Usually people tend to come up with certain New Years resolutions. Some of these can be realistic and easily achievable and others may not be so easy. Many times people set these goals or resolutions never realizing their full potential to actually attempt to try any of them.

2010 can be different, if you want it to be. Inventors are everywhere, different ages, sex, race and IQ’s. With such diversity, this could prove to the “would be inventor” that they can do it, that they can invent something and get it to market. Sure, it will not be easy and may take some time to accomplish it. It also may not happen in a year. They key here would be that if you are going to start it, finish it. You never know if you may end up with a winner or not. Not doing anything though can sometimes be much tougher than failing or seeing that your idea just is not worth it. At least if you try you will know.

So what were your resolutions for 2010? Did any of them have anything to do with an idea you have? If so, good luck and we hope to see you see your idea through to the end.

When you end up filing a patent, it can be good to review some of the past filings people have done with similar products or ideas. This can be an important step to help you make sure that you are not wasting time filing for a patent on a product that has been already applied for. If someone has the same idea then what would be the point of you trying for the same thing. If the patent you find is close to your idea or similar then it is up to you if you want to try for one or not.

If you are filling out the patent application yourself, it can be a good idea to review similar submissions to help you to fill your forms out properly. It can really help you with figuring out how to do drawings and diagrams as well. Many people try filling out applications themselves due to the cost of patent attorneys. It is up to each person to determine if it is worth it for them to pay for help or not. The help can get quite costly depending on the size of your submission. So do your research and have fun.

Once you have an idea, invention or a patented product that you feel is ready to hit the market, remember that marketing anything can be quite a bit of work.

If you first decide to hire someone else to push your product, you may end up forking over a lot of money. Usually marketing companies charge a large sum of money to do all of the work it takes to market your product. Sure they may have lots of contacts, but it can take time to hit up all of these contacts to try and get them to buy into what they are selling. This in turn can end up taking quite a few man hours.

The same can go for you. You will probably spend lots of times trying to sell your products. You will need to build your own contact lists and try and find your own contacts, but it can be done. Of course not all products end up huge, but yours could, you just never know. It will be likely that no matter who does the marketing, it will take time to see it through to the end though. So have fun, and you never know if your next idea may be the next big one on TV.

So you have finally made it, you have sent in your application to have your invention scrutinized by the US government in hopes that they will think it is good and original enough to receive a patent. So what do you do while you wait? The wait can sometimes take years depending on the type of patent, how many times you have had to resubmit, and so on.

Well, you could go ahead and market your product under the label patent pending. The risk here would certainly be up to you as to how you would want to handle it. Sure if you get your patent then you will be OK, but if you do not you may be putting your product out there with not a lot of protection.

Different countries vary on how they handle patent pending type products. You should really consider reviewing all the laws regarding this in your area. It could be very important understanding everything before you make a decision as to how you will move forward. Also, if you plan on selling a product similar to a product that has a patent pending label, you may want to brush up on the laws as well.

There can be something very secretive about trying for a patent. There are many types of people in this work today. Whether you know them or not, the decision to tell others about your inventions should be something you would want to take very seriously. It will be important for you to weigh all of your options as to who you will want to let in on your invention prior to getting a patent.

According to many, your idea is technically not actually protected until you have that patent. Sure, you could prove that the idea was yours, but that could get really messy. You will want to make sure that you think this through, and you may need to realize that the idea may be worth more to protect than it is worth it to let others in on the deal.

Once you have your patent, you should then be good to go. But before that point you may want to be really careful. The idea behind the invention is to come up with something new. But if the idea gets into the wrong hands before you are done, who knows what could happen. So consider making a list of people you feel need to know and a list of those who you want to tell. Just be careful until you have your patent.

There are rumors that after over 30 years the patent system could see an overhaul. Certainly it seems this is not the fault of the person in charge of running it. It is really not up to him to institute major changes to the system. Changes to the system have to be approved by the governing body in place to really get any major changes through. One issue has been said to be that the employees that check these patents are heavily overworked. It takes almost 3 years to get a patent through, and if you do not make it through for approval on the first go, then it could take longer after you re-submit.

It seems that the system has just been overloaded with work. It has been really tough to keep the employees motivated with their day in and day out endless work of looking through patent after patent. They have tried to motivate them as best as possible with incentives and such for how much work they put out.

These changes could more than likely be a good thing for anyone involved. It could help smooth out the process for the patent seekers and the employees of the system.

So where do you start when you want to invent something? Well it first it may seem logical that you need an idea to follow up on. If you really want to try and invent something yet do not have any ideas yet, then there could be some places very close to you that you can start looking in. First look around your home maybe. There could be some great ideas just right around the corner from you. Consider some of the things you do daily and think if there are ways that you may be able to improve them. Or come up with some sort of thing that you think would make everyone’s life better at home. You could ask the family and see if they have some ideas floating around.

You also can just toy around with some things to see if they will fly or not. You never know what you may come up with. The point is you may want to try and have some fun with the project. Involve your family if you want. So start with yourself and work out from there, the possibilities are endless if you have an inventors mind!