Hey, I just modified my comment because the patent part is probably not that important (it would just help me sleep better at night knowing that no one will file a patent while I'm developing the product and sue me when I'm ready to ship). I cannot physically go to New York but if that lawyer can work with me by email/phone, I'd love to hear the recommendation.
You could do a defensive publication. Any publication which discloses the invention prior to the priority date invalidates a patent. This works in the USA too now they have got on the "first to file" band-wagon. The priority date is the date when the relevant disclosure was sent to the patent office; usually that's the application date, the date you sent it to the USPTO [or other office, WIPO, EPO, wherever] but it can sometimes be an earlier date.
So defensive publication is a provable publishing of material that discloses the invention in sufficient detail that the notional skilled worker in the relevant field could reproduce the invention. Once published a subsequent patent application for that invention would fail to be novel or inventive. That doesn't mean no one will apply, nor even that such an application wouldn't be granted, just that prior publication of the invention is an absolute defence.
Of course you'd want to be sure whether the invention is already patented before you try to exploit it commercially.
