woke up with a lightbulb moment at 4am this morning. I’ve got a cool idea
for a unicycle product which would have global appeal to all unicyclists and
for which no patent currently exists (spent a while on the us patent website
this am too).
Any manufacturers out there have a non-disclosure agreement I can enter into
with them? Or does anyone out there make unicycles and want to back me on
this?
I ask as I don’t have the time or money to go through the hassle of getting
a patent myself.
Contact info for each of them is on their web pages. All four of these guys have made unicycles and various unicycle parts. There has been some creative ideas from each of them.
Ed at Creative Geckos is going through the patent process for some of his unicycle designs.
Another option would be to contact John Drummond at unicycle.com and see if they would be interested in helping out with a product idea. They don’t do any manufacturing but they do have knack for getting vendors together.
Just don’t tell Greg Harper about your idea or he will steal it just like he stole the idea for a geared hub from Frank <http://www.unicycle.de.vu/> (Just kidding Greg).
Sports Illustrated is still BEGGING me for the rights to that photo but I sold the copyright to John Foss months ago. And Frank has sent many difficult to evade Deutsch mercenaries to exact his revenge on me but I’m WAY too fast to catch on Blue Shift.
Many interesting ideas for unicycle parts and gadgets have been tossed around here on the newsgroup. The vast majority of them have been non-working ideas, or odd things that would appeal only to niche groups of unicyclists.
I highly recommend you discuss your idea with the guys John Childs mentioned, as they will be able to give you an idea of whether or not it works. You are also welcome to contact me, and I will promise not to use your idea, share, or act on it.
If you are seeking a patent, it means you intend to make money off your idea. Other than simply having credit for it, there is no other reason to seek a patent. Is it really something that would sell? and be cost-effective enough to be affordable?
The last “big idea” I can think of, that probably involved patents and definitely involved big business dealings, was the UniQ. This was basically a unicycle with a front wheel and handlebars stuck on. I was contacted about a year before the thing came on the market, first to see if I wanted to invest (without knowing what it was), and later to see if I’d like to tour with the thing and perform at bike trade shows and similar events, for what appeared to be almost no money. Which I might have done, if it was a truly revolutionary product. Like the Segway.
If you have an idea for putting the brains of a Segway into a unicycle, I’m definitely interested.
John Stewart at JVS Inventions is a helpful guy who is a registered patent agent. He can give you an idea of costs and patentability as well as sign a non-disclosure agreement. He’ll talk to you on the phone for free initially and I have exchanged several e-mails with him in which he gave me very useful information gratis.
Only the coolest toy of all time! Imagine a push lawn mower that you stand
on and drive around. I’ve never had the pleasure of using one, perhaps
someone else here can enlighten us…
----- Original Message -----
From: Aaron Pelly <apelly@monkeymasters.co.nz>
To: ‘Jeff Snoxell’ <Jeff@aetherweb.co.uk>; <rsu@unicycling.org>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 7:20 PM
Subject: RE: Help with idea.
> > Meantime, what’s a “Segway”?
>
> Only the coolest toy of all time! Imagine a push lawn mower that you stand
> on and drive around. I’ve never had the pleasure of using one, perhaps
> someone else here can enlighten us…
>
> Aaron.
Do a search on Google or many other search engines for “Segway” and
you’ll come up with many sites about it. Here is one: http://www.segwaychat.com/
I haven’t used one either but here’s a picture at amazon.com where you can
order one today…for delivery between March and July of this year. You can
download a “See it in action” video there too.
“Aaron Pelly” <apelly@monkeymasters.co.nz> wrote in message news:mailman.1042851903.22211.rsu@unicycling.org…
> > Meantime, what’s a “Segway”?
>
> Only the coolest toy of all time! Imagine a push lawn mower that you stand
> on and drive around. I’ve never had the pleasure of using one, perhaps
> someone else here can enlighten us…
>
> Aaron.
(Just kidding Greg).