One Simple Idea - Stephen Key

[Graham Chong]

I have already read your book and thanks so much for the book Stephen.

Will be taking a day trip to Belfast flying from London for your licensing seminar.

I am sure it will be worth it.

 

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[Twiki]

howdy, thought ppl in this thread would be interested in Mr. Key's Google talk that has just been released today: [video=youtube;6csI0dZzFRQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6csI0dZzFRQ[/video]

He seems like a genuinely helpful fellow and One Simple Idea is a very informative book!

 

[StephenKey]

Graham, Wow! Thanks for you support and interest.

I have already read your book and thanks so much for the book Stephen.

Will be taking a day trip to Belfast flying from London for your licensing seminar.

I am sure it will be worth it.

Graham, Wow! Thanks for you support and interest.

I hope you found my presentation helpful and feel it will move you forward with all your ideas.

-Stephen

 

[StephenKey]

howdy, thought ppl in this thread would be interested in Mr. Key's Google talk that has just been released today: [video=youtube;6csI0dZzFRQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6csI0dZzFRQ[/video]

He seems like a genuinely helpful fellow and One Simple Idea is a very informative book!

Twiki,

Thanks for posting my Google presentation and for your kind words.

-Stephen

 

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[Mike39]

Hey Stephen, I find your experience with licensing fascinating and inspiring, I am sure I will try licensing products a lot in the future. So, I have a quick question from your speech if you ever get a minute to answer it.

In the deal with the basketball hoop, you said that you contacted the company who had rights to Michael Jordan name, that part all made sense. But I didn't understand what exactly you licensed to them; if it was just a backboard with a Michael Jordan picture, did you license them the hoop?, or was the picture once put on the backboard considered a "game" that was then licensable to the company?

 

[Ãœbertreffen]

Hey Stephen, I find your experience with licensing fascinating and inspiring, I am sure I will try licensing products a lot in the future. So, I have a quick question from your speech if you ever get a minute to answer it.

In the deal with the basketball hoop, you said that you contacted the company who had rights to Michael Jordan name, that part all made sense. But I didn't understand what exactly you licensed to them; if it was just a backboard with a Michael Jordan picture, did you license them the hoop?, or was the picture once put on the backboard considered a "game" that was then licensable to the company?

And to add to his question, if I may, would you please elaborate on the process on how you go about finding the individual(s)/company who own the license rights such as the Michael Jordan name? I find this a vital step that could benefit many readers.

Thank you.



- Devin

 

[StephenKey]

You don't always need a patent

Hey Stephen, I find your experience with licensing fascinating and inspiring, I am sure I will try licensing products a lot in the future. So, I have a quick question from your speech if you ever get a minute to answer it.

In the deal with the basketball hoop, you said that you contacted the company who had rights to Michael Jordan name, that part all made sense. But I didn't understand what exactly you licensed to them; if it was just a backboard with a Michael Jordan picture, did you license them the hoop?, or was the picture once put on the backboard considered a "game" that was then licensable to the company?

Mike,

I licensed the idea of putting Michael Jordan on the backboard. They liked the idea and payed me royalties with no patents at all. They sold a ton more than they were selling before. All parties were happy.

You can't do this in all industries. For example. I'm doing packaging products now. You must have patents in the packaging business. However, in the toy biz they don't always require them.

Hope this helps.

-Stephen

 

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[StephenKey]

And to add to his question, if I may, would you please elaborate on the process on how you go about finding the individual(s)/company who own the license rights such as the Michael Jordan name? I find this a vital step that could benefit many readers.

Thank you.



- Devin

Ubertreffen,

It's really quite simple. You go down to the stores or online and find companies selling products with that celebrity or brand. Like Michael Jordan or Nascar for example. You know they are already paying Nascar or Michael Jordan for the rights, so they are perfectly set up to do your new product with that brand.

-Stephen

 

[Twiki]

Hello Mr. Key, I enjoyed your Google talk and hope others here benefited from sharing it. I look forward to picking up your new book, it's on my Amazon wish list. I also notice you have a good branding thing going on with consistency of image (exact same look in profile pic and Google presentation)... very sharp .

Anyway, I think I "get" most of the concepts in One Simple Idea, such as the benefits of provisional patent applications, calling up the product mgrs, putting together sell sheets... but the one big hang-up that I have is the necessity of getting a handle on the manufacturing costs before talking to potential licensees. For some reason I find it difficult to wrap my head around the process of calling up someone at a manufacturing plant and asking them how much it would cost to make something. Is this a common obstacle and how do people get around/through it?

