How can I be sure that my idea will not be stolen?

Your idea will not be stolen.  You can’t ever really be sure, but in general, ideas are NOT stolen.  Products that are selling well ARE.  To combat this learn about IP and product protection strategies to avoid knock-offs.

Proving a product idea takes thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of $$ to get to market.  Most companies are not willing to take that risk for an unproven concept.

Inventors have to start trusting someone, somewhere.    My best advice is trust your intuition.  Don’t buy service unless you know in writing what you’ll get and when you’ll get it.   Educate yourself with books, blogs, social networks, training videos and be sure you know what you need, then specifically ask for it.

Get non-disclosures signed if you don’t have a provisional patent and sometimes, even if you do.   Don’t depend on them though.    The USPTO recommends you use an Inventor Notebook.   Although the USA is now a “First To File” rather than “First To Invent” country, the regulations allow for a 12 month grace period to file.    For AS SEEN on TV products, this is good news because we can look at concepts all day long with little out of pocket expense to the inventor.   If you come up with something we move forward on, you can file your patent applications at that time.

Take the shot.

Life is best learned by doing, rather than sitting on the sidelines afraid.   There are no guarantees.

My extensive experience is that the scam artists in the inventor community are more interested in charging people for services they don’t really need, then putting money toward products they’re uncertain of.

Here’s a link to my bio.   I can’t promise I can help you, but I can promise to tell you the truth and give you honest feedback on what I think you should do next.  The rest is up to you.

How to Protect Your Business Idea Without a Patent by Stephen Key
Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226595#ixzz2TODzbGsa

Carrie Jeske

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Carrie Jeske