Q: I have an organizing system that would complement box legend clothes organizer. I would like to sell the idea.
I would like to sell the idea to the patent owner of box legend clothes organizer.
A:
Congratulations on having a good idea. You may be able to make and sell this as an aftermarket enhancement for installed systems. That is one route and a route that does not require buy-in from the BoxLegend folks. You may wish to obtain a patent so that others do not make a similar product.
There are lots of aftermarket devices that compliment an existing device. For example, my wife and I have a rack to stores the vacuum cleaner attachments that is an aftermarket product sold for a specific brand of vacuum cleaner.
It is possible to sell an idea to improve an existing product. Sometimes it is best to get a patent on the idea so that you have something tangible to sell. But you are taking a risk that after spending the time and the money that the Box Legend folks will not want to adopt your idea. I have seen that happen. I had a client obtain a patent that solved a terrible problem for an existing product. The company that made the original product just would not deal with him and pretended that the well-documented problem did not exist.
It may be smart to get a patent attorney to do some checking to see if the BoxLegend may be a tradename and not the legal name of the relevant company. One can search for recorded assignments of US patents at https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/search (not all patent licenses are recorded but it is a good place to check).
If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at
https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338
Kevin E Flynn
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