A famous inventor people often recall nowadays, Nikola Tesla, once stated he felt story for the ones who tried to stole his ideas, not because they tried to take away something that is rightfully his, but because they did not have their own to follow.
Nowadays, a few people share the opinion of the great scientist, so they would like to find out how to offer their unique solutions without being robbed. In most cases, that approach implies addressing someone with enough capital to support and finance the endeavor, but how do you pitch an idea to a company without it being stolen? Read the following lines and find out!
Keep Record of Everything Related to the Project
The first, and the easiest way to protect yourself from being robbed of a big idea you might be developing is to file anything related to it and keep it somewhere safe just in case you need to submit it as proof.
Although this might not seem like a valid way to protect yourself, it is of utter importance to have anything authentic related to your potentially revolutionary concept others might want to steal from you. Namely, if you can prove that you are the one who came up with the idea first and back it up with carefully stored tangible pieces of evidence, no jury would deny you the right of naming it your own and doing whatever you want to do with it afterward.
Patenting
The road to a patent is not easy, but once you have patented an idea or an invention, your worries about having your idea stolen by mischievous companies should cease to exist. In a nutshell, a patent allows you to claim exclusive rights on your idea, process, standard, invention, or anything else you have come up with by yourself.
To own a patent, among everything else, one needs to provide adequate documentation about their work and the process of realization the initial idea, which reminds us of the previous paragraph and the importance of keeping a record of progress. Besides that, patenting can be a time-consuming venture, and above all, it might cost you even more than you could earn in the long run.
Thus, we advise you either think good about your idea and its potential worth and make an investment on your own or find a sponsor willing to share both risk and profit with you, when the time comes.
At https://inventhelp.com/reviews you can find additional info on how numerous individuals found a way to make their ideas officially theirs and how they managed to patent their inventions.
Apply for a Patent
Even though a patent should guarantee you exclusive rights to an idea, there are other ways related to patenting that might secure you do not get pickpocketed while trying to pitch your idea to a company.
We have already mentioned that patenting might be a long and tiresome process that might cost you both your time and money, but the sole action of applying for it lasts significantly shorter. Namely, if you apply for a patent, that puts you in front of the row of others applying for the same thing.
Consequently, you would be behind those who applied for it before you, but if what you have is an original idea or a conception, that should not worry you. Your aim should be to secure that the status of your intellectual property is not compromised by the ones you intend on sharing your thoughts with, and applying for a patent enables you just that.
Check Your Potential Partners
Since we live in the era of information, it is hard not to come by certain pieces of information if you make an effort. Thus, take your time and focus on a company to which you intend to pitch your idea, and find out whether they have been a part of similar projects in the past. Every piece of information you find might be useful and impact your decision.
Thus, if your potential partners seem like fair and square businessmen who respect their associates, feel free to proceed to communicate with them and see how the story unfolds. Bear in mind that not finding any controversial material about a certain company does not guarantee you will not be their first victim, so whatever you do, make sure you have covered everything you can in order to protect your idea.
Trust Agreement
If people were telling truth all the time, there would be no need for official agreements, and you should be aware of it if you intend on pitching your idea to a company that could steal it from you. Namely, the safest option for you would be to sign a non-disclosure agreement with an entity you intend on working with.
NDA should give you the liberty to discuss the idea with your potential partners without fearing they could abuse pieces of information you share with them. Unfortunately, not all companies practice signing NDAs due to potential lawsuits they might be facing.
The lawsuit does not guarantee that a company did something contrary opposite to the contract, but it would cost them time and other resources to prove that in court. For that reason, large companies rarely sign this type of agreement with their partners.
On the other hand, smaller companies that aim to make a name for themselves would not skip a good opportunity, so they practice signing NDAs when they recognize a good deal. When official agreements are in question, the safest path you can take implies hiring a qualified lawyer to inform you about the potential risks and benefits of particular steps you might take. Thus, put everything on paper and decide whether hiring one would be a smart move or it would not make a difference.
Since we have established in which ways one can pitch an idea to a company and minimize the risk of being robbed of their original concepts, we advise you to double-check everything mentioned in the lines above and assert which path you should take.
Surely, some steps could cost you money, but the chances they will show a good investment, in the long run, are major. On the other hand, no one guarantees you that the money you invest will repay itself one day. In the end, if your idea can really make a difference, then we advise you to take all of the aforementioned steps and make it happen!