 

[StephenKey]

You Can Do It!

Hello Mr. Key, I enjoyed your Google talk and hope others here benefited from sharing it. I look forward to picking up your new book, it's on my Amazon wish list. I also notice you have a good branding thing going on with consistency of image (exact same look in profile pic and Google presentation)... very sharp .

Anyway, I think I "get" most of the concepts in One Simple Idea, such as the benefits of provisional patent applications, calling up the product mgrs, putting together sell sheets... but the one big hang-up that I have is the necessity of getting a handle on the manufacturing costs before talking to potential licensees. For some reason I find it difficult to wrap my head around the process of calling up someone at a manufacturing plant and asking them how much it would cost to make something. Is this a common obstacle and how do people get around/through it?

Twiki,

There are two methods you can use.

The first is the easiest.

Just look at similar ideas. Here's an example. . If you have a new bbq spatula that just has an extra tong. You know they can do it and the additional cost will be minimal. In this case there is no need to do any more research.

On the other hand sometimes you do need to get a quote from a contract manufacturer. In this case you will need to gather your product specifications to give to the contract manufacturer. Use a company name and phone number of course and ask for a nice volume quote. For example 50k, 100k and 250k quantities.

Ask them if they can make it and at what price? You can do it! My students do this all the time and so can you.

Happy holidays!

-Stephen

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I look forward to picking up your new book,

Stephen,

Can you please tell us about your new book in the recommendations forum? Since many folks here recommend your book (including myself) I think we'd all like to hear about it.

Thanks for sharing your experience here and hopefully we've sent many sales your way.
~ MJ

PS: Please preface the post "as approved by MJ" so it isn't flagged as self-promotional.

Thx!!

 

[StephenKey]

Thanks MJ

Stephen,

Can you please tell us about your new book in the recommendations forum? Since many folks here recommend your book (including myself) I think we'd all like to hear about it.

Thanks for sharing your experience here and hopefully we've sent many sales your way.
~ MJ

PS: Please preface the post "as approved by MJ" so it isn't flagged as self-promotional.

Thx!!

Thanks for the kind offer MJ

I'll go ahead and make a post in the "Recommendations Forum"

-Stephen

 

[StephenKey]

Thanks for the kind offer MJ

I'll go ahead and make a post in the "Recommendations Forum"

-Stephen

MJ,

As you request, i went ahead and posted that promotion to your new book recommendations section.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/bo...orum-recommended-books-live-2.html#post256263

Thank you for helping to get the word out about my new book.

-Stephen

 

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[Eskil]

Hey Stephen,
I got your book for Christmas and have been reading it lately. Very much enjoying it so far - especially since I have an idea that I have built a prototype for and strongly consider to get licensed these days. Your book is really great and I highly recommend it to anyone here on the forum - even if they think they are "not the creative kind". Like you say: anyone can come up with license-able ideas!

I licensed the idea of putting Michael Jordan on the backboard. They liked the idea and payed me royalties with no patents at all. They sold a ton more than they were selling before. All parties were happy.

You can't do this in all industries. For example. I'm doing packaging products now. You must have patents in the packaging business. However, in the toy biz they don't always require them.

I will probably have some more questions for you soon, but one thing I dont quite understand is the scenario above. If you do not even have a provisional patent - and you call a company up like that - what stops them from saying "awesome, thanks for the idea!" and running with your idea without ever paying you? If you did not have even a provisional patent - did they decide to just pay you licensing fees (which according to you was in the hundreds of thousands for this over ten years) to "be nice", or did they just assume that your idea had been protected so they would have to pay you?

I would think that if I called up companies who were already licensing ideas like that - that they would just take the idea without ever bothering to pay me. Unless of course - I had a provisional patent to show for. Correct me if I am wrong, and thanks for your time!

 

[gogiver8figs]

Hello everyone. I am glad everyone is finding my book helpful. If there are any questions I can answer please let me know. I am here to help.

Thanks,
Stephen Key

I was having a so so day today. Got into a discussion with a friend who's a trusted member here. He linkedin to your talk and Google and I came here. I'm left feeling inspired and enthused. It must be great as an entrepreneur and teacher to be able to have this impact on people years after you complete a project.

