Ask HN: How can I sell my patent

While it is not impossible, I would not view this strategy as a reasonable one w.r.t. generating meaningful income.

Focus on building a real thing, that solves a real problem, and get real people to pay you real money.

It does It solves real problem and it will be a solution for many people who can pay It's about producing and marketing the product I want to sell it for a company which take that responsibility and I get good profit

c22 · 4 years ago

I have dozens upon dozens of notebooks filled with ideas, some of them good. Each year I produce a couple more. If companies were willing to pay a "good profit" for ideas I'd be rich.

What actually matters is the nitty gritty of turning an idea into a real thing. People will pay you for doing this work. Otherwise, they might as well just iterate on one of their own ideas and keep all the profit to themselves.

As mentioned upthread, if you successfully patent your idea you may be able to get some company to pay you licensing fees if they are working on a similar idea. This is just a hedge for them against the possibility of being sued by you.

wizzerking · 4 years ago

As an Engineer with 6 patents I am a co-author on If you want to earn money from the patent I suggest licensing your patent. If a startup approaches you, make the terms easy in the beginning working toward a % of the gross as the company matures. Most companies do not have deep pockets to outright buy your patent for money that will change your life.

Sorry I just forgot to mention that I can't make a startup nearly Thanks for that anyway

ALittleLight · 4 years ago

I believe the patent is not suggesting that you make a startup but rather that you offer to license your patent to a patent and be flexible with the terms allowing yourself to get more compensation as the startup gets more money.

engmgrmgr · 4 years ago

Are you in the US? The patent process usually takes a long time (potentially many years) and potentially a lot of money.

Your details about not being able to form a company are suspicious — why not? It’s really cheap and fast.

I'm in EU By saying I can't make "startup" this means I can't take the process to manufacture and sell the product right now To register a company for the rights is so easy As I know it's not hard to register an EU patent, Isn't it?

captainredbeard · 4 years ago

aurizon · 4 years ago

Make sure any patent assignment has a pull-back mechanism in case the initial buyer goes broke and some other entity buys the patent from the bankruptcy trustee with zero to you, and often the royalties are stripped - not sure how they did it, but patent lawyers have ways to structure a deal so if you have a valid idea and it looks like a good potential earner, he should be able to compose a good enduring deal.

I have good connections with many lawyers I don't think I'll have a problem with that What I don't have an idea about is where to sell it? Where to offer it? Who wants it? etc

Wouldn't people need to know what the idea is to give you advice about where you could sell it? Perhaps your lawyers know a good lead.

Irongirl1 · 4 years ago

https://www.ideaconnection.com the newsletter has a marketplace section where people list their patents for sale.

vestrigi · 4 years ago

I heard it‘s not uncommon to approach companies that maybe could make use of the patent in the future or that are already potentially violating your patent. You approach them and suggest they license your patent to avoid a future lawsuit against you.

I thought about that But it would be riskful because they may register it and you get zero As I know you can give them franchise to use it (like renting) or sell the whole patent

giantg2 · 4 years ago

If you want to sell your patent, you have to actually patent it first.

obulpathi · 4 years ago

Have you considered making your patent into an NFT? Let me know if you are interested.

NicoJuicy · 4 years ago

He can sell it on an NFT, but legally it will still be his patent...

I can already guess that you don't know anything about patents and how they work in particular.

NFT isn't suitable for a patent Honestly I don't like NFT at all