How to License Your Million Dollar Idea: Cash In On Your Inventions, New Product Ideas, Software, Web Business Ideas, And More, Third Edition

Book description

The classic guide to cashing in on your million-dollar idea

Whether you've invented a great new product, or you have an idea for an app, an online business, or a reality show, How to License Your Million Dollar Idea delivers the information you need to snag a great licensing deal. Now in its third edition, this book has become the go-to source for budding inventors and entrepreneurs who have great ideas and want to cash in on them without putting themselves in financial risk. Licensing is the way to make that happen and this book explains exactly how it's done.

You'll get tested advice on how to protect your ideas and find a licensee for new products, apps, TV game shows, websites, software, and more. You'll also learn how to develop your creative thinking skills and objectively evaluate your ideas.

  • Explains how to protect your new idea with or without patents and copyrights

  • Directs you in finding the perfect person at the right company and on how to prepare a presentation that gets you to a "yes"

  • Reviews sample licensing contracts to help you understand what your creativity and achievement entitles you to

You'll also read accounts from profitable inventors on their own goof-ups and brilliant moves along their paths to success.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Preface
  6. Introduction
  7. Chapter 1: Creating the Idea
    1. When is an Improvement not One?
    2. “Mommy, Where Do Ideas Come From?”
    3. Introducing the Famous Reese I.C.I.C.L.E. System of Creativity
    4. This is a Test
    5. Inside Jobs, Head Starts, Leg Ups, and Stuff Like That
    6. Caveats, Warnings, Cautions, and Places not to Go
    7. “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” (But You Can’t License It)
  8. Chapter 2: How to Research and Evaluate Your New Idea
    1. Researching Your New Product Idea
    2. Product Evaluation Worksheet
    3. Researching Your New Product Invention
    4. Researching Your TV Game Show or Reality Show Idea
    5. Researching a New Software Program
    6. Researching a New Internet Business Idea
  9. Chapter 3: The End of the Free Ride
    1. Utility Patent
    2. Plant Patent
    3. Design Patent
    4. Provisional Patent Application
    5. Business Model Patent
    6. Trademarks
    7. Copyrights
    8. Protecting Your New Product Idea
    9. Protecting Your Software Idea
    10. Protecting Your TV Game or Reality Show Idea
    11. Protecting Your Internet Business Idea
    12. Yes, But is Your Product or Software Protected in Bulgaria?
    13. Beware of the Perils of Joint Ownership
    14. Something Else to Know
    15. The Paper Trail
    16. When You Really Do Need a Lawyer, Here’s How to Find the Right One
  10. Chapter 4: It’s Time to Swing into Action (The Devil is in the Details)
    1. Preparing Your Product Invention
    2. Preparing Your Game Show or Reality Show Idea
    3. Preparing Your Internet Business Idea
    4. Preparing Your Software Idea
  11. Chapter 5: Let’s Start the Show!
    1. Irrefutable Reason #1: Why Would the Company Invite a Lawsuit?
    2. Irrefutable Reason #2: No Offense, But You Can be Bought Cheap
    3. Irrefutable Reason #3: Why Chase You Away (Maybe You Won’t Come Back)?
    4. Irrefutable Reason #4: It’s Simply not Good Business, Even for Heimlich
    5. Why You’ll Leave the Meeting With a Smile on Your Face
    6. Mining for Prospects for Your Product Invention
    7. Your Deal With the Agent
    8. Mining for Prospects for Your New TV Show Idea
    9. Mining for Prospects for Your New Software Program
    10. Is There an APP for This?
    11. Mining for Prospects for Your Internet Business Idea
  12. Chapter 6: What to Say and How to Play
    1. The Magic Two-Minute Telephone Appointment-Getter Conversation
    2. If You Insist On Using the Mail
    3. The Concept of the Nondisclosure Agreement: Do You Sign Theirs, or Do They Sign Yours? And Does It Matter?
  13. Chapter 7: Getting to “Yes”
    1. Pitching Your TV Show Idea
    2. Pitching Your New Internet Business Idea or Software Idea
    3. Pitching Your New Product Invention
    4. A Salesperson’s Worst Nightmare (Part 1)
    5. A Salesperson’s Worst Nightmare (Part 2)
    6. Establishing Your Credentials
    7. Say Hello to the New Products Director
    8. A Customer’s Two Cents Worth
  14. Chapter 8: Reaping the Harvest
    1. The Deal for Your TV Game Show or Reality Show
    2. The Deal for Your Software Program
    3. The Deal for Your Product Invention
    4. The Gentle Art of Negotiating
    5. One More Hint
  15. Chapter 9: Listening to Successful Inventors
    1. Make Sure You Really Have Something to License Before You Try to Do It
  16. Conclusion
    1. Why There’s No Business Like the Licensing Business
  17. Appendix
  18. Index

Product information

  • Title: How to License Your Million Dollar Idea: Cash In On Your Inventions, New Product Ideas, Software, Web Business Ideas, And More, Third Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: August 2011
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118022429