There is a natural eagerness for the inventor to want to get on with the "commercial contact side" of exploitation of an invention but every inventor with whom we have worked will agree that their invention changed considerably after contact with us.

This is because of the considerable creativity and intelligent interpretation of ideas/inventions, which characterises the business.

Development is absolutely essential to success, because it ensures that the initial ideas/concepts presented to us, are researched and improved upon, so that they eventually become viable products or processes. Without such development, presentation to industry and/or potential backers, can result in the impact being minimal, and, even more important, the invention can be "taken away from the inventor" because the basic idea/concept is exposed prematurely, and therefore allows third parties to grasp the identified need so that they (and not the inventor) can develop it further, and into a different solution.

Prototyping

It is important to make prototypes because these will:

1. Show that the invention works.

2. Ensure that you have identified any shortcomings and, hopefully, eliminated them.

3. Ensure that you have something to show to potentially interested third parties.

When such prototypes are manufactured, they are referred to as Pre-Production Prototypes.  The Double-Jawed Clamp (DJC) shown elsewhere on this website, was created with the aid of CAD software, and the CAD drawing was subsequently supplied to the Toolmaker so that he could manufacture a Steel Injection Moulding Tool.  This was then used for making the Pre-Production Prototypes of the DJC in plastic.

The Patent Pipeline

One will not learn of any patent application that has just been filed, and therefore placed in the so-called "Patent Pipeline", until it is published, 18 months from its date of first filing.

It is for this reason that the results of searches carried out before 18 months have elapsed, measured from your Priority Date, will not necessarily confirm that you have no competition.  

Published patent applications emerge from the "Patent Pipeline", every day, and, in attempting to determine if there is any similar, so-called, "prior art" which could pre-date yours, 18 months would have to elapse, measured from your priority date, in order to be absolutely certain that sufficient time had been allowed for all competing patent applications to have emerged from the "Pipeline".