Business Questions - Essay

Business questions
1. Firstly, the inventor would have to conceive an invention idea. The inventor would likely have to spend a lot of time, money and effort in drawing up a specification of their idea to a standard of perfection, which could also include professional advice and support. Next, after producing a signed, dated, and witnessed documentation of an invention, the inventor has valuable rights against any inventor who later conceives the same invention and applies for a patent. This is because the invention is now documented. Then, the inventor would have to fill out a patent application and include his or her “claims”. Claims explain, specifically, what the product is or does. The inventor would then have to wait for the patent to be approved of. Patent applications take a few years to be approved and the process is known as the “patent pending period”. During this time the inventor could spend time developing expansion ideas, conducting further market research or visiting different companies and proposing them to manufacture the inventor’s idea until their patent is approved of. However, most companies that manufacture a product that is the subject of a pending patent application will mark the product "patent pending" in order to warn potential copiers that if they copy the product, they may have to stop later if and when a patent is issued. After the patent issues, the patent owner can maintain a lawsuit for anyone who tries to breach the patent and tries to use or sell the invention without permission. After the patent expires, the patent owner has no further rights.

2. A patent would be beneficial to Heather in many ways. Firstly, a patent would reduce the number of competitors Heather would have to face in the market. This means because her idea is protected under a patent, nobody else could copy it. Ultimately, this would mean Heather will own a greater share in her target market area which, hopefully, then, should lead to a more profitable cash...