My answer . . . yes, it will. And it’s way too easy.

Now that you know that your product will be copied, how do you best protect your product from copycats?Conventional wisdom says you should get a patent. But as I’ve mentioned before, patents are only useful for blockbuster mass market products and licensing deals.

Your question should be, “How do I protect my non-patented invention?”

Actually, it’s less about your product, and more about the way you make, deliver, improve, and stand by your product . . . i.e. the business you’ve created around your product. It’s easy to copy your product, and factories in China are more than willing to do so. However, they can’t copy your business. They can’t copy the way you interact with customers. They can’t copy your distribution channels. They can’t copy your brand and reputation. They can’t copy your energy and ambition. They can’t copy your SEO skills (especially since their Engrish is poor).

So, yes, you can differentiate yourself with your product. But to protect your product, profit margins, and livelihood, you need to build a business around the product that CAN’T be replicated.

This is what Coke has done. This is what Crest Toothpaste has done. If you look in your pantry or bathroom, this is what most consumer goods manufacturers have done. They’ve built a product-based business that can’t be replicated.

Following the lead of these successful businesses, my company, Webko, has built a successful business around the Headset Buddy, and because of it, we are #1 in most of our markets.

If there is anything to learn from this, it goes back to my earlier post about listening to your customer for feedback and ideas.

If you’d like to keep up with the latest Headset Buddy products, visit our new Headset Buddy Adapter blog.

So how can Billy get away with selling all these products and not protecting them? Here is his philosophy…

So many inventors think they are out to make millions of dollars. However, studies have shown that only 3% of patents are commercially viable (MIT study). So the number of products that are both commercially viable and make millions of dollars, is a very, VERY small number. For most inventors, you’re lucky to make a profit, and really lucky to earn an full-time income from a product.

That’s where Billy’s philosophy really kicks in. If you assume your product will only make at most $200,000 or less in sales per year (what 99.9999% of inventions make), then why spend $20,000-$40,000 applying for, protecting, and litigating for a patent? In fact, if you are like most inventors who sell their product in small quantities to niche markets, then you don’t necessarily need a patent. Why would a Chinese company or an American company want to make your product if you’re only selling less than $200,000 of it per year? It is not worth it for them to copy it.

Copycats and big companies only want blockbuster products with potential sales in the millions. So what may be a treasure to you, making $100,000 selling your product, is peanuts to a corporation. The trick to creating a successful product that sells well enough for you to earn a living is this . . . create a product in a niche big enough for you, but too small for anyone larger. For example, Billy spun off a line of metal detectors for hunters, so they can detect bird shot in their catch of the day. That’s a niche. That’s a product that sells well, but doesn’t need a patent.

I think it’s calming to know that if you create a good, niche product, then you don’t have to worry about all the money, time, and energy you would be wasting on a patent.

Using this philosophy, Billy has created 59 products that sell well enough for him to live the good life, but not well enough for it to be worth it for companies to copy his products.

- Bryan Daigle

Bryan Daigle