There are three basic things that you can do with your invention.
You can sell the invention. This is where you assign your rights to the patent to someone else. Once you have sold the patent and assigned your rights, you have given up total control. The invention and the patent are no longer yours. This approach requires the least amount of investment of time and money and generally offers the least economic reward.
Your second option is to license your product to another entity. With this approach you will collect a royalty on product sold by the licensor. This approach includes many variables and can provide a little more control than selling your invention outright depending upon your licensing arrangement. Will this be an exclusive arrangement? Is the license limited by geography or market? How long is the agreement? Are there minimum quantities required? Is the royalty to be paid on the license to be a fixed percentage or will it vary with volume and/or time? These are just some of the issues to be negotiated with the entity that licenses your invention. Your expenditure of time and money is reduced and your return is potentially greater than an outright sale of the patent.
Your third option is do-it-yourself. This is the most difficult, the most time consuming and the most expensive of the three options. It is also potentially the most lucrative.
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I am looking for an uncle who we believe may be in Royal Oak and shows up at the VFW hall occasionally. This was a "tip" by an unidentified person. They wrote to a reporter of the Detroit Free Press and her name was Kori, I believe. She did not have time for research, but passed it on. She recently did an article re the USS Grunion story. His brother (my uncle) is David Nathaniel Swartwood and was one of the sailors that perished with that ship in 1942. We were told William was dead. But, apparently, he has been telling people he is David's brother. William was born on April 23, 1926, and would be 82 years old. This gentlemen is supposed to be in his 80's. Last we knew, he was in Flint, Michigan. We were told he died in a house fire, but it may have been his son. We would be so grateful if anyone could give us information on his whereabouts and if he indeed is our uncle. He was the baby of the family and the only living sibling.
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