The time has never been better for independent inventors to enter the market with their inventions. I've noticed over the past 10 years that there has been a progressively improving openness from manufacturers to accept inventions from outside their company.
More companies are willing to sign confidential disclosure agreements.
More inventors are cropping up with their own progressive companies. Others have licensed their inventions and receive a royalty. We've had two recessionary periods in the past 10 years. At the same time, those companies' sales were sluggish and they weren't bringing in the revenues necessary to launch new products. These factors resulted in a reduction of new product introductions.