Joe:

That seems like unprecedented success to me – like getting 5 silver medals in the Olympics and only a matter of time for the gold. What would you estimate was the average or range of time between the presentations for your 5 ideas and when you received the R8’s?

I had 5 R8s this year….does that count for anything

Hi Robert,
Many of these companies are similar to ASOTV, even though they do not have an infomercial testing, they do test in their own way by
making a certain number of products and test marketing them in certain stores. The consumer is the final judge. If ASOTV winners do not get
a product to market by not passing testing, they do get their infomercial and prototype. LPS winners on the other hand, get $2,500 up front
and if it makes it to store shelves, possibly lots more in the years to follow. There are no guarantees. But I personally think the EN business model is terrific.
Have a nice evening, Nighty Nite.

One thing I always remind myself if considering the time it takes, etc for items to “make it” and peoples’ frustrations is the bottom line that EN is our “partner” (generally 50-50)…and if we aren’t making any money on it, they aren’t either…and in fact they are losing money with all the great expense that Robert mentioned.

Toni – it would seem that what the EN community has seen so far as G8’s and products on shelves is just the tip of a massive iceberg of new EN products soon to be unleashed on the market. Clearly EN is in fact the trusted resource and friend to inventors they appear to be.

My only worry is that an immediately and highly marketable (LPS) product can get hung up not by EN but by a slowly-moving battleship of a company that takes its own sweet time to bring products to market, perhaps as a matter of their corporate culture. However, I trust that EN is looking out for us in that regard as well and will hold the LPS sponsor accountable as much as possible to a reasonable development timeline and commercialization schedule.

Undoubtably dealing with these same companies through EN is a far better option than trying to deal with them on your own. The only potentially better scenario for some products would be to bring them to market oneself – but of course that has its own massive frustrations and costs.

Everyday Edison/EN is a young company that already has more than 7 million units of different products on major store shelves.
They are constantly working for us behind the scenes, I know of several incredible infomercials that are being tested right now.
People do not realize the amount of time and effort it takes to accomplish these tasks.

I have seen what they are doing for our Team Talva’s infomercial and it is Amazing. I wish I could say more! :>)

I’d be shocked if EN didn’t also have performance criteria in their deals. But I’m with you, Robert, on your concern: if you’ve got the time and means to bring something out yourself it seems a huge and relevant concern to understand what other safety net exists.

I think part of my confusion here is that there are actually TWO license deals or conveyances of IP happening in an LPS, right?: (1) from the inventor to EN (assignment automatic and immediate upon G8 award) and presumably (2) a license from EN to the LPS sponsor (contingent on market testing etc. by the sponsor during a period not to exceed 6 months).

It’s the latter that concerns me. And while I trust EN to do a fantastic job negotiating and executing a license (EN’s interests are perfectly aligned with the inventor in this), the sponsor may still drag their heels etc. in a way not controllable by EN, making the process to actually getting to profitable sales take a long, long time.

@Frank

Well, this year (2011) the producers of Everyday Edisons’ actually sponsored the casting calls right here on Edison Nation as live product searches…very fun and exciting for everyone and good luck to those still waiting for news!!!

Here is the list that I found when browsing the blog under successes (Here:http://blog.edisonnation.com/category/success-s...) for the other LPS G8ers announced this year, and hopefully there will be more “good news” phone calls to Edison Nation from some of the other sponsors who might still be making final decisions on those waiting G7ers:

2/17/11 Michael F./Talva Sportcraft
2/18/11 Papa Jim/Talva ASOTV
2/21/11 Toni Rey ASOTV
3/7/11 Michael F/Nick A ASOTV
7/21/11 Ninette Holbrook Life’s Abundance
7/29/11 Marvin B ASOTV option
9/29/11 Anne Daniels SureFit

Here it is…
I think it said the Threshold Date was at 5 years…

“3.Grantback Provision
A.If, on the Threshold Date, cumulative total of Annuities that have become due and payable to Assignor by Assignee amounts to less than $100,000.00, then Assignor shall have the right, upon written request to Assignee, to cause Assignee to convey to Assignor all rights, title, and interests in and to any then-existing patents, patent applications, trademarks, trademark applications, trademark registrations, copyrights, and copyright applications of the Intellectual Property that is owned by Assignee. Simultaneously with such conveyance, Assignor shall grant to Assignee a non-exclusive, perpetual license in and to such patents, patent applications, trademarks, trademark applications, trademark registrations, copyrights, and copyright applications of the Intellectual Property that are conveyed. Such license shall include the right to sublicense, and all of the provisions of this Assignment shall continue in full force and effect to the extent not contradicted by this Section.
B.If Assignor does not exercise the right to conveyance set forth in Section 3.A within 1 year of the Threshold Date, then Assignor shall be deemed to have waived such right to conveyance.
C.For the purposes of avoiding the conveyance contemplated by Section 3.A, Assignee shall have the right to make payment to Assignor of any amount required to make up the difference between the cumulative total of Annuities made to Assignor by Assignee and $100,000.00. If Assignee exercises this right to cover the shortfall, then Assignor shall not have the right to conveyance set forth in Section 3.A.”

@Jane – Thanks – I was just looking for that document (or something that definitively described the process in detail).

