"There are countless stories (whether or not you believe them) about two guys in a garage with a good idea, getting it off the ground and making lots of money. Somewhere along the line, they must have protected that idea and the execution of it."
Yes, sure, and I believe in such stories. My point is about the balance between efforts in legal directions and efforts towards a better execution. I'd suggest that rather than patenting an idea it is better to put more "meet" in it (provided you can't do both). This will give potential buyers more reasons to buy your product rather than to develop their own and it will put a higher barrier before competitors. Lodging a Provisional Patent may be a reasonable thing to do (still it takes resources), another thing is publishing a description of the idea on a web site to prevent others with more money from patenting it themselves "I do not agree with your approach - it is totally defeatist. It is like dying at birth. Unless you give something a go, you can NEVER succeed." I was saying that idea protection is not the most important thing to do for a small business. There are plenty successful companies which didn't go even close to the patent office. In many cases idea worth nothing. There are many examples when founders of now successful companies could not convince even their close friends that their idea was good, let alone they faced a problem of someone trying to steal their idea. So if someone talks about their idea that doesn't mean they are dying at birth; on the contrary, they are challenging their idea early and getting more ideas how to improve the initial one. No, I am not implying that everyone should not care about patents, I can imagine cases when patenting early is an important step to do. I am saying that the problem of protecting ideas is not that big as it is being presented at times. This perception of importance of secrecy makes people overcautious and not talking about their ideas fearing that someone else may steal it. Discussing of ideas early may bring in more value than harm. Dmitri On Nov 16, 8:12 am, Another Place <[email protected]> wrote: > Some further thoughts: > > "How is it possible for a small business to protect their ideas? > Under > a small business I mean a really small one: two guys in a garage or > so. > I wish I was wrong but I think that this is not possible. A small > business doesn't have enough resources to solve this problem." > > There are countless stories (whether or not you believe them) about > two guys in a garage with a good idea, getting it off the ground and > making lots of money. Somewhere along the line, they must have > protected that idea and the execution of it. Being small is not about > being incapacitated - it is about being lean and efficient. > > "My current approach to the problem of protecting ideas: "do not do > it" (well, almost). It is better to fail because someone "steals" > "your" idea than to fail because you spend time and money trying to > protect it. The net result is the same but the first way is much > quicker :) " > > I do not agree with your approach - it is totally defeatist. It is > like dying at birth. Unless you give something a go, you can NEVER > succeed. Sure, you may get burned along the way but hopefully you are > smart, brave and will learn along the way. Maybe you will lose some > money - maybe you won't. If you are tight with your resources and > prepared to cut your losses if necessary, then you hopefully will not > lose too much. If you are thinking ahead of the game (because you > truly have a great idea), then the people copying you will always be > one step behind. > > "Patents? In the majority of cases they are for big companies like > arms > race is for big countries. A patent is just a piece of paper and it > protects nothing until a court decision is made. I think a small > company is better off spending their very limited resources on > something else but drafting patents and defending them later in the > court (which seems hopeless). " > > Patents are not like the arms race. Maybe more like real estate but > actually not as expensive as the typical median house price in a major > capital city. A land title is also just a piece of paper. You also > have to spend money protecting and maintaining your investment there. > It may not be cheap but if it houses your dreams then it can change > your life and you will benefit from it not only financially. Running a > business is also expensive but is it better not to do it? > > "Non disclosure agreements? It is a mater of a goodwill of a big > company to honor the agreement and there are many ways to workaround > NDA. Again, it is a matter of resources if one wants to draft an NDA > and then to ask a big company to sign it. They may even refuse to > talk > to you if you start from NDA. " > > Sure, NDAs are not perfect but the cost of an NDA is minimal and there > are numerous NDAs available out there at little or no cost. I see it > like crossing at the lights instead of jaywalking - you get additional > protection for relatively little effort. > > "Here is a more specific question along same lines: > How would you sell a product to a big company? What would stop them > from implementing a similar thing by themselves or outsource it to > their partners? > The only one thing that helps here is when the idea is well executed. > But, by definition of a small company, an idea can't be very well > executed (no resources)." > > We would all love to have unlimited resources but I totally disagree > that "by definition" a small company cannot execute an idea well. > There are numerous historical examples that true innovation often > springs out of difficult economic times - business (big and small) is > forced to stretch resources further and to think through ways to do > that. There are plenty of examples also where big business (and dare I > say it, public service) wastes plenty of resources executing ideas > poorly. > > This might sound a bit like a team-building rave but the Australian > economy (like the rest of the world) is actually run on SMALL and > MICRO business (i.e. two people at home or in the garage). > > ... > > On Nov 16, 12:43 am, Dmitri <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi, > > > Here is a general question I would like to ask after reading the > > discussion on "protecting inventiveness": > > > How is it possible for a small business to protect their ideas? Under > > a small business I mean a really small one: two guys in a garage or > > so. > > > I wish I was wrong but I think that this is not possible. A small > > business doesn't have enough resources to solve this problem. > > > My current approach to the problem of protecting ideas: "do not do > > it" (well, almost). It is better to fail because someone "steals" > > "your" idea than to fail because you spend time and money trying to > > protect it. The net result is the same but the first way is much > > quicker :) > > > Patents? In the majority of cases they are for big companies like arms > > race is for big countries. A patent is just a piece of paper and it > > protects nothing until a court decision is made. I think a small > > company is better off spending their very limited resources on > > something else but drafting patents and defending them later in the > > court (which seems hopeless). > > > Non disclosure agreements? It is a mater of a goodwill of a big > > company to honor the agreement and there are many ways to workaround > > NDA. Again, it is a matter of resources if one wants to draft an NDA > > and then to ask a big company to sign it. They may even refuse to talk > > to you if you start from NDA. > > > Here is a more specific question along same lines: > > How would you sell a product to a big company? What would stop them > > from implementing a similar thing by themselves or outsource it to > > their partners? > > The only one thing that helps here is when the idea is well executed. > > But, by definition of a small company, an idea can't be very well > > executed (no resources). > > > Any thoughts? Prove me wrong. > > > Dmitri. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF No lurkers! 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