Need to hire engineer to design blowdryer

[ediewalt]

I have an idea but need an engineer to design according to this idea. Price is negotiable. Engineer must sign confidentiality agreement. Please e-mail me if interested.

[Bob Scott]

Edie,<p>You sound like another inventor who is hesitant to disclose any details of the invention lest a big company steal the idea and produce it without compensation.<p>Problem is, patents are expensive but you can still protect yourself by getting your drawings, c/w date, notarised at any local notary. This document will stand up in court.<p>Bob

[cato]

Such a document might invalidate any patent the big corporation might get if they file for a patent using your idea. However, that document wont prevent them from making, importing, or selling the blow dryer. For that, you need a patent.

[Externet]

Hi.
And if you do your homework perfectly; you file your patent accordingly, use an expert lawyer; invest your efforts the best way, and do the notary thing too; the chinese won't respect anything and will copy it anyway.
Miguel

[L. Daniel Rosa]

A quote from Marcia Swampfelder,<p>"There is at least some anecdotal evidence that getting a patent, framing it, and placing it on the east wall of your lab or office will either outright prevent or at least substantially reduce the severity of walrus attacks. (...in Nebraska...)"<p>More can be found at http://www.tinaja.com

[haklesup]

All comments about patents aside, you need a mechanical engineer. Someone who is experienced with fluid flow and heat transfer as well as industrial contreol systems. An electrical engineer and test equipment designer like myself may have some notion as to where to start but the physics are in a different domain.<p>I presume you aren't making a hair drier since the profit margins are impossiblty small and there probably isn't anything left to patent on one.<p>You're welcome to email me directly to discuss your application (see my profile). I would sign an NDA but it is probably unnecessary for just a general discussion about design strategy and what skill set this designer should have. I may or may not be able to design something like this but I certainly can show you where the "ball park" is.<p>Even if you have no plans to patent, confidentiality is a good idea. There are plenty if niche markets that can be filled with public domain technology. It just takes someone to put it all together and sell it to the right people. Often it is just someone working somewhere who sees a better way and has the motivation to make it happen.<p>Chris

[jollyrgr]

My understanding of a Patent is that it gives you the right to sue someone if they copy your idea. It does NOT prevent them from stealing your idea and making there own. Most of the things you see for sale ONLY ON THIS TV OFFER later show up in stores. The items in the stores are knockoffs. The original inventor gets nothing. <p>DO NOT ever send anything to the ads in the back of magazines wanting to market your invention. Not worth the money.

[cato]

Well if your point is that a Patent is a piece of paper and can't by itself stop anyone from doing anything, you have a point. Nevertheless, a Patent has the same power as the deed to your house or the pink slip to your car. It is a document, recognized by the government, that says you own something and noone else can (legally) make, use, import or sell your property in or into the country without your permission.

[Externet]

Hello Cato.<p>..."It is a document, recognized by the government, that says you own something and noone else can (legally) make, use, import or sell your property in or into the country without your permission." <p>If you notice the unlawful action happened;
if you can afford the lawyer fees to fight;
if you can chase law enforcement agencies to pursue to enforce your rights everywhere at all times;
if the copied device has not a different screw making it an endless legal battle (more $$$ for the lawyer);
if you win the suit on paper, you will never get a penny from the chinese offender, who will continue to build, market and sell at least and at better case, to everywhere else in the planet except USA.
(and you cannot compete with the chinese selling overseas as your patent is not valid there and his production costs are laughable)
And in a sad note, if your patent lawyer does not die in the middle of everything as happened to me.<p>Sorry. Just build them and sell them as best as you can. Law will not back you up. The patent office is there to collect your fees, check where did you miss a microscopic detail, on a process that takes three (3) endless years while they won't even talk to you.<p>Miguel

[frhrwa]

patents, there are no good answers here, since the world has been hijacked by the darkhorse.... you can patent it and still lose, or you can build a few million, stamp them with "patent pending", flood the market, make your million, and step back..... then watch the copies come out of the wood work.. no matter which way you go, you have to be FIRST, FASTEST, and have the SUPPLY to last the round!

[cato]

Hello Miguel -
Did you get a Patent and have trouble enforcing it? If so, out of curiosity, whats the Patent Number?. Or, did you try to get a Patent and were unable?

[jollyrgr]

Ideas are great but there are too many dishonest companies in the world (even in the USA). Yes, China is bad but they are not the only ones. Many times the things the Asian Rim companies are building are something a US company has contracted them to build at a cheaper price. And don't think you are the only one with "your" idea.

[ian]

You guys are all getting ahead of yourselves............
Forget about disclosure agreements, patents, notaries etc.........
Hair dryers are a billoin dollar industry. With at least 1, probably more, in every household in North America there's probably much smarter people than you designing them in every way concievable long before you came on the scene. If you don't see your idea out there it's not because nobody's thought of it, it's probably because it's not profitable. I suggest you look into your idea before you hire anybody to do anything. I'm not kidding.
Ian

[perfectbite]

In my research on patents,<p>No-one in the field, like Haklesup, minds signing confidentiality agreements. It is par for the course for them. <p>(my patent attorney died too Miguel but shortly after he had finished the patent app. I was even refunded $200 after his death in '91 or '92.)<p>I found that if it is a good idea with profitable potential:<p>1. US companies will bend over backwards to invalidate your patent. (LOTS of patent attorney fees for you, their patent attorneys are on staff.) and, as Externet says, one screw, more or less, can make a difference between it being considered your idea or not.<p>2. If you subcontract with a Chinese manufacturer to make say 10,000 items they'll make and ship you your 10,000 items but do another production run of 100,000 for themselves which they will price more cheaply than your item AND they have packaging, SKU numbers, UL approval labels, distribution, retail shelf space and pricing ready to go and will flood the market.<p>and 3.<p>Japanese manufacturers will go on the assumption that you'll make money, they'll make money and everybody will be happy and they will respect the fact that it is your idea. However, that doesn't mean that another country's mfr. couldn't take the finished product, reverse engineer it with or without minor changes and go into production.<p>My advice: Work at it, try not to lose any sleep over it and above all, keep your day job. Good luck.

[sofaspud]

I've seen this topic debated for years - patents protect the inventor vs. patents are worthless. I tend to conclude the reality is somewhere in the middle: If the inventor has a genuinely original and marketable idea (product), then obtaining a patent is likely the route to take. If the original idea is just an improvement or way to make an item cheaper, then move forward very carefully. The patent research can easily equal or exceed the research done to create the idea.