Professional Ideas

Got a Bright Idea? 

Give yourself a pat on the back.  Go ahead…right now…that’s it.  You know you’ve had a great idea before…your adrenaline is pumping, you’re excited, your mind is racing on where to start…but what do you do next?  Well, one thing’s for sure…if you want to the world to know that bright idea was yours one day, then you better think about applying for a patent.

A patent is your set of rights for your idea, given to you by the state.  When I say state, I am referring to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.  It sounds fancy but as you can guess, this group decides whether your idea should be allowed protection or not.  While the expiration date on your protected idea may vary (14-20 years), a patent gives you the assurance that no one can steal or sell your bright idea.  It’s the strongest type of protection that exists for your idea.  Sounds scary, huh?  Well, it’s not.  Applying for a patent is not only easy but you can do it all yourself, without an attorney is you wish.  The hard part of it?  Coming up with an idea that will pass the patent pending process to begin with!

There are four basic requirements for a patent.  So once you have your brilliant idea, consider these questions to test the value of it to the public…

Is your idea a process or a method, a machine, a manufacture, a composition or is it an entirely new use? 

Is your idea useful?  Your idea needs to become in demand once the public is aware.  Consider if your idea could be sold at a profit…this proves its usefulness.

Is your idea novel or is it comprised of any other previous ideas or inventions?  You can search online in patent history databases to ensure this (www.spi.org searches 5 million patents online for you in just minutes!)

Is your idea obvious?  If your idea is obvious and an ordinary person could come up with the same invention, it’s time to keep thinking.  You want your idea or invention to give a new answer to a problem.

If you’ve answered all the questions and truly feel your idea meets all the requirements, then you’re ready to file some paperwork to get the ball rolling.  There is an application and a fee, an issuance and a fee, and then a maintenance fee.  Initial filing fees will cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000 – you can go to www.uspto.gov for up to date fees.  The paperwork is minimal and the fees, remember, are going towards protecting your idea. 

This patent process can take up to four years but in the meantime, you can claim “patent pending” status for your invention.  This means you have filed all the paperwork and paid the fees and are awaiting approval on your invention.  An additional form, a provisional patent application, is required to be able to claim this status.  This form is worth is to say to your competitors and the rest of the world: here I come with my answers!  In essence, this patent process is adding value to your idea, your venture. 

Patents provide protection for your own ideas and help create competition, demand, and innovation from others for new ideas.  Mark Twain once said , “A country without a patent office and good patent laws is just a crab and can’t travel any way but sideways and backwards.”*   Now that’s a great idea!

Carrie House is a marketing maven with ties to numerous non-profits in the metro-Atlanta area.  Her time is devoted to helping non-profits become the leader in their industry with effective marketing strategies.  She is currently enrolled in the Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship Program at Western Carolina University.  She hopes the knowledge she gains in this esteemed program will better prepare her run her own specialized animal care facility, assist her continuing her efforts in helping smaller non-profits become more successful and lead her down the path of innovation at the American Red Cross as she handles their life-saving marketing strategies.  Webmasters and other article publishers are hereby granted article reproduction permission as long as this article in its entirety, author’s information, and any links remain intact. 

Copyright 2008 by Carrie Catherine House.

*Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)

Are you from those people who always see new ideas or products and say” I thought of that idea years ago!”? Well, when you thought of the idea – what did you do about it? I guess you thought of getting a patent, but didn’t get around to doing anything about it. This happens to most of us. We all think of great ideas here and there, but we know we’re not going to do anything with them. We don’t have time, money or the ability to carry them out, and the ideas get lost and the world lost out on some great idea.

You might say – someone will think of this idea any one sooner or later. Well, someone might not. And even if so, it might take years. Why not let the world in on your idea?

So what could you do if not get a patent on your idea?  This is where www.openpatents.net comes in. the site is a place where people all over the world donate their ideas to the world for free. Why should people do this? As I wrote, they know they won’t really do anything with the idea, so why not help the world become a better place?

Although the point isn’t making money; you can still make some money from your ideas. I you publish your idea on open patents, and some one sees the idea and wants to get a patent on it, he will want the idea off the site so that no one else tries getting a patent on the same idea. To get an idea off the site he will have to pay the idea owner some money. So although this won’t make you rich, it’s still nice to get some money for your ideas.

Moreover, we believe in the goodness of people. We believe that if someone actually makes money with your idea, he will want to share some of it with you.

So if you have some great ideas running around in you r head, don’t waste them! Set your ideas free!

http://www.openpatents.net

Ideas are valuable. Somehow, it seems that people are always underestimating the power of ideas. However, the world today is slowly realizing the importance of ideas and now thrives on trying to turn those ideas into money. That is just the reason why entrepreneurs are the richest people in the world.

A good idea, however, can be hard to come by. To fuel creativity you need ideas. Ideas can be one of the most crucial factors on whether or not you are able to create a viable scrapbook. It is actually best that you come up with your own idea in creating a scrapbook. However, to give you a bit of help, there are free scrapbooking ideas out there.

Here are some places where you can get free scrapbooking ideas:

1) Other people – of course, we all know that all ideas come from people. What this article is trying to point out, however, is the fact that you can try to ask people directly in conversations for some free scrapbooking ideas. In doing so, you can have a brainstorming session and really get good scrapbooking ideas.

2) The internet – the internet is one big resource for all kinds of free scrapbooking ideas. In the internet, there are a lot of different sites which give you free scrapbooking ideas for your use. By checking out the internet, you access the world. This means you not only have access to ideas per se, but you also get to access different types of inspiration boosters. This means that you can actually produce an idea of your own through the internet.

Internet can also provide you the feedback about different ideas. Because of this, you can actually gleam what free scrapbooking ideas can work for you. You also get a lot of advice as to how to implement a certain free scrapbooking idea. Due to this, you will have an easier time designing your scrapbook.

3) Craft magazines – different magazines specialize in crafts and may offer you free scrapbooking ideas. By buying magazines like these, you actually gain access not only to free scrapbooking ideas, but also to ideas for other crafts. Also, these magazines can give you various tips on what to do and what not to do when creating your own scrapbook.

Craft magazines also sometimes come with supplements and materials that you can use in implementing different ideas. This means that you not only have access to the “what?”, but also to the “how?” of scrapbooking.

What are the advantages of free scrapbooking ideas?

1) You save money – of course, the word “free” should clue you in to the fact that you do not have to spend anything in order to avail of free scrapbooking ideas. By availing of free scrapbooking ideas, you could even actually make money. Ideas today, especially good ones, can give lead to a very lucrative business venture.

2) You save on your effort – By availing of free scrapbooking ideas, you rid yourself of the hassle of thinking up a theme or a design of the scrapbook. If you have some free scrapbooking ideas, you can actually just get on with the stage of making the scrapbook itself. This saves you a lot of effort, especially if you are the type of person who changes his or her mind constantly.

3) You save time – by availing of free scrapbooking ideas, you can actually skip the whole thinking process and just start getting creative. This advantage is ideal in a world where time equals money and money equals survival.

Disadvantages:

1) Lack of individuality – By availing of free scrapbooking ideas, your scrapbook will lack a certain quality of your personality. By availing of another’s idea, you rob yourself of the fulfillment that comes with creating a scrapbook straight from your head.

2) No guarantees of satisfaction – By availing of a free scrapbooking idea, you really have no guarantee that you will be satisfied with the final outcome. Although there really are no guarantees about how a creation will turn out, having your own idea means you know the details as to how to make slight changes to your satisfaction. Remember that knowing more about something can help you succeed in perfecting it.