Earlier today Rodger Gooch, a client of mine appeared on the national morning show — Fox & Friends.  Rodger came to me some time ago in order to protect his invention, which he dubbed Data Center in a Row.  We have filed a couple patent applications for Rodger, and there are more inventions in the works.  Rodger is a great guy who found himself hit hard by the recession, so he turned to inventing.  Rodger sold his business before the recession started, and was going to stay on as a consultant and eventually ease into retirement.  Then the recession hit and there was not enough work, so Rodger was not needed.  Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the stock market took a huge hit, so now Rodger was without work and his retirement savings took a severe hit.  Rodger then turned to inventing, and he is now doing quite well thanks to orders coming in at a brisk pace because his invention is a significant improvement over anything else on the market.

Rodger’s invention is essentially a containment system for servers, but such a simple description doesn’t do justice to what he has invented.  Every aspect of the invention is a significant improvement over other available server storage devices.  Rodger’s “Server Fridge,” which is a name that Patrick Raymond coined during a brainstorming session, is a soundproof modular container that includes a cooling system.  One of the things that makes this invention so desirable is that it does not need to become coupled with a structure or building.  Other previous devices require complicated installment that would turn the storage into a structural part of the building or room in which it is contained, which means if you install them you pay a lot of money and then if you move it would stay with the building.  Other solutions would insulate and soundproof an entire room, which again makes the solution a part of the structure and not movable, but also requires an entire room to be kept refrigerator cold to keep servers and computer equipment running smoothly.  Rodger’s unit uses only the space necessary for a server rack, insulates the entire unit to keep in the sound and keep in the cold air, includes constant monitoring and even includes automated fire suppression technology (also invented by Rodger).  In the device cold air is passed from the cooling system to the base of the containment unit through the damper and into the containment area. Warm air is removed from the containment area through the passageway formed in the top thereof and back to the cooling system. The warm air removed from the containment area is cooled by the cooling system.  Rodger’s invention can truly be described as “green technology” because due to the small footprint of the device it uses less energy to keep servers and computer equipment cool.

Rodger appeared on Fox & Friends along with Patrick Raymond, the Executive Director of the United Inventors Association, and the inventor of the Shower Bow.  Fox & Friends was looking to do a feel good story about people who were hit hard by the recession and turned to inventing.  As Steve Ducey, a co-host of the show, explained, Rodger did not request or receive a bailout, but rather decided to bail himself out with his own ideas, ingenuity and hard work.

In my capacity as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Inventors Association I have been working with Patrick Raymond for about 18 months.  One day Patrick told me that he was going to be on Fox & Friends, but that the morning show was looking for another inventor who had turned to inventing due to the economic downturn.  I told him that I thought I had the perfect candidate.  After many phone calls, many e-mails and the creation of a 1/4 scale model of Rodger’s invention, we were able to convince Fox & Friends that Rodger was the other inventor they were looking for.  Rodger flew up to New York City over the weekend, and appeared on the show at about 7am Eastern Time this morning.

Those who have known me for a long time know that when I started out practicing law it was as a litigator, doing any type of litigation that came into the firm I was with.  I decided that was not for me because the better it was for the firm the worse it was for the client, and I just couldn’t handle that.  So I dusted off my degree in electrical engineering and took the patent bar exam, and I haven’t looked back.  Now 11 years later I am very happy with the path I have followed, and it is truly great to help people like Rodger move forward in business.  That is why I love being a patent attorney.