What Dabs described is known as a "poor man's patent". I still have one sealed up in a drawer from a concept I tried to patent back in college. It can really only protect you if you also include a disclosure document with it that shows that you have publicly or privately shared your idea with another party. If someone else legitimatly comes up with the same thing, merely having your idea written down somewhere does nothing for you unless you can proove that others knew about it.
Since your idea is not something radically different and new, but rather an improvement to and existing product, I would not waste any time and money chasing a patent. The process is more complicated and expensive than you might think and there are usually multiple attorneys, consultants and other parties who will all get a cut of any money and royalties you make in addition to what they charge you up front. Even if you succeed in getting a patent and get it on the market, if it becomes a hot item it's only a matter of time before one of the big chains knocks it off and puts you under. How many times have you seen a hot new product show up in a Cabelas catalog and then the next season it's gone, but coincidentally they have a Cabelas brand product that is nearly identical to it.
What I would do is take your idea to Cabelas or Bass Pro and offer to sell your idea to them or lisence them to manufacture and market it. It's easy enough to have then sign a disclosure document at the time so if they turn you down and then rip off your idea you have all the evidence you need to sue for compensation. Thats what I wish I had done with my idea back then because there was a window of about 7 or 8 years where it would have been hot before other products came out that have obsoleted it.
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Shawn Wheaton
Missouri Waterfowl Association
Westside Chapter Chairman
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