Is Your Invention Patentable? A Product Developer's Perspective

When is an invention an invention? How do I know if my invention is patentable? Ask anyone who has gone through the patent process, and they will tell you that the definition of an invention can be very fuzzy at times. As an engineer patenting my inventions since the 80s, I’ve seen firsthand that patent examiners can be notoriously picky, and for good reason. Many “inventions” are not inventions at all, but merely good, and frequently unachievable, ideas.

The Difference Between a Good Idea and a Real Invention

Before the advent of common tracking devices, such as smartphones and locator tags, we would get phone calls or e-mails from folks who claimed to have a significant invention and that they needed our help in turning it into a product. We would sign the obligatory non-disclosure agreement and set up a time for the initial project interview.

Almost always, we would discover that the “invention” was a “child finder.” A tracking device for locating children who had wandered away from the parents’ watchful gaze. The well-meaning inventor was usually one of those parents who had been traumatized by losing one of their children in a mall, department store, or other large area with lots of people. Significantly, there were also several folks who wanted to find adult parents with dementia who had wandered off.

Typically, we would ask the potential client what approach they had come up with to implement this magic tracking device. The reply was always the same: “That’s what we need you to do.”

In other words, they had an idea of an invention they would like to see, but no idea how to make it. They merely had a concept for an invention.

How Does a Concept Become an Invention?

The entire question of developing an invention reminds me of a thought experiment my wife related to me years ago, referring to making a phone call. When is it a phone call? Is it a call when you pick up the phone (we’re talking old-fashioned landline phones here) and get a dial tone? Is it a call when you finish dialing the number? Is it a phone call when it rings? Or, is it a phone call when the other party answers? When did the call start? What defines a phone call? What if there is no answer? What if you get voicemail? This can get complicated…

What is required for an invention to be patentable?

So it is with inventions. The idea might very well be the core of the invention. For example, someone filed a patent that had the idea of replacing the heavy concrete weight found in most front-loading washers with a plastic tank that fills with water to create the needed weight, saving costs on shipping. The details of how to make a plastic tank and fill it with water are fairly irrelevant. It’s the idea of swapping out concrete for a plastic tank of water that is the core of the invention.  In this case, the idea IS the invention.

On the other hand, the idea of a tracking device to find lost children is clearly NOT the invention. These days, various forms of trackers are common, but they depend on a number of inventions to work, including Bluetooth, GPS, smartphone apps, and a host of other technical creations that took years ( and tons of money) to develop.

So, in spite of multitudes of inventors beating down our doors with the “invention” of child-finding tracking devices, we never actually designed a single one. That kind of development was left to companies with far more money than the clients who imagined themselves as the latest iteration of Dr. Emmet Brown.

Product Development: From Concept to Manufacturing

We’ve helped many inventors turn their inventions into successful products. We’re proud to have worked on a breadth of innovations in the telecommunications industry. Want to learn more about our past projects? Read more about products from the RDG archive. 

We’re the RF engineering experts. We offer consulting and manufacturing services for RF components for consumer goods. Got an invention you’d like to see turned into reality? Learn more about our services: custom-engineered consumer product prototypes are just a phone call away. We’re ready to help!