5 Steps to Quick Cash from your Patent

I got a call the other day with some bad news. My friend Matt died suddenly of a massive heart attack. He was 35. For years, Matt and I had discussed his desire to leave his corporate job and focus on selling his high tech inventions. He had some amazing ideas and was always a few years ahead of the market.

Now, his inventions will be part of his legacy — and perhaps part of the income his wife and child will live on.

Matt had two patents. Both had “issued”, meaning that they were not “pending” but had actually been approved. This is a big deal, since the review and issuance can take several years. Further, Matt had worked with a good intellectual property (IP) lawyer, so the patent documents look pretty good — clearly worded, well explained, compelling examples, good diagrams, etc.

Now the issue is… how do we squeeze some money out of these patents to support Matt’s family?

Likewise, if you have patents or inventions, how would you go about turning them into cash? Try these 5 steps to getting quick cash from your patents:

(1) Get them appraised. Before you waste a lot of time looking for a buyer, get some professional advice. Are they worth anything? A good patent attorney or professional valuation company can tell you, but look for one that has expertise in your industry.

(2) Sell to an industry fund. There are companies that purchase patents. Typically they will then license the technology to a manufacturer, or in some cases send out a team of lawyers to prosecute companies that are infringing (using the technology without paying the license fee). This is the fastest and easiest way to cash out. Its a lot easier for you to sell the patent to them than to pursue lawsuits or licensing deals on your own.

(3) Search for infringers and sue. If you are the creator of the patent, you should be keeping an eye on the industry and look for companies that might be using your ideas without telling you. You can do some of this searching yourself, or hire an expert. A good patent attorney will help you make a claim against an infringing company … and of course there’s no need to go to court since the threat of a lawsuit will often be enough to make the infringer pay up.

(4) Sell a license. If people are not already using your technology, maybe you are a few steps ahead of the market. In this case, there will undoubtedly be companies or entrepreneurs who could use your ideas to create new products. If you can identify a few companies, you want to find their “in-licensing” department or product development people. Hold out for some up-front money, but also look for a royalty payment from any sales they generate. If you define the license narrowly enough, you can sell the same patent to many different companies, and perhaps even identify a use or market that you will keep for yourself.

(5) Build a company. It may not be quick cash, but a great patent can be a good foundation on which to build a company … or at least a cool product. If you’ve been able to license the idea, perhaps the up-front payments will be enough to help you launch your own venture.

This is a big topic — and the tools you’ll need to get the job done depend a lot on what industry you are in.

If you need further information on this topic, please use the contact page to drop me a line. I’ll be happy to make some specific referrals for you to the kinds of attorneys and companies that I’ve mentioned above.

Dedicated to your profits

David

PS:  Looking for other “quick cash” solutions? If you’ll click “JOIN”, not only will you receive short emails about my new topics, tips and tools… you’ll also receive my free 27 page report, “Colors of Money”. It’s packed full of the various ways to use “other people’s money” to launch or grow your business.