Hawaiʻi's Technology Community

Inventors

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The road from concept to successful product is a long and difficult one. This group tries to make that trip a bit easier by bringing together inventors, marketers, and business people to share their knowledge and experience.

Members: 27
Latest Activity: Oct 6, 2017

Discussion Forum

What are you inventing? 9 Replies

Someone needs to start a conversation and it beats working, so here goes.I am working on Soundpaper; a technology for printing audio on paper. We use a very high density 2 dimensional barcode to…Continue

Started by Ken Berkun. Last reply by Ken Berkun Sep 15, 2010.

Patent attorney for consumer product 2 Replies

Hi all,A friend of mine asked me for a recommendation for a good, reasonable patent attorney for a consumer product. He wasn't specific about the product details so I don't know more than that. I…Continue

Started by Bruce Kim. Last reply by Reichart Jul 23, 2010.

Resources: Electronics, mechanics, optics, whatever... 4 Replies

Please post in this forum any resources you know of related to companies that sell electronics, mechanics, optics, software, development tools, etc. that are helpful in building prototypes.Continue

Started by Roger Garrett. Last reply by Greg Garriss Apr 27, 2010.

Resources 3 Replies

I'll be adding a few discussion topics where we can post information we may have of resources available to inventors, such as University and College courses and programs, electronic, mechanical, etc.…Continue

Started by Roger Garrett. Last reply by Reichart Apr 26, 2010.

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Comment by Greg Garriss on April 25, 2010 at 2:46pm: Back in the dark ages ( 70s ), someone handed me a lab notebook and said "write in it everyday" Anything important: get it witnessed. A good notebook has places for that. It's a good paper trail.. Really important: write it up and get it notarized. Worked so far. The electronic version isn't so solid. That aside, I've found open discussion gets the ideas flowing a lot faster.

Comment by Rik Jadrnicek on April 25, 2010 at 1:22pm: Good idea Roger -- thanks. I didn't think of the notarization chain.

Ken, I totally agree about open discussion, but probably in addition to Roger's idea of a notorized paper trail at stages of design development.

My understanding is that NDA's imply a bi-lateral obligation which may be ginding when initiated -- not sure -- so that might not work anyway.

Seems a working prototype would take over at some point in establishing precedence (like what you have done Ken). And I think if you sell a copy of the prototype it helps further -- not sure.

Comment by Roger Garrett on April 25, 2010 at 1:12pm: At the very least, when you first come up with the idea, and later as you add details to it, you should commit it to paper and have it notarized. That way you have a paper trail and have established the date of inception. If/when you later decide to seek a patent these documents will help establish you as the inventor.

Comment by Ken Berkun on April 25, 2010 at 1:04pm: Rik, one always has to make a trade-off between keeping a secret and sharing an idea. I choose to be as open as possible. Investors rarely sign NDAs, so ultimately you will have to share a lot. I know others who keep their concepts very tightly held. You should not share anything you plan to patent however, except under NDA. But that applies specifically to the patentable part, not the product as a whole.

If you have a concept that is easy to implement, then you may be able to deliver it quickly without sharing much. If it is hard to implement, then sharing is less risky, because others will have as much or more trouble than you implementing the product.

Always check with your attorney if you have questions about what is safe to share. If you cannot afford an attorney then you face a long road getting your product out the door in any case.

Comment by Rik Jadrnicek on April 25, 2010 at 12:48pm: At the inception of an idea -- how does one go about sharing and researching the idea while at the same time protecting the intellectual property of the idea in the event it is unique? i.e., prior to patent.