 

[StephenKey]

Hey Stephen,
I got your book for Christmas and have been reading it lately. Very much enjoying it so far - especially since I have an idea that I have built a prototype for and strongly consider to get licensed these days. Your book is really great and I highly recommend it to anyone here on the forum - even if they think they are "not the creative kind". Like you say: anyone can come up with license-able ideas!



I will probably have some more questions for you soon, but one thing I dont quite understand is the scenario above. If you do not even have a provisional patent - and you call a company up like that - what stops them from saying "awesome, thanks for the idea!" and running with your idea without ever paying you? If you did not have even a provisional patent - did they decide to just pay you licensing fees (which according to you was in the hundreds of thousands for this over ten years) to "be nice", or did they just assume that your idea had been protected so they would have to pay you?

I would think that if I called up companies who were already licensing ideas like that - that they would just take the idea without ever bothering to pay me. Unless of course - I had a provisional patent to show for. Correct me if I am wrong, and thanks for your time!

Eskil,

Some industries like toys don't always care so much about patents. They just want good ideas. It's more about being first to market.

If they rip you off and word get's out, inventors would stop sending them ideas and their free R&D department would be gone.

They love the fact that they get all these ideas flowing in and they only have to pay for the ones they like.

-Stephen

 

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[StephenKey]

I was having a so so day today. Got into a discussion with a friend who's a trusted member here. He linkedin to your talk and Google and I came here. I'm left feeling inspired and enthused. It must be great as an entrepreneur and teacher to be able to have this impact on people years after you complete a project.

gogiver8figs,

Thank you for the kind words.

I've found I've gotten so much back as a teacher. It's an amazing feeling to get people un-stuck.

-Stephen

 

[StephenKey]

I just did a new interview with Upstart Business Journal entitled....

"Why The Simplest Ideas Make A Lot Of Money."

I think you might find it helpful.

Here's the link
Author Stephen Key on why the simplest ideas make money.

-Stephen

 

[Eskil]

Some industries like toys don't always care so much about patents. They just want good ideas. It's more about being first to market.

If they rip you off and word get's out, inventors would stop sending them ideas and their free R&D department would be gone.

They love the fact that they get all these ideas flowing in and they only have to pay for the ones they like.

Thanks for the response, Stephen.
To follow up your answer - this brings me to something else I have had buzzing in my head since I started reading your book. That is, the big change from "first to invent" to "first to file". Obviously, your book was written before this, but as you know, the U.S. is now adapting "first to file", so I am curious what your own thoughts are about this change in regulation, and its possible ramifications for inventors and product developers like yourself.

 

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[Twiki]

If they rip you off and word get's out, inventors would stop sending them ideas and their free R&D department would be gone.

Mr. Key, thanks for the informative posts. I've also thought about another reason why it would not be in these companies' interest to rip inventors off.

Think about it from their perspective --- not as an organization, but as an individual employee of that company, such as the product manager. As an employee, someone like the product manager just wants to do their job, do well and maybe move up in the organization. Are they really going to risk getting their company into some sort of litigation by deliberately stealing an idea that came from the outside, that could easily be documented, PPA or not. Getting your company into a lawsuit is not a good way to impress your boss.

And if they tried to go off and steal an idea as in individual... well then they'd have not only the inventor to deal with but their (former) company to deal with. And if the idea was something that could be well-suited for development by their (former) company, then they've just cut off a prime avenue of getting it to production (plus I'm sure their individual reputation would be destroyed in their industry).

Considering all this, in terms of risk/reward, if I were a product manager in some division somewhere, already inclined towards an "employee" mindset, just looking forward to this year's Paid Time Off and a quiet retirement, the last thing I would ever do is take a chance of running off with someone else's idea that was submitted to my corporation, since it has a significant chance of not paying off at all anyway.

 

[Eskil]

Twiki, you have a very valid point there.

 

[StephenKey]

Thanks for the response, Stephen.
To follow up your answer - this brings me to something else I have had buzzing in my head since I started reading your book. That is, the big change from "first to invent" to "first to file". Obviously, your book was written before this, but as you know, the U.S. is now adapting "first to file", so I am curious what your own thoughts are about this change in regulation, and its possible ramifications for inventors and product developers like yourself.

Eskil,

I did address that in "One Simple Idea".

The solution is simple. File a PPA(Provisional Patent Application) and you don't have to worry about it.

-Stephen

 

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[StephenKey]

Mr. Key, thanks for the informative posts. I've also thought about another reason why it would not be in these companies' interest to rip inventors off.

