An inventor’s concept may be protected via a number of legal mechanisms, including the patent procedure.
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Procedures for Protecting an Invention
If you have an invention, use the following rules to determine if it is patentable:
Determine who owns the innovation. You are the owner by default if you created the item on your own. However, if you cooperated with others, you must come to an agreement on ownership. A written agreement outlining these rights is a necessary step in securing your idea.
Determine whether your concept is patentable. It must fulfil a function without duplicating any existing idea.
Sign non-disclosure agreements with workers and stakeholders engaged in the production of your innovation so that investors, contractors, and prospective consumers do not expose its contents to outsiders who may profit from your effort.
Non-compete agreements should also be necessary for contractors, workers, and anyone who are aware of the idea. This precludes a third party from launching a competing company based on your idea. Some non-compete agreements include a geographical or temporal restriction.
If you need outside help to execute your innovation, use a work-for-hire arrangement. Even if a third party assists in the construction, you will maintain ownership rights.
Keeping Track of the Invention Process
Every inventor should have a notebook that is only utilised to keep track of his or her ideas and innovation details. If your ownership of the innovation is ever disputed in court, this may be a valuable legal instrument.
This may be as basic as a spiral-bound notepad with pages that cannot be removed and changed. This enables you to keep track of your progress, including goals, ideas, talks with others, and prospective commercial connections related to the innovation. Make a point of dating each page, especially if you’re documenting a chat with a possible manufacturer or engineer. This will be useful evidence if someone attempts to steal your concept. If someone else is creating the same concept at the same time as you, without your awareness, the notebook might be utilised to demonstrate your active development of the product.
Date each entry and prevent backdating, which might bring the notebook’s accuracy into doubt. Date and initial any necessary adjustments. Instead of erasing, draw a line over the areas that must be eliminated while keeping this content legible. Pages should not be skipped or removed. Keep all of your notes in one notebook.
Every week, have two trustworthy persons who are not connected to you and have understanding of the innovation and industry sign and date the notebook to testify to its correctness and to validate the signature and date on any modifications made since the prior signing.
Keeping Your Notebook Organized
Describe your invention’s concept in detail in the beginning of the book. Indicate its primary use and document the item’s creation process as well as your ideas along the route. Discuss the challenges that the innovation answers and how it works. You could also want to use this section to come up with names for your innovation.
Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, you should include a drawing of your innovation. This is not only necessary to document, but it will also serve as a means of communication with a product developer or engineer you employ throughout the prototype stage.
Describe the product’s distinctive attributes and features, as well as its advantages, in detail. How will it benefit your intended audience? Indicate whether the innovation is wholly new to the market or whether it improves on an existing invention with distinct features and advantages. A list of rivals might be valuable in this situation.
Give details about your target consumer. You should keep this individual in mind throughout the invention’s development, market research, sales, and promotion stages.
When recording conversations with others about your invention, write down the date and time of the conversation, the name of the person you had it with and their potential role in the process, and a several-sentence summary of what you talked about. Continue documenting throughout the innovation process to establish legal ownership of the concept.