What is the next step in making my product idea a reality?

Depends on what your product is and what your market is.

Copyright, by definition, does not protect any idea. 17 USC § 102(b) "In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work."

On the other hand, if your idea has been incorporated into an "invention" that nobody else has ever described in a printed publication, anywhere in the world, you may have a patentable invention. The only way to avoid problems is to hire somebody to do a preliminary search of existing inventions similar to yours and determine if yours has any elements that are novel, then prepare and file a patent application.

There is also an online database at many patent offices, including the US Patent and Trademark Office, where you can search patents and pending applications for keywords related to your product. This may tell you rather quickly whether your idea is already out there in a product or just research and who OWNS inventions in that area (which could be useful for future marketing).

IN many cases your best approach, once you have cleared your product (it's not infringing anyone elses patents), you need to get it into the market as fast as you can. Market penetration be better than a future patent that may cost you millions of dollars to enforce. Similarly, sometimes a catchy "brand" on your product is more valuable than what it actually does, especially if you're planning to expand into more products in the same brand family.

Once you have filed for patent protection (which can take years to complete), you have "patent pending" and can safely market your idea (in the invention) to others. If you're lucky, they may be interested in buying the invention or investing in a company to make the product, and paying to continue the patent process for you.

Do not sell out to an "invention submission" company. They will often take your fees and give you information and services that any intelligent person could have obtained for free. For example, rather than filing a valuable "utility patent" to cover the functions of your invention, they could file a "design patent", which covers only the appearance of the product (i.e., the shape and design). Anybody who makes the identical product but puts it into a different package would be free to compete with you, rather than having to pay you a royalty when your utility patent is issued. By the time you find out, seeing somebody else selling your product, it's too late to file the utility patent. How valuable is that?

If you believe your "idea" or product may have any value at all, then clearly you need to pay for professional legal advice to protect your potential value. If it's a million-dollar idea, isn't it worth a few hundred dollars to have a consultation with someone who can help you get the million dollars?

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COPYRIGHT is for "intellectual ideas" like books, movies, and music. For "inventions" and hardware, you need a PATENT. You can get FULL information here:

www.uspto.gov

Places like WWW.LEGALZOOM.COM can help you through the process.

If you want to do things RIGHT, then you are going to need help from a DEVELOPMENT FIRM. They supply the start-up money and legal help necessary, an occasionally the marketing. But they want a percent of the business in return! Still, for someone completely inexperienced in business matters, this is a good idea.

Your BEST BET would be to find a company already in existence, and SELL THEM YOUR IDEA. You lose control of the product in exchange for a one-time payment, but you also lose all the headaches involved with production, marketing, and legal matters. In other words, you don't make as much money, but you lose ALL of the headaches involved. THIS is your BEST choices. Make your best $$$ deal, and let them do all the nasty work.

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