Think about it from their perspective --- not as an organization, but as an individual employee of that company, such as the product manager. As an employee, someone like the product manager just wants to do their job, do well and maybe move up in the organization. Are they really going to risk getting their company into some sort of litigation by deliberately stealing an idea that came from the outside, that could easily be documented, PPA or not. Getting your company into a lawsuit is not a good way to impress your boss.

And if they tried to go off and steal an idea as in individual... well then they'd have not only the inventor to deal with but their (former) company to deal with. And if the idea was something that could be well-suited for development by their (former) company, then they've just cut off a prime avenue of getting it to production (plus I'm sure their individual reputation would be destroyed in their industry).

Considering all this, in terms of risk/reward, if I were a product manager in some division somewhere, already inclined towards an "employee" mindset, just looking forward to this year's Paid Time Off and a quiet retirement, the last thing I would ever do is take a chance of running off with someone else's idea that was submitted to my corporation, since it has a significant chance of not paying off at all anyway.

Twiki,

Very good point.

I like the way you are thinking.

-Stephen

 

[StephenKey]

Does anyone have a licensing question or two?

Does anyone have a licensing question or two?

It looks like it's been a couple months since there's been any activity in this thread and I though I'd check in to see if i can answer a question or two.

Stephen Key
Successful inventor Stephen Key helps you bring your invention or product idea to market through licensing. - inventRight.com

 

[Eskil]

Nice to see you back, Stephen
In your experience, is it a pretty daunting task to get a PPA or even a regular patent internationally? In my head I envision you would need a good team of patent attorneys with experience from various countries, languages, etc. but maybe it isn't as hard as it seems. I'd love to hear your take on this.

Also, regarding exclusive licenses - what is mostly preferred by companies; obtaining an exclusive license from you (at a potential cost of giving up more royalty to you) - or not going exclusive?

Thanks!

 

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[Barry]

Hey Stephen I have an idea I have been toying with for awhile made a mock up out of clay did alot of research after reading and re reading your book. I'm from Jamaica and I was wondering If I could just outright follow the advice you give and get a PPA through inventright to get protected in the US without protecting it in Jamaica. The main/minor companies I have in mind that would license this idea is in the US not Jamaica, I have no intentions of getting a patent here but since I'm not a US citizen I was wondering if I could do this?

 

[StephenKey]

Nice to see you back, Stephen
In your experience, is it a pretty daunting task to get a PPA or even a regular patent internationally? In my head I envision you would need a good team of patent attorneys with experience from various countries, languages, etc. but maybe it isn't as hard as it seems. I'd love to hear your take on this.

Also, regarding exclusive licenses - what is mostly preferred by companies; obtaining an exclusive license from you (at a potential cost of giving up more royalty to you) - or not going exclusive?

Thanks!

Writing a PPA is not difficult.

Filling international is difficult and very, very expensive.

Most companies will want an exclusive. That' doesn't mean you need to give it to them though. Maybe you license to another company that sells in countries they don't sell in or different distribution channels. So you can go Non-Exclusive. However it doesn't make sense to license to two companies that sell in the same stores.

 

[StephenKey]

Hey Stephen I have an idea I have been toying with for awhile made a mock up out of clay did alot of research after reading and re reading your book. I'm from Jamaica and I was wondering If I could just outright follow the advice you give and get a PPA through inventright to get protected in the US without protecting it in Jamaica. The main/minor companies I have in mind that would license this idea is in the US not Jamaica, I have no intentions of getting a patent here but since I'm not a US citizen I was wondering if I could do this?

That's exactly what you should do.

Get a US PPA. You don't need to be a US citizen and have all the same rights as a US citizen when getting a patent in the US.

 

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[Barry]

That's exactly what you should do.

Get a US PPA. You don't need to be a US citizen and have all the same rights as a US citizen when getting a patent in the US.

So I could just fill for the US PPA myself and then when it is issued I can start making my calls to companies, It's That simple?

 

[GuestUser152]

Stephen! This is so awesome because I just finished your book, looked this thread up and found it was outdated so never bothered posting. So I am ecstatic right now to see you are back. So I have an idea for licensing and I looked into the PPA but the problem is from my understanding what I would need is a design patent and not a utility patent which you cannot provisionally apply for. My idea is for a toy and very similar to your wall ball in that you just added graphics and did not change the function. Should I forgo the PPA and still follow your process as explained in the book? Thanks, I can't wait to hear from you!