On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 01:20:31 -0700, you wrote:

>Hi all,
>I've got a small PIC based LED toy (think fancy keychain like), and I
>wanted to ask the piclist's advice on a few things.
>
>Everyone I've showed it to has
>encouraged me to get a patent, but these are expensive, and given the
>market for small LED toys, I dont think any over seas would be ripoffs
>would have any problems at all getting around it. If I'm going to
>throw $10k at it of my own money I'd rather put it in to the other
>aspects of getting it finished and built, marketed, etc.

Absolutely. 

>So then a few questions:
>
>1. Patent something that might be easily ripped off? Are they
>absolutely necessary?

Waste of time & money for something like this unless very unique - get in quick, sell while it's hot
& get out before the clones arrive. Remember Christmas is coming......

> 2. Any ideas on how I could get plastics made for this thing? Maybe
>something like a snap together case, or a rubberized soft shell or
>something.

Injection mould tooling is prossibly the biggest financial investment for something like this - 
Take a long hard look for anything off-the-shelf that may be suitable - most case mfrs. will do
things like custom colours for moderate quantities. There are many keyfob-type cases already
available.

>3. Someone once told me I'd need to get it safety tested and whatnot,
>any pointers to laws regarding this sort of thing?

If it's classed as a toy  there are probably quite a few hoops to jump through. If you can  market
it as an adult-oriented gadget rather than kids' toy ("Not a Toy" on the label...) you may be able
to sidestep these.  Buy a few comparable products and look for approval marks & safety info in the
instructions - this will get you started. 

>5. I've seen a lot of posts about manufacturing, usually for up to
>100s of boards, but does anyone know of a place that specializes in
>making thousands of smaller boards?

There are lots of assembly subcontractors - for a small PCB that is all SMD, the cost  benefit of
going Far-East may be low, however I'd suggest you find an assembly house in your area that has
Far-East contacts  - that way you can start small & if it takes off you should be able to move to
higher volumes relatively painlessly. 

>6. I'm thinking that I could approach some of the smaller local toy
>stores and talking them in to carrying them for a while to test out
>the market, if it works out, then I'm sure there are toy conferences I
>could schmooze with people and show them some sales data. I'm not a
>sales/marketing guy, so maybe I'm totally missing something there?

Might it be suitable for places like www.thinkgeek.com, www.iwantoneofthose.com - I'm sure there are
many more like this - online places will have a low 'entry cost' for trialling a new product and so
may be more willing to risk an 'unknown' new supplier. 

And of course you could also sell direct via ebay.




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