Submitting your invention to a company

November 22, 2005 on 7:45 pm | In Independent Inventors |

I frequently receive requests from existing clients to review invention submission/invention disclosure forms that they were given by a corporation they tried to submit their invention to.  The agreements are typically one sided, sometimes eggregious, but they are just trying to protect themselves…

For instance, Apple’s policy says:

TERMS OF IDEA SUBMISSION

You agree that: (1) your ideas will automatically become the property of Apple, without compensation to you, and (2) Apple can use the ideas for any purpose and in any way, even give them to others.

One must always remember that such agreements are contracts and the contract almost always favors the entity whose attorney drafted the document.  Caveat emptor.

Performing a Google search for such agreements (and/or policies) yielded a large number of corporate web sites having them.  For instance:  Kodak, Hershey, Fruit of the Loom, Apple, Marvel (comic book and character ideas), Discovery Channel (show ideas), Microsoft, GE, DeWalt, USPS, GM, Avery, Olympus, Dial, Qualcomm, Macromedia, Activision, Ben & Jerry, and MagLite (to name a few….).

Remember…read carefully before you sign ANY agreement and my advice is to consult with a patent attorney FIRST.

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3 Comments

  1. Excellent post. This is a very tough “row to hoe” for an individual inventor. Companies don’t want to hear your great “ideas” since they are so afraid of being unjustly accused of wrong-doing. Large companies are inundated with invention submissions and many of them are (a) well-known; (b) already invented/know by the company or (c) obvious. Hence, companies constantly get accused of “stealing” an invention that they already knew about and which they never asked to be told.

    I find that the best way to get a company to look at your invention is to find a researcher on the inside who can champion the idea to management from within.

    Comment by Stephen — November 23, 2005 #

  2. Thanks for the info. I am new to this. I was advised by my patent attorney to submit nondisclosure forms to interested companies. Unfortunately these companies request the inventor to sign their agreement which does not guarantee keeping your idea private. So far I am finding it hard to convince any company to sign a nondisclosure form. Whats an independent inventor to do? Thanks.

    Comment by CJ — March 28, 2006 #

  3. Stephen,

    What is the best way to market you patent pending idea. Should I go to a marketing company, a university. someone to make my idea attractive. or do I go with my own abilty, putting together the best package i know how to do?

    Jason

    Comment by Jason Stewart — March 12, 2007 #

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