November 2010
“I don’t get no respect” – Rodney Dangerfield Sound familiar? Getting past the gatekeepers to someone who can license your invention can be a challenge. Gus Bigos (product scout for Evergreen IP ) explained why that is, and how a new-product development company (NPD) such as Evergreen IP, Big Idea Group , Edison Nation , Inventor Institute , inventRight , Pelham West , or The Carey Formula can ease your way. (A list of other inventor-friendly resources is available.) The problem Most companies don't like to license an invention directly from an independent inventor. Receiving disclosure of an invention (patented or unpatented) can harm a company’s efforts to patent its own similar inventions. Licensing an invention untried by the market is riskier than buying a small company that has strong sales. Optimal timing of a license agreement is hard to predict. Coordinating expectations of a company and an independent inventor may require extensive negotiations and