The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions [Paperback]

Richard C. Levy (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Complete Idiot's Guide | Publication Date: September 28, 2001

-- Written by the creator of the Furby "RM" and over 200 other products.

-- Contains the author's proven personal strategies, methods, and insider information that only a fortunate few possess.

-- Covers everything aspiring inventors need to know-from how to develop their idea into something patentable to marketing their invention to the outside world.

The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to Cashing In On Your Invention covers every aspect of the inventing process-from concept to market. Readers will learn how to develop their idea into something marketable, protect their invention by applying for patents, trademarks and copyright, identify and avoid getting scammed, target companies interested in buying or licensing their invention, negotiate contracts with buyers, and benefit from independent and federally funded technology and programs.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard C. Levy, simply put, is a marketing genius with a flair for invention. In the past twenty years, he has licensed over 125 products including Furby®, and the best-selling game "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus." Richard holds more than 30 patents. This is his twelfth book. He was profiled on Discovery Channel's Invention series, and in interviews with The New York Times, and The Washington Post. An MIT Inventor-of-the-Week, Richard has spoken at Wharton's Entrepreneurship Conference, IBM, and the USPTO's Independent Inventors Conference, among other engagements. His products have generated over $1 billion in combined retail sales.

Product Details

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 1st edition (September 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028642201
• ISBN-13: 978-0028642208
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #680,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not very useful, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions (Paperback)

obviously, this guy makes money with his "inventions." although i wouldn't call him so much as an "inventor" as he is a highly successful marketing man. "inventor" of the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus GAME!!! i mean, come on. this book has a few useful tidbits which are more or less common sense, but is mostly a lot of fluff--useless "interesting" facts hodge-podged together (probably by well paid research staff). also, the guy can't resist throwing in some boastful quasi-relevant stuff whenever he gets the chance, very annoying. as a first-timer who is trying to patent/market a piece of medical technological equipment, i found this book pretty useless. all in all, i thought the take-home message of the book can pretty much be summarized by "inventing and marketing is hard, but don't give up!!" sure the guy is rich and successful and a good marketer, but this book doesn't really help YOU to become rich, successful, and good at marketing. i'm not a bitter person, just someone trying to find good info to eventually become a successful person. i couldn't help but feel i'd been completely "had" after buying this book. the money for this book could have gone to better uses, other than making this guy more rich.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's okay., November 4, 2004

By 

chere amore "loving it" (COLUMBIA, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions (Paperback)

I am happy for the author for his successes, but... he knew people that could help him get his foot in the door. He really has no knowledge of how to help you get YOUR foot in the door, other than general comments on what he would do if he had not known anyone. I am slightly unhappy with the book because the reason I bought it was to get my ideas developed into tangible products. This book will tell you valuable info on what the terms are and helpful info on making a decision about how to proceed, but not enough info about getting to the decision makers of a company. You will be more knowlegable if you buy this book, but you still have a ton of research ahead of you, as the author doesn't help you by providing names and address of key personnel that can help you get your idea or invention shown. Some of you may still feel like "idiots" when you're done reading this book. (?)

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advice From Soup To Nuts, May 31, 2002

By 

Bruce Boatner (Eagle, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions (Paperback)

I tried plowing through this book from beginning to end and found it much more valuable as a general reference than as a step-by-step guide. This is because every case is different and requires different treatment in handling the patents and trademarks involved. The author puts forth various alternative approaches to patenting, licensing, trademarking, manufacturing, etc. - each section is useful in ascertaining the best approach you should take in your own particular case.

There are many options that may not occur to someone like myself who is going through this process for the first time, so it is a big help to be mentored by someone who's been down that road before.

Bruce Boatner
Inventor, PEGASUS Wind Engine (TM)