Staying Ahead of the Pack

From the outset Garry McConnell knew he had an IP issue he needed to manage effectively with his new business idea.

It’s a simple but nifty concept - a fridge magnet that tells you when your dog needs worming.

Garry said he was faced with a number of problems.

“First, how would I present the idea to investors, designers and potential customers without being ripped off?” Garry recalled.

“A good idea is one thing, but being able to get the thing built can pose massive financial problems.”

“So before spending huge sums on prototyping and development, it really was important to find out if there was some chance of commercial reality.”

Garry’s first step was to present his concept to a potential financial backer, but he didn’t want to do that until he had some sort of protection.

“The cheapest protection I could figure out was a non-disclosure document - prepared by a solicitor—that had reference to a provisional patent application,” he explained. “The reason I chose a provisional patent application and not a full standard or innovation patent application was that information in a provisional application is not in the public domain for 12 months, so theoretically it shouldn’t be able to be seen and subsequently copied.”

“The product I’m selling is not rocket science, so just about anybody could copy it,” he admitted. “My business plan is this—get the thing made at the smallest possible price, at the very best quality in the shortest possible time, so that if someone else attempts to rip me off they will be bewildered when they find out what they have to do for the price.”

Accepting that copies have the potential to reduce profits, Garry wants to use rapid production to saturate the market quickly, make the money and then get out and move to the next idea.

Garry has some advice for those contemplating the inventor’s life.

“Understand the IP issues involved. Get quotes before you start development and be sure to see products already prototyped by the prospective companies. Keep daily contact once prototyping begins and tightly manage the time frame of your project. Then be ready for weeks of sleepless nights!” he said.

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