Market Your Invention With An Intellectual Property Professional

Once your intellectual property has been adequately protected, it is time to ask your intellectual property lawyers about the choice of routes you can take to exploit the commercial potential of your development. Let an expert help invent your next idea.

It's not always necessary to take the task on single-handed, as there are several ways in which you can harness the skills and expertise of others to help make your product a marketable proposition. And one option to consider is a franchise or distributorship, which will allow the technical expertise of the inventor to be matched with the investment of the franchisee and in combination, take the concept to market.

This deal can encompass physical goods as well as services and rental businesses. In this type of arrangement one party provides the workers and the other provides the brand, marketing, and business knowledge.

It may be helpful to get a franchise or a distributorship to govern production of delivery of the service, sales and marketing because it provides a business model that is proven. By extending systematization even to the exact time the burger is being cooked on the grill, McDonald's gives the example of a highly ordered system that franchisee's should follow. Generally, a franchise is a much more expensive, and comprehensive agreement than that of a distributorship; and the investment needed for a franchise is usually greater. A distributor has the ability to trade freely where a franchise is rather limited to specific physical locations. A franchise or distributor may be able to help with invention ideas.

These arrangements will always need suitable legal documents that protect both parties to the agreement. The franchiser will need to ensure that the knowledge and expertise passed to the franchisee is protected from being copied or ripped off in the future and the franchisee needs to know both what they are getting by way of recompense from the partnership, as well as their financial commitment to pay what will typically be a turnover based royalty to the franchiser.

See that both parties have an exit strategy, they should be able to get out of the agreement at a later date if they wish, make sure of that. Getting correct intellectual property advice at this stage is vital.