Stealing help: How do I protect my unique product?

[Noah]

Hello my fellow 4HWWers, I am looking for some advice. I have a unique product idea, which in theory should be quite cheap to produce and manufacture on a large scale. There is nothing fancy about my product and nothing too complicated to replicate, thus my fear. After I prototype and begin manufacturing and selling my product how can I protect myself from a larger company coming in and stealing my product. There are already very big companies in the field I am entering into. I have heard from experienced people that patents are expensive as well as ineffective because of the cost of lawyers if you need to go to court to fight a patent infringement case. At this point I would not be able to go to court against a big corporation.

I do have connections to some big companies that could manufacture, market and sell my product if they liked it but I am also considering the more likely route of me having to do it by myself online.

Thanks for your time and I appreciate any advice you can give.

-Noah

[Sven]

Better do a forum search first.

[JRL]

Get a patent, sell them a license, sit back, and collect a royalty.

Tim recommends Stephen Key's inventright.com, FWIW, as a guide to walk you through that process.

[Noah]

thanks JRL but this is an idea I actually want to make and sell myself cause I think it has real potential. I'll check out the patent though,

cheers!
Noah

[Avex]

Patents may take years to get issued, especially in crowded fileds (ex: web technologies). Taking another company to court then would take a fortune.

That's from Guy Kawasaki's book "Reality check".

[Noah]

thanks avex, any ideas what I should do then? I don't think a patent is the right choice for me. Offer licensing perhaps?

thanks,
Noah

[Avex]

You can ask or search various inventor forums online. Those guys deal with issues like yours a lot more often...

[Noah]

great advice, I appreciate it.