Indiana Inventors Association

Patenting an invention can give an inventor a competitive advantage in the marketplace.   But preparing and prosecuting a patent application takes time, money, and expertise.   Some energetic inventors who can’t afford to hire a patent attorney or patent agent take time to acquire the expertise needed to prepare and prosecute their own patent applications.   Michael Pugel (patent attorney, Eurekovation, LLC ) described resources available to these pro se applicants. “ Patent It Yourself ” by patent attorney David Pressman is a good general introduction to the topic.   Step one is to keep an inventor’s notebook in which ideas, the invention process, experimental tests and results, and observations are recorded, dated, signed, and witnessed.   The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) grants a patent to the first inventor to file a patent application for a particular invention.   The notebook helps to establish that persons listed as inventors in a patent applicat

The market rewards execution, not ideas. —Scott Adams, “ Scott Adams' Secret of Success: Failure ”, Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2013. Is the juice worth the squeeze? How do you convert an idea to money?   By doing something to unlock the value of the idea.   Even though it’s easier now than ever before to bring an idea to the marketplace, risk and expense remain part of being an entrepreneur.   Success in the marketplace almost always entails failure.   Fear of failure is the number one reason people don’t do anything with their ideas. Louis Foreman (author, The Independent Inventor's Handbook: The Best Advice from Idea to Payoff ; publisher, Inventors Digest ; founder and CEO, Edison Nation, Enventys, and Edison Nation Medical) takes away that fear by transferring all of the risk and expense to his company, Edison Nation.   He helps people find out if bringing their ideas to market is worth it.   His company is for individuals who want to profit fro

Teresa Holland, MSN, RN discussed what she learned from trying to market her medical invention .   If she had it to do over again, she would start by developing a sound business plan and then connect to community resources. Don’t assume that if you build a product, customers will come.   Instead, do the hard work of developing a business plan that answers important questions like: Costs : What will it cost to develop your invention and bring it to market?   What will the costs be before your product is manufactured?   Who will invest in this effort?   (Angel investors are a good source of funding for medical inventions.) Patents : Can and should your invention be patented?   If so, how much will it cost?   Only new inventions can be patented. Product Development : Who (you or someone you hire) will develop your product?   What will development entail and how will development be done? Resources : What resources (accountants,

Marketing a new invention is speculative.   There is no guarantee that you will recover or profit from your investment.   To help inventors minimize their risks, the European Patent Office offers this general advice on avoiding seven marketing mistakes . The invention is more complex than the problem merits.  A needlessly complex invention drives up production costs and confuses customers. The invention is not kept secret until the date of filing.  Publicly disclosing your invention before you file a patent application prevents you from getting a patent from most countries other than the United States. The invention isn’t new.  Patents are issued only for new inventions.  Do a patent search before you invest in marketing. The inventor hasn't fully considered the problem.  No one wants to buy an invention that doesn’ work . No one wants it.  Do some customer research before you manufacture or try to license your invention.  Just because you like your invention doesn’t me

Charles Meyer (partner, Woodard, Emhardt, Henry, Reeves & Wagner LLP) gave us a very interesting and witty review of intellectual property.   For more information than this brief summary provides, talk with someone who was there. Take-home message : Intellectual property protects your identity and your market share. The most popular forms of intellectual property are copyrights, patents, and trademarks.   A trademark brands your products with your identity.   A patent prevents others from benefiting from your invention (a product or process, an ornamental design for a manufactured product, or a plant).   A copyright prevents others from copying your particular tangible expression of an idea (not the idea itself). Trademark A trademark (for goods), service mark (for services), or trade dress (trademark for the image and overall appearance of goods) identifies you as the origin of a good or service.   It lets consumers know what quality or consistency to expect whe

Dave Zedonis (president, Indiana Inventors Association; principal, Z*Tech ; patentee ) treated us to a discussion on how to successfully invent and innovate. Inventing is in our genes.   It gave our ancestors the edge they needed to prosper in hostile environments and gives us hope today for a better tomorrow.   Almost everyone invents to some extent and for a variety of reasons. If you invent to make money, solve an important, widespread, and widely known problem.   Working or playing in any technical field will acquaint you with such problems.   Chatting with or surveying experts and workers in technical fields (eg, at trade shows) can do the same.   Solving such problems avoids a barrier to entering the market—the need to educate potential customers on the benefits of your invention. Stick with a problem that interests you.   Solving an important problem can easily take 3 or 4 years.   Developing a working prototype of your invention can help you learn more about th