big questions

[Brian_Reeves]

When you all are developing something new, when do you determine that it is done...finished, success or failure?  Also, before you reveal it to the public, how do you protect yourself from being ripped off?  Would a poor man's patent cover it?  I'm not sure if the concept or lure that I'm developing is patented, but I don't think that it is since I'm not ripping any existing lure off.  Is there any way to check that?

PS Mods, I have NO idea where to put this, so I put it in here with the tacklemaking gurus. If this needs better placement, I don't mind ya movin it.  You have my permission ;D ;D

[-ebby-]

i was wondering that to... so ill give this a little bump for some answers

[Jig Man]

A friend of mine has come up with a couple of unique ideas and shown them to Bass Pro.  They have bought 2 of them and have them in production in China.  He got cash up front and a royalty per each item sold.

I think that would be simpler than worrying about how to keep the big boys off a new product.

[Stringjam]

I submitted a prototype to a patent lawyer a couple of years ago......as I understood it, that idea was protected from that day, unless I decided not to go through with the patent application process (which is a long one.....and an expensive one....)

I elected not to go through with it at the time.....but I am starting to reconsider.  

[Fish Man]

i dont know anything about the whole patent thing, but if i were you id maybe post this again in the everything else section or get a mod to move it just to get more people to see this  

[Brian_Reeves]

The BPS idea sounds like a good one.  Who would you talk to though?  I'm betting the lady at the cash register is not going to give me money out of her drawer lol.  Would a store manager be high ranked enough?

[Grey Wolf]

The BPS idea sounds like a good one. Who would you talk to though? I'm betting the lady at the cash register is not going to give me money out of her drawer lol. Would a store manager be high ranked enough?

I WOULD THINK YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO HIGHER THEN A STORE MANAGER.

[Stringjam]

Before you hand over your hard work to BPS expecting them to jump all over it and give you a bunch of money, you might ask some of those people how it's working out for them.  

I had a neighbor in another town I used to live in that sold an idea to BPS - - the money was pretty menial.    

It's no secret that BPS will do whatever they want - - if you don't have any kind of protection on your idea, what would keep them from just copying it like they do to everybody else?

If you really believe in your product's potential, I would talk to some people who have "been there done that" and find out what they have to say.    

I would rather go into business for myself and and have 100% of the sale headed my way - - as to get a 2% royalty check from a company that may drop it at any given moment.  Just MHO.....