safeguarding your idea, someone else may take it and utilize it to gain money that might have been yours.

Registering a trademark or copyright and obtaining a patent are both legal techniques to demonstrate ownership of an idea or invention. They provide a time when the thought occurred and demonstrate that it originated with you. If you attempt to commence legal action without such documentation, it might be difficult to establish that someone else stole your concept. If you can’t establish that the concept was yours, you can lose all legal rights to it.

What evidence will I need to provide if I want to license or sell my idea to another company?

There are two primary approaches to sell your innovation to another individual or corporation. You may license the idea and earn money from it, or you can sell all of the rights to control and manufacture it.

In any case, you may simply draft a formal contract known as a Buy-Sell Agreement. The law does not usually require you to obtain a registered copyright or patent before selling the rights to your creation. But, if someone else patents your invention first, you may suffer legal repercussions. You may wish to go through the patent procedure to provide yourself an additional layer of legal protection and to ensure that your invention is really unique. This is equally critical if you opt to license your innovation rather than sell it.