Captured Prey Concept

I HAVE AN idea for a lure. A better mousetrap, if you will.

But then, who doesn’t, right? Look up “fishing lure” on the government’s website uspto.gov and you’ll find 3,100 patents. Since 1976. That’s 3,100 better mousetraps, most of which were never even manufactured.

I’ve been on this particular quest for about 10 years, conducting my own searches, monitoring existing fishing lures, investigating production methods. And I know a little bit about intellectual property, from working with my inventor father, who as of this writing has been awarded 19 patents as well as numerous trademarks in the field of horticulture.

Just recently, I dropped $1,000 to hire a professional patent search of my idea and obtain advice from a patent attorney. Part of me really wanted to find the idea in the database, clearly already patented, so I could just let it go.