everything you have said is great advice. However, the liability and competitive concerns on a battery operated toy are much different than a light that doesn't have all of its certifications. Especially considering that Rahz will probably use top end components which have their certifications (e.g. top end meanwell HLG drivers with 7 years of warranty).
But safety for a toy is a huge concern in the consumers eye and the courts. Competition in the toy market is brutal, with a lot of very big players.
Absolutely, and that was all taken into concern. Competition putting an object in the anus was a very real attempt to put a relevant example. The toy was very child safe, not adult psycho safe. You can have the safest object, made of the best materials, no expenses spared, and somebody that
makes a living trolling patents, small business, or whater troll in general can wreck you for absolutely no reason. You have nearly zero control, unless you have your Ts crossed and it's a common household object your slinging and everyone knows it's safe. Even then, people can keep you in court for years over something you clearly never designed your product for. Just wait for the guy that thinks it would be cool to bottom illuminate his plexiglass tub (or a fish tank). One of many reasons medications are so expensive - you put the repeatedly double blind tested, proven side effects and your billion $ boner pill now cost $3 billion when people realize a rock hard can make you dizzy - you know that side effect it says on the bottle, said in every commercial, says 5x on the 10 page document they miraculously got in the container, the thing the pharmacist warned you about, the thing you joked about, the thing your doctor mentioned as he did his best to evaluate your health, etc.
High amperage, AC and DC, going into rooms probably not 100% of the time up to code, installed and operated by people that might not be working at peak mental function, where many operations could be illicit, and waters everywhere.... It's very real somebody could try to get the COB inside their anus. (That was humour for getting hurt)
This second mention of patents however was for OP. Include the royalties in the cost. If you do have novel components or uses, DO patent it, and DO patent it in countries like China. There for example, if you didn't have a patent filed in country before your idea was stolen, you have 0% chance of shutting down the generic factory.
but if I get the idea it's a deal breaker for the venture I would resort to powder coating small runs. If this project is successful anodized cases could be possible down the road.
