Manufacturing question

Re: [spiers] Manufacturing question

Anthony,

I'd say you are getting the cart before the horse... first things first...where
are the customers
who said "it is a good idea and does not exist...' First step is to go and try
to BUY your idea at
the retailers you'd expect to sell your product...don't spend a penny until you
are sure there
are buyers... then you can worry about the patents, etc...

Funny thing, this very question came up this morning in my online class, with
nick DannySato
starting off with the question, and our back and forth, which covers the topic,
and I replay
below from the transcripts. Pay special attention to the comment of nick
Anramir at the very
end.

To wit:

DannySato: why do you want to have the designer own the copyrights?
DannySato: why not me owning the design rights?
JSpiers: becasue I believe from practice intellectual property rights to be a
scam, and of no
value...indeed, counterproductive...
JSpiers: I do believe i need a contract with a designer, and the contract is
necessary and
sufficient for all of our rights
DannySato: so, designer can provide same design to my competitors, right?
JSpiers: all i want is the customers, and the relationship with the
customers..
JSpiers: as a practical matter, about the time people are ready to steal my
ideas is about the
time i do not care about the idea andy more, given the laws of diminishing
returns...
JSpiers: if someone else wants to take my idea and lower the price and offer
it to a wider
group of people, then fine by me...
JSpiers: I could not effect the lower price that the other could...
DannySato: For example in pottery, how long does it take for others to copy
your design?
JSpiers: the customers their lower priced design reaches were never my
customers anyway...
JSpiers: why should I care to have intellectual property rights..
JSpiers: on the other hand, should i have IP, then if there is a beef, i get
sued.
DannySato: I am clear now.
JSpiers: If I merely have a design agreement with a designer who has the
copyright, then the
designer, under agancy law, is the one who has to deal with the IP infringement
case, out of
the designers own money.
DannySato: By avoiding lawsuits, we save time, money and headache!
JSpiers: in pottery, it takes what, 24 hours?, to copy someone else design...
JSpiers: and we focus on what we like to do, living our lives...
JSpiers: we lose nothing eschewing IP
DannySato: 24 hours to copy + production + distribution = maybe one year??
JSpiers: the question isn't how long does it take to copy pottery, but 'in
the time it takes to
get knocked off, is there any loss to me?
JSpiers: well,there is the rub, they can knock you off in 24 hours, but to
whom do they
sell...?
JSpiers: the item is new as long as no one has seen it before...
JSpiers: knock off artists are greedy and stupid, so they knock off only the
most obvious
winners,
JSpiers: that you are doing well, relatively, is something that does not
appear for quite a
while....
JSpiers: I think the error here is the assumption that what you have to sell
will be a fantastic
winner, and that everyone will perceive it is a fantastic winner as soon as they
see it.
JSpiers: that never happens in real life.
JSpiers: Nobody ever knows what will sell.
JSpiers: nobody ever knows how things wil work out...
JSpiers: look at all markets, they are all structured on the basis of "nobody
knows'
DannySato: unless i put it on the market, right?
JSpiers: the promotion, the trade shows, the distribution channels, all are
structured,
respond to, assume, nobody knows anything.
JSpiers: if you cover the suppliers minimum production run with orders from
USA, all
anyone knows is you cover the suppliers minimum production run with orders from
USA...
nothing more nothing less... there is absolutely nothing you can extrapolate
from that fact..
JSpiers: for tomorrow all will change, again.
JSpiers: when you go back to get reorders, they will say change the color
speed style
material size flavor..something...
JSpiers: making "you cover the suppliers minimum production run with orders
from USA"
information from yesterday utterly irrelevant today... and we work on frequency,
meaning,
repeat as necessary, based on todays information...
JSpiers: make sense?
DannySato: yep
anramir: thanks again John, you are agreat teacher believe me!
anramir: see you next week
JSpiers: anaramir...thank you
JSpiers: spread that around..


On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 04:22:30 -0000, "mgranich" wrote :

> Spiers group et al,
>
> I have an idea for a latching device based on an autolocking carabiner
> used for sport climbing and produced in the USA for the French company
> Petzl Charlet. I think I can improve the design of the locking
> mechanism and redesign the whole carabiner so it can be used in many
> different applications. I need the latching device as part of another
> product I'm thinking about importing. My passion is not latches, but
> since I have to design one, I might as well try to make money from it.
>
> I know the Petzl carbiner is manufactured in Utah by Thompson
> Manufacturing. The Petzl locking mechanism is marked "Patented", but
> I'm not worried because my design is different enough not to cause
> problems.
>
> I would like to have some prototypes made just to make sure the design
> will work, although I'm not sure how to have that done. My questions
> are:
>
> Should I approach Thompson Manufacturing with the new design and ask
> them to produce it? I'm afraid if I do, they'll say "Thanks for the
> improvement tips sucker" and I will get nothing. I can't help but
> feel I would be giving the design away.
>
> OR, Should I just search for an overseas manufacturer to produce it?
> Maybe I should patent it then approach Thompson...?
>
> I'm new to the whole process of inovating and importing a product.
> Any tips will be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Anthony
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Compete on Design!
>
> www.johnspiers.com

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