This looks like a fun challenge for the gear gurus amongst you - with potential national fame to follow!

 Also, Alpkit will be holding a live chat on the forum on Tuesday 9th October (next Tuesday) from 2pm to 5pm to talk about the competition.  Make a note in the diary! 

And who gets the intellectual property rights, the patents, and the profits if a stunning piece of new gear emerges from this competition? Presumably there's some small print available somewhere....

Cynical, moi?!! 

It wasn't meant as a dig at OM Susan.

But seriously, I hope anyone who comes up with a great new idea here gets to retain some ongoing legal interest in it, not sign away all their future interest for the sake of the competition. The competition site doesn't make it at all clear as far as I can see.

Of course this could be a beneficial arrangement - am 'amateur' gets a way to have their design taken forward, and Alpit or whoever get new product ideas... but it could also be a clever source of new ideas for the industry with no real payback for the creator. I hope it's the former. 

live chat. tues between 2 and 5.

i assume they think that anybody interested will be someone without a job.

A fair few OM users seem to find the odd moment to chat on the forum despite having a job, don't they?!

 Erm, better get back to my job ...

There was a similar thread a while ago, I didn't post then.

My ex-wife was/is a designer, typically aiming her products at the 14 - 18 yr female market. Each year she would invite 16yr old school girls to submit designs to her company, 1st prize of the best design going into production, 2nd & 3rd prizes of a visit to a London fashion week catwalk.

As soon as the designs arrived in the building she would copyright them, every single one. She had run out of ideas years ago and her entire bussiness was built on the designs gained from girls that entered those yearly compos. She milked her target market of ideas by offering the 'chance' of bright lights and fame - to a 16 yr old that was very tempting.

So alpkit may fancy making a real bomber tent then in BRIGHT RED?????????

Drew

Alpkit Rules & Conditions of Entry

It asks if you personally hold a patent on said idea, if so you must declare it.

I guess so it can be signed away from you, a genius way of getting free ideas !!!

I would insist on a percentage of profit for your idea, otherwise save it for the Dragons Den...

The design must be original and not in breach of a third partys intellectual property rights.

So you also need to pay for a patent search  before entering to avoid having Alpkit sue the hell out of you when they discover they don't own your idea.

i thought this was just going to be doing a nice sketch / working drawing of a product that you would like made, and maybe the winning entry is developed further if needed and made.

if you are a finalist they want you to provide "3-D models and high quality artwork"

this sounds expensive too, and i'm clueless as to how you would go about doing all this: "It is the responsibility of the entrant to secure protection for a product, which is being entered before submission. This includes proof of ownership, patents, trademark or design applications, or other any other intellectual property registrations, permissions or applications."

so basically it is a chance to win upto £250 of alpkit stuff and the chance to pitch your idea to anyone and everyone at the outdoors show that might want to buy the rights for your product from you for a few pennies, and maybe get your name in some sort of lights.

i have neither time nor money to develop any ideas i might have - if i were a final year design student it might be a good project - or if i already had a product that i am trying to market.

I don't have knowledge of intracies of the direction the outdoor industry is going in, apart its possibly getting lighter, anyone care to enlighten me further?

"It asks if you personally hold a patent on said idea, if so you must declare it.

I guess so it can be signed away from you, a genius way of getting free ideas !!!"

Really? I think it's just plain common sense to ensure that your company avoids future costly legal wrangles about copyright and patents as a result of running such competitions. Though, I don't think much about the idea that a winner would just get a photo opportunity, a pat on the back and a few quid if that's the sort of thing that'll happen.

As far as I see the Alkit business is founded on direct to customer thus saving costs, E.G No middleman straight to customer equalling cost savings & better prices for the customer.

This is a attempt to save costs by Alpkit by not employing a costly designer who will inrecrease Research & Develpoment costs & thus increase the price of the end product.

I appreciate that Alpkit need to avoid patents & interlectual property rights to avoid future clashes of interest, but this does according to the rules seem to be a costly route for a budding enthusiast/ amateur designer.

I am sure the cost to the designer, mock up 3d models, samples, deliver to outdoor show, can potentially be higher than £250 worth of Alpkit kit ???

I am sure the cost to the designer, mock up 3d models, samples, deliver to outdoor show, can potentially be higher than £250 worth of Alpkit kit ???

Don't forget the hourly cost of your labour at (say) a not-generous £25 per hour - and this  includes designing time, prototype-manufacturing time, undertaking research on your ideas and models with real third-party users etc...

We are talking at least  80 hours' worth of work here. So add a conservative 80 x £25 here to make £2,000. Then factor in the patent costs.