I note that the SureFit deal was about a 6 month process from submission to product launch – not bad.

Hey Robert, I’m not sure. Those are good questions and you’ll want to know exactly what to expect when you submit those ideas. Here’s a copy of the license agreement…
http://www.edisonnation.com/documents/innovator...
I didn’t re-read it, but I know if they don’t sell enough to make a certain profit, you get your IP back. See if you find it in there. I’ll take a minute to see if I can find that part too…

I thought they were all from EN. If we have that few ideas from EN, how is Q managing to take out one idea almost in two weeks. Agreed that not all of them will be a success, but even then, I am pretty sure they must be having at least 1 success every month or so.
Does EN not get 1 G8 every month. I thought they did, since I see mails of congrats in less than one month intervals.
If its just a matter of going to stores, that will obviously take time, as as Betty said, her idea was G8ed in 2009 end, and its taken more than an year and a half to go to the stores. Given that EN is just a bit more than 2 yrs old, we should be seeing many ideas going to stores, soon, right?

Betsy wrote: “My G8 for Eggies happened in December of ’09” and in just the past 8 weeks has hit store shelves.

I trust EN too and know the process of licensing a product can be even more frustrating and TIME-CONSUMING “in the wild”.

However, I am interested to know whether a “G8” means “licensed”, regardless of whether the product is ultimately commercialized or not. If the product is licensed at the beginning of development (within 6 months of the presentation), could one negotiate insertion of a clause stating that if time period “X” is exceeded before the licensed product is made available for purchase by the public in a minimum “Y” retail channels then fee “Z” would paid to the licensor for each month exceeding the agreed-upon development period?

I’m keenly interested not so much for ideas I have currently entered (though I’m interested for those too), but because I am considering entering some more dearly-held ideas that I figure I could commercialize on my own in less than 6 months (but with considerable expense and effort).

Anant – I think they are saying there were LOTS of G8’s – but not many G8 products are available for purchase (yet).

Anant, that list is a combination of Everyday Edisons (TV show) and Edison Nation. Frank is looking for just Edison Nation successes off that list and those that were selected in 2011 only.

The list of inventors in the Success page is a big list – 76 people. Assuming some of them have multiple ideas, like Marvin, there must be at least 100 ideas which have been selected?
So how are we saying there have been so few G8’s?

There have been G8’s that were ultimately not commercialized, for a variety of reasons. And yes, G7’s can sit there and mock you for months. But honestly, I still completely trust this process and the EN team. I have seen how they work for us when a company decides to go with an idea. Marketing is an art and a science, and they are growing in expertise on both levels… more and more with each search. It won’t be long and there will be G8’s on shelves all over the place. It all takes t i m e.

Is it possible that you receive a “G8” which is defined as “your submission has been selected by the search sponsor for commercialization” and it still does NOT become a real product on store shelves or takes two years to do so? At what point is a license deal signed?

I guess I thought a “G8” represented a signed license deal which would be inked within 45 days of the presentation and that development of the product would follow with all haste after that.

And in the case of a G7 it’s possible your idea could be locked up (in total) for 3-9 months with nothing to show for it?

When you get to G7 and your idea is presented to the search sponsor, you agree to let them take up to 6 months to decide. EN works to wrap up in under 45 days, but sometimes… especially with really big, lumbering companies, it may take longer than 6 months. If it goes beyond 6 months, you are allowed to remove your idea… but it might pay to wait for their final decision. It always feels like there could be a “yes” just around the corner. I had that feeling with pyrex… but the answer ended up being “no”.
oh well. onward! lol

A G8 this year would still be in the prototype, focus group, beginning stage. My G8 for Eggies happened in December of ’09 and in just the past 8 weeks has hit store shelves. I guess I have an advantage knowing (at least about my product) everything that happens behind the scenes and understanding first hand how long things take.

Colonel, Eggies was entered into an ASOTV search. My BBB ideas were college dorm related.

Isn’t there a 45-day limit after the presentation for an LPS sponsor to license (G8) or not license (R8) a product? Was it only in the past that this limbo period could stretch into months?

If a sponsor does keep an idea tied up in limbo for an inordinate period of time without compensation is there a mechanism for an inventor to take the idea back and recover their IP?

True Michael, unless you count Betsy’s ASOTV (I think she submitted it to BB&B and opted in for ASOTV).
One day, a product might just make it, so we just keep pluggin’ along. I am liking the Bandai search a lot, so I have my fingers crossed.

However, NO sponsered LPS searches have resulted in a product for sale on store shelves.

Julie… you are the one with the good memory!! I just search back… or ask Sherri. :-)

Talva had 2 G8s. Sportcraft and ASOTV

I can only speak of my own experience with the BB&B Women of Invention LPS: EN presented 33, I think, and one was chosen quickly. The product which was chosen was submmitted by someone not listed on EN: BB&B advertised heavily so I imagine they had thousands of submittals from outside EN (but I could be wrong). After a few more months, the remaining group of us (maybe 17 or more) got shot down very quickly but then it was announced that BB&B had chosen a product by our very own Marcy. Here is the link, if you are interested, on the history of that search:

http://www.edisonnation.com/forums/live-product...

Imajane might remember the events better …

Let’s see… we had Anne Daniels on the Sure Fit Live Product Search most recently; who else?