Do i HAVE TO have a patent to sell an idea?

First, you have to educate yourself on patents. The Snuggie cannot be patented. It was not a brilliant invention that made big money just from the idea. It was a marketed product that made money based on big dollars being spent on marketing, just like any other clothing product. Nobody got rich off of the idea. Someone got rich by putting a lot of money into marketing and getting back even more mone off of the sales. I repeat: the idea alone had no value. Patents are given to inventions that are non-obvious. That means that someone who was competent in the field of your device would not be able to come up with the device without you. If you're making a fishing lure, anyobody who is competent in the field of fishing lures could think of making them green or of putting an extra hook on the lure. You can't patent that. If you're too lazy to learn about patents and too lazy to make a prototype, you're not going to make any money. Don't waste your money on companies that will charge you to help you get a patent that won't be worth the paper it's written on. I know that you're thinking that you could have invented the snuggie, and so all you need to do is patent another similarly obvious idea. But that isn't a patentable invention. That was a marketing play, and the idea itself was not worth any money. You might have the idea of starting a hamburger restaurant, but the idea is not valuable. The money spent developing a brand and advertising the restaurant is what is valuable.

There are numerous nefarious companies out there that will try everything possible to separate you from your money and your invention idea. These invention company scams prey on your passion to make your invention a profitable reality. http://www.inventionidea.org/category/invention-scams/how-invention-scams-work

NO... But you will have the right to protect your invention if you do.. Visit this blog! http://www.filepatentapplications.com/blog/

Hi, I like kemperk's answer, especially the part about last half of the 11th month. That's good stuff and not bad advice depending on your situation. I'd never thought of it that way, but I plan to keep this approach in mind for future reference. Another thought would be to file a provisional patent application, which is relatively cheap and quick. I write and file provisionals for less than those companies you mention charge for doing nothing. Then, you have a priority date established and you can begin to pitch the idea to companies, investors, marketers, or anyone that will listen. If someone wants the idea, then sell or license the patent (application) rights and the patent rights if one ultimately issues. Good luck with your idea. Steve Aycock Patent Attorney Cygnet IP Law, P.A. www.CygnetIPLaw.com

Swordfish: STOP giving people YOUR money for things YOU ca do... PLEASE! Sheesh... You have 6 kids... And you are not "lazy".. You just need good direction... Take time to read the info below.. All of it... YOU CAN DO THIS yourself... It is not hard work and it is required to make you money. Clearly you have placed some value in the patent process because you spend $400... Read on... Do you know about the Provisional Patent Application? It only costs $125 and was designed by Congress to give individual inventors a chance at bringing their inventive ideas to market easily. It is SUPER EASY to do.. To see the top 10 reasons to file a Provisional Patent Application please watch the second video in this blog. http://www.filepatentapplications.com/blog/ If a provisional patent application looks like the right thing for you to do then take a look at another website that shows EXACTLY how to file one using a video format. http://provisionalpatentvideo.com/ If you need to know how to get your product sold on TV or to Costco, or Home Depot, or Target and the like then you might also enjoy reading this information by the Ginsu Knife guy! It is pretty cool. He gives you all his contacts and personal email! http://bit.ly/GinsuKnifeGuy1 Of course you could ALSO just go to the US Patent Office and figure out how to file a patent yourself. Here is the link.. http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/index.jsp The flow chart there is pretty nice to give you an idea how to do what you want to do! Their patent search is hard to use and you need special programs to look at the patents… Instead, consider using Google Patent Search! Here is how you can use Google Patent Search to search for an "Oscillating inertial microbalance" http://www.google.com/patents?id=M5GRAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA6&dq=Oscillating+inertial+microbalance&hl=en&ei=vrbGTvGeDoXhiAKWpfXxDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Just type the term you want to search for in the search box. Play with MANY variants of your inventive idea. Also, for a more global patent search look here: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/advancedSearch?locale=en_EP Remember... Patents are MOSTLY "Improvements" on other inventions.. So, while you may see something SIMILAR to your inventive idea it does not mean that you cannot patent your IMPROVEMENT.. Example... A tire is an IMPROVEMENT on a wagon wheel. A radial biased ply tire is an IMPROVEMENT on a non radial biased tire. There are over 10,000 patents on tires... Nearly every single one is an improvement! And… a special gift for you is a sample Non Disclosure (also called an NDA) that you would have folks sign when you show them your inventive idea. You can change it up and use others but if you have NOTHING now it is a very good start written by my lawyer who charged me a TON for it! http://www.4lowprice.info/images/NDA_GeneralMutual.doc For EXTRA credit take a look at getting a free website widget here. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING. Just use the FREE widget thing.. http://CBproAds.com/refer.asp?id=50245 It will allow you to put adverts to eBooks on nearly ANY subject. If you had a store that sells horse blankets then you would include a widget that featured an eBook on how to stop horses from biting! You get 50% of whatever book folks buy. Pretty nice! If you like my answer can you vote on it? Thanks, Dave