Posts Tagged: "Inventors Digest"

Licensing your invention is a lot easier if you can show that it’s selling. That means you have to produce a small quantity of your product. Nice idea – until you learn that a plastic injection mold costs $25,000. Now what? Fortunately, there are options. You just have to know where to look.

Sarah Miller Caldicott is the great grandniece of the legend himself, Thomas Alva Edison. She’s a motivational speaker, head of business consulting firm PowerPatterns and the co-author of Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor. In this interview Caldicott reveals what she’s learned and gained from being related to an icon of innovation.

In business and the corporate world, it’s all about who know. When bringing an invention idea to fruition, it’s all about whom you partner with. There are tangible, financial benefits to finding partners who offer services vital to your new company’s survival. These services may come from a designer, prototyper, patent lawyer or manufacturer. In other words, they bring to the table more than the deep pockets of a venture capitalist or angel investor.

Louis Foreman, the producer of the Emmy Award winning PBS television show Everyday Edisons and the publisher of Inventors Digest, announced in April 2011 that he was launching of a $25 million Innovation Fund. Phase 1 of the search for inventions for the Fund to invest in was completed in mid-June 2011. Phase 2 of the search for inventions and ideas has just begun and will run through Monday, September 12th, 2011. He tells me that the Fund is off to a great start and has received some very innovative technologies as part of the first wave.

To help what might be the best ideas and inventions percolate to the top Foreman has created what he refers to as a “Patent Attorney Referral Program.” This program is designed to benefit patent attorneys and patent agents whose clients submit innovative ideas and concepts. This isn’t one of those unethical referral programs though, so no worries there. If a client of a patent attorney or patent agent is selected and accepts the offer of assistance from the Innovation Fund then the patent attorney or patent agent representing that inventor will be retained by the Innovation Fund to provide the legal services required to pursue patent rights.

As the debate in the Senate starts to wind down and moves to the House of Representatives, whether you are pro-reform or against reform, get involved and participate. Taking the time to be engaged can go a long way. In listening to the debate in the Senate over the past 4 days it is clear to me that Senators are listening to those on both sides who engage in thoughtful debate. While I am often cynical about government, it has been refreshing to watch. Painful at times, but nice to see that ordinary citizens can make a difference.

All of the morning sessions were open to all attendees followed by break out sessions later in the day where the attendees were able to choose the sessions they wanted to attend. Most of the sessions were repeated throughout the event, so that the attendees would not have to forego one topic session to attend another. There were speakers from both the IP community and the USPTO on topics pertinent to this audience, including the inventor of the Post It Note, Art Fry. The attendees were given the opportunity to attend different educational break out sessions that were meant to educate the independent inventor on the entire patent process.

Louis Foreman sent the letter reproduced below to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who is Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As his letter explains, Foreman supports patent reform because “leaving the current system alone is not an opinion, nor does it benefit anyone.” Foreman believes the patent reform pending is a “significant improvement” because, among other things, it will lower fees for micro-entities and lead to because it will “ultimately result in a stronger patent making it easier for independent inventors and small businesses to attract start-up capital.

I applaud Popular Mechanics for tackling the under-covered issue of patent reform in Inventors Slam Patent Reform Effort. However, I disagree with some of the magazine’s assertions. Regarding first-to-invent vs. first-to-file, PM says: FTI theoretically allows an inventor to sit on an idea for years, gradually improving it until he or she is ready to file. FTF eliminates that strategy,…

Mike Drummond, the Editor of Inventors Digest, sat down for an interview with David Kappos a few weeks ago while he was in Alexandria, Virginia, attending the Independent Inventors Conference. As has probably become apparent over the last several months Mike and I have been cooperating on a number of projects, sharing articles and doing some cross promotion. While I…

Inventors Digest held a youth innovation essay contest, in part to celebrate National Inventors Month, last August. The four winning essays are at InventorsDigest.com. The magazine received and reviewed some 400 essays from across the country. Inventors Digest, in cooperation with IPWatchdog, is showcasing several essays deserving of honorable mention. This is the second Honorable Mention Essay. The first was…

Inventors Digest, in cooperation with IPWatchdog, is showcasing several essays deserving of honorable mention.  The first in this series appears below. Inventors Digest held a youth innovation essay contest, in part to celebrate National Inventors Month, last August. The four winning essays are at InventorsDigest.com.  The magazine received and reviewed some 400 essays from across the country. The following illustrate…

False marking is a statute in the Patent Act that imposes civil liability for intentionally marking a product as patented when it isn’t. We’ve all come across a product marked with the phrase, “This product is covered by U.S. Patent No. (fill in the blank).” Such marking puts the world on notice that the patent holder has exclusive rights to…