Tyler C ⋅ Charleston, SC U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 9 years served

1st question is knowing what patent you are doing. provisional, non-provisional and then is it a utility, design or plant. 2nd. know the difference between the provisional and non provisional. If the provisional is complete you have a year to start the process of a couple of things. 1 is filing the non provisional application. 2nd is going to companies to try and license your product if you have it or prototype 3rd is manufacturing your prototype to sell on the market or 4th would be to sell the rights if you had an interested buyer (don't suggest it unless you benefit from it). I am not a patent attorney but hold a couple of patents on medical devices and these are the steps I personally do/consider.
Hope it helps and good luck.

Lawrence Cruz ⋅ Stamford, CT Chief Patent Counsel - Conair Corporation ⋅ 22 years experience

Tenroy,
I have much experience in this area. The simple answer is to keep knocking on doors of big companies that sell similar products, and try to persuade them to license your pending patent rights. If you have samples or prototypes it sometimes helps to send samples or demo videos. You can try displaying working samples at a trade show. Or try selling units on Amazon to get noticed. Good luck.
Lawrence Cruz

Andre Cuffe ⋅ Toms River, NJ U.S. Army Reserve, Sergeant ⋅ 8 years served

Thanks for the quick response Tyler...sorry wasn't proofreading what I wrote...I filed a Non-Provisional Utility application in the summer after the Provisional had expired. My attorney says it takes 18-24 months (sometimes longer) for us to get an approval on that. In the mean time...I guess where I need help is finding potential licensees that may be willing to come on board with the patent pending status until the patent is approved. Trying to find out how you went about getting licensing, what were the advantages and pitfalls, how did you prepare before making contact. Who you turned to for help negotiating royalties etc.