The investors: it takes a lot more than a great idea to take a jury-rigged tool from the jobsite to a shelf at the Home Depot. Just ask these guys

Tools of the Trade, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Rich Binsacca

It's a vision shared by tool manufacturers. "The ultimate question is, how do you convince a potential buyer that your idea is better than all the others and will help them make money?" says Rodenberger. "It's like getting them to buy a lottery ticket."

RELATED ARTICLE: Patents defined.

If you've got an idea for a new tool and want to protect it from getting stolen or copied, filing for a patent through the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) is a common course of action.

Simply put, a patent grants legal property rights in the United States to the inventor and excludes others from making, using, or selling that invention, as specified in the patent application.

Inventors may apply for a provisional patent at a cost of about $80, which allows them to market their idea with patent protection for one year. At the end of that term, the inventor must apply for a full design or utility patent to maintain legal protection and exclusive ownership rights.

Inventors may apply for a design and/or utility patent, depending on what they want to protect. A design patent protects any new, original, or ornamental design for an article of manufacture; that is, the way an invention looks. A design patent, if issued after investigation and evaluation by the PTO, lasts 14 years from the date of application and requires no maintenance fees during that span.

A utility patent, by contrast, protects a new and useful process, machine, item of manufacture, or composition of matter; that is, the function or structure of an idea and what if does (such as a new tool). A utility patent, if or when issued, is exclusive to its holder for 20 years from the date the application is filed with the PTO, though it does require maintenance fees during that time.

Costs for a patent vary, and often include the services of a patent attorney, filing fees, and costs associated with preparing engineering drawings, detailed descriptions, and other parameters that define the idea. All told the cost to apply for a patent with the PTO is often $3,000 or more out-of-pocket.

The PTO has about 400,000 patent applications pending. It currently takes about a year for an applicant to receive an initial response, including a patent-pending number that serves to protect the idea through the process. It may take another year or more to find out if an idea is issued a full patent, or if the application has been denied during the evaluation process. The PTO mails out about 1,500 notices of allowance per week for newly granted patents, with 20 percent of those going to independent inventors.

In addition to the time limits on provisional patents (one year) and full patents (14 or 20 years), attorneys warn against another potential bugaboo: the "on sale" bar. Simply, if you sell your idea without a provisional, pending, or issued patent attached, you have one year to apply for a patent before losing any right to keep exclusive ownership of the idea. Miss that deadline, and your invention goes public.--R.B.

(Editor's note: For more invention resources, see the related story on page 18.)