Frank Mirigliano wrote :

> Hi All
>
> The expense of getting a patent can be prohibitive. The cost of
> defending the patent can be downright ruinous. The issue is not whether
> or not there will be a copycat product. If your product is good and
> useful, or more importantly, profitable there will be a competing
> product in short order. The issue is can you afford to bring a suit to
> defend your patent. Consider that a good patent attorney will charge
> $400/hr or more and typically spend 50 to 100 hours before walking into
> a courtroom.
>

Thanx for putting this in perspective Frank.


> If you are able to sell 1000 units the first year @ a gross profit(funds
> left over after product cost) of $1000/unit, you have a gross profit of
> $1,000,000.

I have to admit, this is much more ambitious sales figures than I had
in mind and with less than half that profit margin.

My first year goal is to sell 1/10 of your figure. I'm prepared to
deal with more, but have limited expectations given the investment
involved.

I suspect your scenario of someone else picking up on the idea is
probably closest to reality. Unless by some miracle this just takes
off overnight, I won't have the resources to market this like an OEM
that already has the channels greased. The most that can be hoped for
is building a name for being the first.

BTW, I read the response you sent me about trade shows and took that
information in with great consideration too. I'm rarely prepared to
respond to emails in that mailbox(it's only used as a spam trap), and
combined with a distraction, I failed to give your message proper
attention. BTW, sending a message to anything (at) vinic.com will get
to me daily (replace (at) with @ and eliminate spaces).

We do similar types of sales with our wine, and I've attended trade
shows as a patron and an exhibitor (another industry), so your notes
about professionalism ring loud. One of the hopes I have is to team
up with someone that already has a booth and a full display. This is
the *only* way we'd be able to attend the Unified in Sacramento.
Seems to me it would work out at *any* show... as much as anything, it
would dramatically reduce the fee's involved! Also, we are prepared
to have the both properly manned the entire time while I'm out
spending all that extra money made from the sales!! ; ^ ) ~

clyde
Steelville, MO, USofA
http://www.Vinic.com
http://www.PeacefulBend.com