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I’ve have yet to post a question on this forum so I’m hoping that I can please get some feedback.
Long story short, I invented an functional clothing accessory and submitted it to Edison Nation (which, for a fee, takes your idea and does all the legwork to see if it’s an actual marketable product. It can patent, engineer and get your idea on store shelves)). My idea is still being reviewed by the Edison Nation team. I just happened to hop on a similar website called Quirky.com this morning and low and behold saw almost the exact same accessory featured as an idea that had just been submitted yesterday (I submitted my idea to Edison Nation on Dec 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]). I just about died….
So I found out that the idea featured on Quirky.com is not protected by any patent whatsoever. Neither is mine. The only thing I have going in my case is the fact that I submitted my idea before hers (and prior to my submission I, to the best of my ability, searched everywhere for a product similar to it).
Here…let me back up…I’ll just tell you the general idea of the product because at this point I’m desperate and if it will help explain the situation then so be it. My idea is a device that uses an elastomer (aka rubber like material) and rare earth magnets that together act as a clip to keep clothing apparel (like long sleeves or pant ends) synched up. In other words, when you need your long sleeves rolled up and don’t want them sneaking back down your arm, then you simply place my magnetic clip on and it holds the fabric in place until you take it off. You can wear it on you even when it’s not ‘in use’ so that you have it handy whenever you may need it (because I find myself needing my sleeves or pant legs rolled up at the most random moments of the day…). My device is NOT gender specific.
Granted, there are somewhat similar products out there (actually, I could only find one clothing clip that uses magnets and the website states again and again how it is just to be used on pants…it says nothing about sleeves…AND they don’t show any patent number or ‘patent pending’ on it). Here’s the website: About Us. Other similar products are really not similar at all in design, as they are based on elastic or simply plastic, they only hold up a tiny amount of clothing (just the cuff), are gender specific and are only made either for long sleeves OR pants.
For the last 12 hours of my day I have been filling out a provisional patent form on Legal Zoom. I finally (finally!) got to the end and realized that it is not 125 bucks to file, but instead a total of 324 dollars. That is a lot of money for me (which is why I’m trying to license my idea in the first place…so I don’t have to be horrified when something costs more than 20 bucks….yes I realize that it’s sad and I’m not proud of it but I am working on changing it…hence my idea…and hence this post).
I don’t know if I should bite the bullet and spend money for the provisional patent, or should I simply let Edison Nation take it from here. I have other ideas/designs in the works…so this is not my only ray of hope. Nonetheless, I feel that this is a good product and more than anything I am afraid that I will regret not protecting it down the road.
Any thoughts, advice and/or lashings are welcomed!
Long story short, I invented an functional clothing accessory and submitted it to Edison Nation (which, for a fee, takes your idea and does all the legwork to see if it’s an actual marketable product. It can patent, engineer and get your idea on store shelves)). My idea is still being reviewed by the Edison Nation team. I just happened to hop on a similar website called Quirky.com this morning and low and behold saw almost the exact same accessory featured as an idea that had just been submitted yesterday (I submitted my idea to Edison Nation on Dec 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]). I just about died….
So I found out that the idea featured on Quirky.com is not protected by any patent whatsoever. Neither is mine. The only thing I have going in my case is the fact that I submitted my idea before hers (and prior to my submission I, to the best of my ability, searched everywhere for a product similar to it).
Here…let me back up…I’ll just tell you the general idea of the product because at this point I’m desperate and if it will help explain the situation then so be it. My idea is a device that uses an elastomer (aka rubber like material) and rare earth magnets that together act as a clip to keep clothing apparel (like long sleeves or pant ends) synched up. In other words, when you need your long sleeves rolled up and don’t want them sneaking back down your arm, then you simply place my magnetic clip on and it holds the fabric in place until you take it off. You can wear it on you even when it’s not ‘in use’ so that you have it handy whenever you may need it (because I find myself needing my sleeves or pant legs rolled up at the most random moments of the day…). My device is NOT gender specific.
Granted, there are somewhat similar products out there (actually, I could only find one clothing clip that uses magnets and the website states again and again how it is just to be used on pants…it says nothing about sleeves…AND they don’t show any patent number or ‘patent pending’ on it). Here’s the website: About Us. Other similar products are really not similar at all in design, as they are based on elastic or simply plastic, they only hold up a tiny amount of clothing (just the cuff), are gender specific and are only made either for long sleeves OR pants.
For the last 12 hours of my day I have been filling out a provisional patent form on Legal Zoom. I finally (finally!) got to the end and realized that it is not 125 bucks to file, but instead a total of 324 dollars. That is a lot of money for me (which is why I’m trying to license my idea in the first place…so I don’t have to be horrified when something costs more than 20 bucks….yes I realize that it’s sad and I’m not proud of it but I am working on changing it…hence my idea…and hence this post).
I don’t know if I should bite the bullet and spend money for the provisional patent, or should I simply let Edison Nation take it from here. I have other ideas/designs in the works…so this is not my only ray of hope. Nonetheless, I feel that this is a good product and more than anything I am afraid that I will regret not protecting it down the road.
Any thoughts, advice and/or lashings are welcomed!
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