I have an idea for a really cool product. It is a really simple electronics device with marketing potential, but I don't have the electronic knowledge to make it.
I searched online and came across a company working out of india who will design protoypes... They seem pretty good, but I having traveled HK, I know about piracy in asia.
I don't think I can copyright or patent something without a working model. IF this is for commercial use, can I just trust them to make it? Here is a link to their website. Would you trust them? Do I have any other choice?
http://www.electronic-circuits-diagrams ... shtml#Note
Then there is this guy... a private person who may take longer and wants paypal payment.
http://www.arttec.net/Industrial/Design.html
I am trying to figure out how to do a patent search. etc. Does anyone have experience in this sort of thing?
Do I trust them?
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Re: Do I trust them?
I have four patents (2 in the US), so I know the process reasonably well. Things to consider:Jeff-20 wrote: I am trying to figure out how to do a patent search. etc. Does anyone have experience in this sort of thing?
-Patents cost tens of thousands of dollars to get and maintain. Plus you have to get one in each and every country you want to have protection for.
-They are useless without a team of lawyers behind you. If someone copies your patent, it's not like they're automatically breaking the law. You have to sue them (at your expense) and try to prove that they're copying your patent.
-You don't have to build anything to patent it. But you do have to make the patent detailed enough so that:
1) The patent examiner believes it can work,
2) It's clear why it's a novel invention, and
3) (and this is the paradox about patents) Anyone could build one following the instructions in the patent.
Although, patents have gotten a bit silly lately. Someone patented an antenna that transmits faster than the speed of light (impossible), for example.
You can do simple patent searches yourself here:
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
So hopefully I've talked you out of that My advice is that you find a small local prototyping company that you can meet with face-to-face. There are hundreds of them out there.
Then have them sign a non-disclosure and non-competitive agreement, so you can sue them if they give the design away or copy it. Companies in that business will have standard forms for this, just get a lawyer to check it over first.
Does the speed of light still appear to be the fastest "thing" in the universe even if particle accelerators and all astronomy stuff gets into count? I suppose it does, but just a thought... not that I think someone has invented a TV antenna which utilizes black holes or particle physics though.
Anders Carlsson