Week 18 - Invention, Intellectual Property and Income
This week's task is to develop a plan for dissemination of the final project and to prepare drafts of the summary slide and video clip (~1 minute, less than 25 MB).
This we learned about intellectual property, including copyright, licensing, and various commercialization strategies.
A plan to share my work
Before taking the device home, I plan to leave it at the Fab Lab for a while to showcase what can be created there.
At the beginning of the project, I chose the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license for my work. I may consider relaxing this license later, but for now, I’ll keep it as is.
Future opportunities and/or development for the final project
The game I created is a study piece for exploring different manufacturing methods in Fab Academy, rather than a commercially viable product. However, if improved, a potential commercialization model could follow the example of pinball machines: renting the device to bars or restaurants. Another possibility might be placing the device in a venue and charging for play, for instance via MobilePay. Other possible enhancements:
- More game modes
- Multiplayer mode
- Improved reliability and durability for public use
A first minimum viable product could be developed as a self-funded side-hustle project outside of work, using a Fab Lab. Prototypes could be shown to potential customers to gather feedback and assess market potential. The game could also be customized for specific playing environments.
According to the Fab Lab Charter, “Designs and processes developed in Fab Labs can be protected and sold however an inventor chooses, but should remain available for individuals to use and learn from. Commercial activities can be prototyped and incubated in a Fab Lab, but they must not conflict with other uses, they should grow beyond rather than within the lab, and they are expected to benefit the inventors, labs, and networks that contribute to their success.” This makes Fab Labs well-suited for prototyping and early-stage product development. If the result is a novel, useful, and feasible device, it could potentially be patented.
Fab Academy has been inspiring in showing that quite large projects are achievable, while also providing a realistic understanding of what can be done with limited resources.
Final project video and summary slide
