Yes. Snap-on will accept any idea for consideration, whether patented or not. You may, however, want to apply for a patent before submitting your idea if you believe your idea is patentable. Obtaining a patent will give you some legal rights that you do not otherwise have.
No. You must bear the cost of patenting your idea since you will have rights to that idea under U.S. patent law. If Snap-on modifies your idea such that it will be uniquely different than your original idea, Snap-on has the option to patent the modified idea.
Materials will not be returned. Please make sure you have duplicates of any physical material you submit.
Be sure to fill out the submission entirely. Include pictures, drawings and as many details as possible to give us a sense of how your idea is unique – and how it might solve a problem or make a job easier.
For ideas submitted via US mail, you will receive a postcard within 60 days of our receipt of your idea.
Once you have agreed to our product submission terms and received a receipt of your idea, your idea will be forwarded to the Snap-on product idea review team who will review idea submissions to determine whether or not Snap-on is interested in pursuing your idea. After the initial review, our team may accept your idea for further exploration, pass, or request additional details.
Although you may be asked for additional information about your idea, most submissions are evaluated solely on the material included in the original submission. Snap-on encourages you to include all of the information you believe is pertinent for the evaluation of your idea when you initially submit it.
If your idea is selected for further review, we will contact you.
If Snap-on uses your unpatented idea on production products and Snap-on is not aware of the idea prior to your submission, you will receive up to $3,000 in cash and a sample of the product (when the retail value of the product is under $200). If Snap-on uses your patented idea on production products, an agreement can be negotiated.