After moving house my priorities have changed I’m not going to pursue the patent for the foreseeable future. It’s just too expensive an outlay at the moment.

I still want to launch the idea as a product, but I think it’s going to be vastly easier to do so under my own steam and funding.

Whether the patent is still the way to go or not is undecided. It is sadly just not a realistic prospect unless you have the money to back it up. All the other options just don’t seem to protect the idea enough but are cheaper to implement. Which do you choose?

I’m sorry to anyone reading this hoping that I’d have a fully documented journey by now.

I was thinking about the crowdfunding route, but that instantly makes the idea public domain and proving ownership of the original idea becomes nigh on impossible.

Dragons Den was also a consideration, but that requires that the idea is already tested and has been in the marketplace at least for a short period of time. That would require some small scale manufacturing and also selling it publicly which is not something I’m prepared to do without some sort of legal protection in place first.

In an ideal world there would be a company that would co-invest in the idea, maybe for a share of future profits, but you’d need the guarantees in place to make sure your idea was protected and not entirely ripped off. It would be all too easy for a large corporate company to waltz in, pretend to be all friendly, take a look at your idea and then go to market in a heartbeat. With their legal and financial backing you just wouldn’t stand a chance.

I’m hoping someone will tell me I’m wrong and that there’s an easier way, but so far I’ve not found it and no one has made any suggestions.

It saddens me that I have to shelve the idea, but if I get a chance to revisit it, then I will.

Equally, if there’s anyone in the UK that can help, then I’m always ready to listen.

In the meantime I’ve got some plans to expand the ‘maker’ in me and am hoping to start posting about some of my home projects and more, so watch this space. Might get some videos up on YouTube and posts on Instagram and possibly with a new name!