What's going to make your "universal remote" different than all of the others we have already?

All IR appliances? That's going to be a huge list.
Current remote companies mak their lists themselves by getting the codes direct from the manufactureer of the IR controlled devices and from certified dealers who leearn the codes and then submit them back to the emote company.

Also, what price range do you want your remote to be in? if it's going to be more than a couple hundred, then you will want more than just IR commands. You will also want RS-232 commands, Zigbee commands or Z-wave commands, and Network protocols for all the appliances out there.

Good luck Chuck.