Inventor in Residence top tips

03/12/12

Mark Sheahan is a successful inventor – he has brought five separate inventions to market over his career and specialises in offering his advice and support to budding inventors at the Centre as our Inventor in Residence.

He specialises in plastic easy-open, tamper-evident, child-resistant dispensing closures for the packaging industry. He has not only designed, developed, patented and sold products but has also had his inventions taken up by major packaging producers, via licensing agreements, in the UK, USA and recently Japan.

Mark’s top tips on getting an invention to market are:

Before starting, ask yourself: is there anything else out there which does the same thing? Is it global? Is it the best solution possible? It’s not enough to be creative and have a good idea - are you hard-headed enough? Do you know enough about business and making money?

Don’t be afraid to patent late – there is a temptation to rush, but it’s important bring your product up to a commercial standard, near enough as it could be to the finished product on the shelf, before patenting it

Use a patent attorney – the wrong people can spot an amateur patent a mile away and it will come back to bite you later

Keep it secret – make everyone you show it to sign a confidentiality agreement

Get proper, professional samples made up – no matter how good your paper designs or animations may be, they’re no comparison to holding the real thing in your hand

Have a plan and get advice from lots of different people – not just one. Be hard-headed and committed – you have to be seriously passionate to go all the way

Do your research – before you approach a company or distributor, do your market research and find the best contact to approach. Write on professional business letterhead paper, and approach one company at a time – they won’t appreciate a bidding war

Send it with the offer of a ‘free evaluation option agreement’ so they can have the idea for 28 days before they must decide to go ahead or risk you taking it elsewhere – saves them messing you around

You can access information about intellectual property and find out more about patents, trade marks, copyright and registered design here.

Apply for an Ask an Expert session with Mark Sheahan