Inventing For Dummies [Paperback]

Pamela Riddle Bird (Author), Forrest M. Bird (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2004

Full coverage of the ins and outs of inventing for profit

Protect your idea, develop a product - and start your business!

Did you have a great idea? Did you do anything about it? Did someone else? Inventing For Dummies is the smart and easy way to turn your big idea into big money. This non-intimidating guide covers every aspect of the invention process - from developing your idea, to patenting it, to building a prototype, to starting your own business.

The Dummies Way
* Explanations in plain English
* "Get in, get out" information
* Icons and other navigational aids
* Tear-out cheat sheet
* Top ten lists
* A dash of humor and fun


Discover how to:
* Conduct a patent search
* Maintain your intellectual property rights
* Build a prototype product
* Determine production costs
* Develop a unique brand
* License your product to another company

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[The book is] the only guide you need to help you make the jump from 'thinker' to 'doer'."UKBusinessExchange.info Tuesday 29 April 2008 "The advice within its pages is easy to read, and well worth the GBP15.99 cover price." Eurekamagazine.co.uk Tuesday 22 May 2008

From the Back Cover

Full coverage of the ins and outs of inventing for profit

Protect your idea, develop a product – and start your business!

Did you have a great idea? Did you do anything about it? Did someone else? Inventing For Dummies is the smart and easy way to turn your big idea into big money. This non-intimidating guide covers every aspect of the invention process – from developing your idea, to patenting it, to building a prototype, to starting your own business.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:

• Conduct a patent search
• Maintain your intellectual property rights
• Build a prototype product
• Determine production costs
• Develop a unique brand
• License your product to another company

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (May 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764542311
• ISBN-13: 978-0764542312
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.9 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Law > Intellectual Property > Patent, Trademark & Copyright
  • #86 in Books > Law > Practical Guides

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars how to protect an invention; not how to make one, February 28, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inventing For Dummies (Paperback)

The book offers a good explanation to the tyro of what it takes to protect your invention. The book is not really about inventing, per se. Despite what the title says. A careful read of the contents reveals relatively little discussion about the raw inventing process. That is, how does one come up with an original idea that can be patentable? It may well be that such a question has no answer.

Rather, the book's contribution is to show the reader that, if you make something that you think is worth patenting, what are the necessary steps to do so. It explains how you can protect your invention from others. It focuses on steps that can be specifically described to you, and then performed by you. Like how to file a Provisional Patent Application. And how you can now do this electronically. (Which wasn't always the case.) While some of these steps are unique to the United States, in general they apply in most countries.

There is also a brief discussion about copyright issues in the book. But it is tangential to the main topic.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PERFECT!, April 13, 2011

By 

R. Haack (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inventing For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is incredible for beginners! It lays out from beginning to end, concept to production, what you need to do and watch out for as someone with an idea. It gives great websites and resources for every type of contact, organization, form...whatever it recommends. For example, it tells you to seek advice from a market research consultant before investing your money and then gives you a website to find these consultants. It even tells you to file this $10 idea protection form with the IPO if you are not ready to start on the very expensive, time-consuming patent application process. It tells what steps to take before that and why. And they are right! My friend is 2 years into her invention process and made the same mistakes this author claimed would happen. This cost her a lot of money and could have been avoided had she read this book first. I absolutely love this book for someone who has no idea how to begin. It's reassuring too. "If it's such a good idea then why hasn't someone else thought of it?" Read this book to find out why. And please don't quote me on my example above because I flagged that page for when I get to that part of my process, but for now I was vaguely recalling what type of consultant the author recommended just to make my point of how helpful this book is. Buy it and read it cover to cover!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for the independent inventor, October 10, 2010

By 

Leave it to Levy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inventing For Dummies (Paperback)

For the new inventor who wants to know a lot in a short time - start here.
Written by the voice of experience. No riddles here, just answers and solutions that will help you move forward faster towards your protection, prototype, product, marketing and profits
Bob