[Slava]

I'm certainly no Thomas Edison, but one day a light bulb went off and I find myself with an invention. Like Edison suggested, necessity was the mother of invention here and I solved a problem for myself that I think could benefit millions of others.

So I thought about how to fix this, bought some materials, and built a prototype. What do you know...it works! I'm mostly just impressed with myself here because I put a lot of thought into this and it solves the problem almost as perfect as I could hope. The only issue is that it was cheap, easy to make and shockingly simple. In other words, easy to steal or duplicate.

So I don't know how to proceed. I have no desire to be "that guy" on Dragons Den who sinks $100k into something that no one else thinks is worth a dime. At the same time I also think that this is a useful and beneficial thing. So specifically here are a few questions at the moment:

- how do I protect this from anyone else? I'm paranoid about someone stealing this idea. I want to protect it without having to spend a ton of money though, in case no one even wants to steal it!

- how do I get a proper prototype built? Mine is rudimentary, and while it works perfectly well, it looks homemade (it is) and could never be sold.

- do I need to see a lawyer? Could I basically use a generic non-disclosure/non-compete for the time being?

I know that asking for legal advice here is not right, and I guess I don't really want that. I just have no real idea of how to move forward aside from what amounts to picking a name from a phone book...so hopefully someone on CP can help shed some light!