What help is there for inventors to monetize a patent?
One of the main reasons for getting a patent is to make some money out of it. There are four main options for patent owners: they can develop and sell their own invention, license or sell their patents or even enforce them against infringing parties.
Do It Yourself
To manufacture, market, advertise, and distribute your own intellectual property is a large enterprise. Ask yourself, “do you have the spirit necessary to become an entrepreneur?” Can you create a business plan, raise capital and pull together the needed resources to succeed.?
License Your Invention
Licensing means that you will continue to own your own invention, however, you rent out the rights to make, use, or sell your invention. You can give an exclusive license to one party, or a non-exclusive license to more than one party. You can set a time limit on the license or not. In exchange for the rights to your intellectual property, you can charge a guaranteed fee, or collect a royalty for each unit sold, or a combination of the two.
It should be noted that royalties are not as big of a percentage than most inventors would guess they should be, often under three percent of wholesale for many inventions. That fact should not be surprising, the licensing party is taking a financial risk and it is quite an undertaking to manufacture, market, advertise, and distribute any product.
Selling Outright
Selling your patent means that you have permanently transferred ownership of your property to another person or company for an agreed upon sum of money. All future commercial opportunities including royalties will no longer be yours and belong to the purchaser of the patent.
Enforcing Your Patent
Enforcing your patent against infringing parties means connecting with appropriate legal counsel to take the necessary steps of enforcement. Sometimes other parties will copy your invention. But more likely, when the time is right, good ideas or inventions can emerge simultaneously. Then the issue of who really is the first to invent only gets sorted out through appropriate litigation.
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