HOWZAT

The inventor must then undertake market research. “This could involve producing a small number of the goods and selling them, possibly at a market stall. When you are looking to license your invention it helps to be able to show proof of sales,” said Rathbone.

Underpinning all of this is a robust patent. This will prevent competitors from making, using, importing or selling your invention within a particular country or region without your permission. It also enables you to license others to use your inventions.

Applications for patents are open to such inventions as new components or products, or for new equipment used for industrial processes.

There are strict rules governing what can and can’t be patented, however. Patents are only granted if the idea is new, non-obvious and able to be manufactured, for example.

Though there are other ways of securing such intellectual property, you can’t patent theories, ideas, discoveries, artistic works or computer programs.

You can’t patent something old either. If an idea has been publicly disclosed, such as at a trade fair, it is then considered to be in the public domain.

Patenting can be an expensive process, ranging from about €2,000 for an Irish patent to €100,000 for worldwide patents. Unnecessary expenditure can be minimised by carrying out as much of the patenting research yourself as possible. This is because just two out of every 1,000 patents published actually make it to market. So just because you haven’t seen your idea around is no guarantee that somebody hasn’t already invented it.

Internet searches for similar products will help you to gauge the market your product is going into. Trade publications, shops and catalogues can also help identify the level of sales and the retail price range you can expect for your product.

Even if you do not intend to manufacture a product yourself, getting to the stage where you can license off your idea — giving another business the rights to produce it — takes time and money.

“The first thing the inventor needs is a business plan. To start negotiating, you need to know what you’ve got,” said Rathbone. “If you have designed a widget with a 1% profit margin, demanding a 5% royalty fee is a non-starter. Equally, if the product is a high-cost, slow-turnover one, demanding upfront fees is a non-starter.”

The number of inventors who get to the negotiation stage “and then kill their invention stone dead because they don’t know what they’ve got” is very high, said Rathbone.

“Remember, the company doesn’t want to know how clever your product is, how pretty or how amazing its internal workings are. They just want to know how much it is going to cost them to make, how much they will be able to sell it for, and how much they can make on it. If you can’t answer these questions, it’s easier for them to say no.”