How not to end up like the fidget spinner inventor (without a patent)
12 June 2017 3:18 PM
Florida-based creator Catherine Hettinger has been credited as the inventor of the fidget spinner.
She has told various publications about how she couldn’t afford to renew the patent on the popular toy because she did not have necessary backing. She created the device nearly 20 years ago.
A crowd funding initiative has now been set up for her.
My advice would be you don’t just knock on the first door and if it is closed you walk away. You have to believe in your product and try as much as possible even if you don’t have the backing of multinationals like Hasbro. — Likonelo Magagula, Head of Intellectual Property at Norton Rose Fulbright. Getting a new invention off the ground is pretty costly, says Magagula.
At the beginning stages you can approach investors, but make sure you have a non-disclosure agreement. Another way is to approach a patent firm and then ask them to file what we call a provisional patent application, to give you what we call pending rights before you register a formal patent. — Likonelo Magagula, Head of Intellectual Property at Norton Rose Fulbright
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