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Posts: 57
Location: Marinette | Have a general question that maybe you all could help with....
Have several prototype baits, and bait idea designs, but unsure if I should try and patent them or not. I know that there are several here that are making some awesome baits, and may know the answer, or direction I should look.
There doesn't seem to be anything out there now that looks like these, but also not sure how to find out that I am not infringing on someone else's design or bait.
Any and all help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul |
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Posts: 34
| I don't have personal experience but did see Larry Dahlberg answer the same question you asked. His experience is that for the average Joe it's very tough to patent anything because there are so many ways a bait can be tweaked to be "different". His final answer was that you can patent something but if someone comes out with something very similar the biggest challenge is "How much justice can you afford?"
That said I hope you succeed. I tinker a bit but still haven't gotten enough cohones to post pix!!  |
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Posts: 65
Location: Lake St.Clair | I agree. If your really serious and think you have a one in a million lure idea. Make as many as yu can possibly afford, spend money on marketing the product and just hope to make your money before all the "big boy" lure companies "tweak" your design and flood the market. Thats just my opinion, Good luck, |
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Posts: 496
| what Rick said |
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| Hi, at my day job I work as a design engineer, and in the evenings I have a lure business that I do for hobby and enjoyment. The words said above are very true – A patent is only worth as much as you are willing to spend defending it. At my day job I have been handed projects and told “get around this patent”. When done I said this is as much as I can change it and then was told – “Good enough, what are THEY going to sue US”. On the flip side, I have had designs patented only to have the same thing happen, then everybody sues everybody and it eventually it gets settled with BIG money being spent. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and the tackle industry is no different. There are tackle companies out there with no originality or innovation who will take a product and copy it if they can make money from it. Sure they will cleverly claim something is different about it, sometimes there is a subtle difference, and sometimes it’s a flat out copy. You need to be prepared to for that to happen and decide if rolling with the punches is worth whatever it is you wish to get out of making lures. Good Luck, Mike PS. The majority of patents applied for are golf and fishing products |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | Almost impossible, unless you have a specifically "different" design or bait....I've worked for a famous lure maker for years, and he has tried to patent his lures for a long time with no luck....All he could do is patent the Name, logo and slogan of his lures....not the lure itself...Thus all the copies out there of his lures. |
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Question on bait building and patents