Let me say up front that I have always believed that every man is entitled to make a buck from his efforts. IMO here in lies the rub.VANDUGEGS wrote:HOW DO YOU FIND ONE PERSON IN EACH COUNTRY, THAT HAS NOT ONLY THE INTEREST BUT ALLSO THE CAPABILITY OF PRODUCING AND MARKETING A NEW MACHINE, IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY???
You first must honestly decide what your motivations are. Are you after fame & fortune or are you the altruistic benevolent type. I think we are all a mix of both to some degree or other, hopefully leaning towards benevolence on a good day. This argument is about outcomes you want for yourself & how best to achieve that.
This is no new widget can opener. It is a paradigm shift bigger than Ben Hurr. Trouble is when you get down to it; it's too hard to protect the idea from others if you go down the patent, licence route. Not only do you risk loosing control of your idea to a corporate but also your idea would appear on Taiwanese shelves next week. You could look forward to the next two decades of court appearances defending your patent rights, when you should be sunning yourself on a beach somewhere. Not an attractive proposition to my way of thinking.
Sounds like though you are already past this point in your thinking & would like to find "suitable" persons in each country to licence the technology to (at a cost). That's not easy either with lots of people willing to relieve you of your prize & reputation or think you will do the same to them. IMO the cart may be a we bit before the horse. So ... how do you do it ?
Possibly what you do is contact a very large multi-national patent & litigation firm who is prepared to back & produce your idea via international licence agreements. The theory is they would spend the next decade or two defending the international patents & licences on your behalf. That is if it didn't get shelved along the way. The contract would have to be absolutely watertight with penalty clauses for non-production etc & you would need a team of lawyers to proof read it for you. This unfortunately costs a small fortune so unless you are of substantial independent means you will need investors to bank roll you. Of course the investors & the international companies you wish to retain are full of prudent businessmen & would want independent verification of your claims before a dime changes hands. They would also want to tie you up with stock options instead of cash in case someone else had one in their back yard waiting to release it to the world & so on & so on. A veritable minefield to the unwary I would suggest.
If ever there were a time for compromise of ambitions then this would be it. So ... John's TV & book rights, guest appearances etc sounds attractive & rewarding & a lot less hassle. You might actually get to spend time at that beach & be able to pay for the occasional round of drinks :-)
My conclusion is – the motives of corporation’s & the people who run them are ultimately unknown & therefore unpredictable & that is a risk. Good intentions & trust cannot be contracted for, or guaranteed or bought however a life of paranoia is free to a good home.
There is no easy answer & each man will wrestle with his own conscience if or when the answer is ever found. I myself favour independent verification as a good place to start especially when your credibility & reputation not to mention sanity may well be called into question thereafter. Friends might seem like a good idea then.
- Fletcher
