If you are just starting out your invention career, surely, you will make a couple of mistakes, some of little importance and some of the crucial mistakes that might cost you your invention. Mistakes are just part of the process, we all learn through them, but it is really important to learn from others’ mistakes first so you can avoid messing up yourself.
If you want to be successful you will need to educate yourself in that sphere so you have more knowledge and make fewer errors. Since we can find everything on the internet these days, there are a lot of successful inventors who are explaining their mistakes and they will tell you how to avoid making them. As we all know, you can’t really sign for a patent only with an idea, you will need to develop the idea out so you come up with an invention that can be made strictly yours. We understand that it can be difficult but it is just how it is.
In this article, we will talk about the most common mistakes new inventors make and most importantly how to avoid them to become more successful faster. Before we look through the most common mistakes, I think that it is important to see why is it important to patent your product or innovation.
Why is it important to patent your product or innovation
If you are planning on making your whole business centered around a certain product then patenting it is of great importance. A direct example for this situation is to imagine that you come up with a product that no one else sells, you start producing it and selling it and suddenly there is another firm that sells the same product that you invented. This will make you feel horrible because of the simple mistake that you forgot to apply in time and now someone else will earn the money that should’ve been yours.
Patenting your product will make it uniquely yours and no one else can produce it, distribute it and sell it without your confirmation. If you are not planning on working with the patent you have come up with, you can offer it to an already existing brand and if they are interested, they will pay for the innovation so they can sell them as their own.
Some businesses might accept just an idea, but the chances of you getting scammed and not paid adequately are big. It is really important in that situation to go read the document thoroughly before you sign because you can be left off without the opportunity to be paid if they decide to mass-produce the product and may pay you just once at the start.
Since we have seen why is it important to get your idea developed into an invention and then patenting it, it is time to go through the most common mistakes that new inventors make.
Not applying in time
This is maybe one of the mistakes that someone does because of the lack of knowledge. Let’s say you come up with a unique product that has never been seen in the world, you produce a certain amount and you sell it to see if the world would be interested in it. If you see that the product is doing well, you have only a certain time to apply. The time starts the same day that you started selling the item. You have to make sure that you apply in time because if you don’t, you will lose all your rights to this item and everyone would be able to sell it and earn money on your back just because you didn’t know about this rule.
Talking about their invention prematurely
It is really important not to talk about your business outside with people who can use that information. We understand that you might be obsessed with the idea and you are only thinking about how you can develop it and implement it right, but if you talk about that outside, you are doing a bad career move.
If you are asking why is that a bad move, it is because you still lack knowledge about the sphere and there are things that you don’t know. For example, if you talk publicly about the innovation, the time starts ticking and your twelve months start in the same moment. So, you might be thinking that you didn’t do something important but you announced the product. Without knowing that the time for submitting the application has started, you can lose the rights to it if the time passes.
On the other hand, if you talk about your business and the ideas you want to implement, with people who know much about the inventing field, they might know shortcuts and they can work faster. They will apply for a patent behind your back and you will be left off with just an idea that now can’t be developed and wasted time.
Applying for a patent with an incorrect application
This is one of the mistakes that happen because of the lack of knowledge. You might submit your application for a patent with incorrectly filled documents thinking that is it, but actually, it is not. The process is long and the person who is working with your submitted application might not see the error at first but when they notice, it might be too late.
Before applying for it, have a professional go through the document so you are completely sure that everything is okay as suggested by InventHelp. If there is a mistake you can correct yourself in a moment, and be a step closer to your license.
Forgetting to check if someone else has the same product
This is really important because you can’t patent a product that has already been around. This process is pretty expensive and it takes time to be finished so you don’t want to lose time and money because you didn’t search properly. You will need to check for patents that are similar like yours to avoid spending money without a purpose. If you don’t want to do this alone, you can hire a company to do this thing for you. Yes, you will have to pay them, but it is better than waiting a long time and spending way more money to be disappointed in the end.
Conclusion
We understand that moving from an idea to an invention and then to a patent is a really hard process but you will make it. You have seen why is it essential to make your innovation completely yours, nobody wants to spend so much time working on things without getting the royalty to it. Make sure that you avoid these mistakes so you are a step closer to your success.
