Indiana Inventors Association

(Thanks to Dave Zedonis for summarizing this event.) Members met to discuss how they are adapting to the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (9/16/2011), which imposes the biggest change to U.S. patent law in almost 60 years. One provision of the Act takes away the long-standing American right of the first inventor of an invention to claim patent protection for the invention.  Now, in keeping with long-standing European law, an inventor (1 st or 1001 st ) who first applies for a patent has the right to claim the patent. One strategy for adapting to this change is to file a series of provisional applications as you gradually develop your utility invention.  Doing so gives you a particular file date for each inventive increment of an invention.  Then, within 1 year of filing your first provisional application, file a nonprovisional application that incorporates the previously filed provisional applications.  Within that 1 year, you may sell, test, or test ...

(Thanks to Dave Zedonis and Robert Humbert for summarizing this event.) An inventor tends to know a lot about technology, but not about business.  So if s/he wants to turn an invention into a profitable business, s/he must often either hire someone with business expertise or learn about business.  Steven Bryant (executive director of the Ivy Tech Community College Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship , Bloomington , IN ) told us about his college’s new program for teaching people how to start and run a business. Several classes for students, taught by entrepreneurs, are structured by one 2-year degree (Associate of Applied Science Degree in Business Administration emphasizing entrepreneurship) and two certificates (Technical and Career Development).  Free consultation and asset mapping help existing businesses grow.  Networking events, workshops, and educational events for children help people in the Bloomington area community start and gro...

(Thanks to Dave Zedonis and Robert Humbert for describing this presentation.) John Stephens , an inventor from  Bloomington, IN , told us about innovating the gapsocket . Mr. Stephens hurt his hand while trying to install a ceiling fixture because the tool wouldn't quite fit an eye-bolt. He solved the problem by inventing and prototyping a socket (for a wrench) suitable for installing eye-bolts of various sizes. Patenting his invention was lengthy and costly.  He tried several patent attorneys before finding the right one.   Prosecuting his patent application  successfully  required modifying the claimed invention. Mr. Stephens found that an innovator must be creative, in marketing as well as in inventing.  Identifying potential customers and investors who could benefit from his socket, and teaching them to appreciate the benefit, has been difficult.  Other innovators who solve a well-recognized problem can market thei...

The medium is the message.   – Herbert Marshall McLuhan People new to innovation ask Mr. Ronald Jackson (founder of Jackson Systems ) for advice.  So he wrote a short book for them, Should I Patent My Great Idea? , based on his experience in developing 10 patented inventions and in bringing 40 products to market.  Mr. Jackson, with his characteristic enthusiasm for innovation, introduced us to his new book.  We learned that his advice resides as much in how he developed and marketed his book as in the content of the book itself. Mr. Jackson’s approach to innovation is practical and hands‑on, whether the invention is a HVAC zone control system or a book.  His book presents an overview of innovation and its risks, provides advice and options (including sample documents) for minimizing those risks, and leaves the reader to decide whether s/he has enough time, money, and enthusiasm to innovate. “Work on ideas with which you are somewhat familiar.”...

So, naturalists observe, a flea Has smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum.      -  On Poetry: a Rhapsody      Jonathan Swift Innovation in a free market is risky.  For example, a utility patent can help to minimize the risk of competition, but is itself a risk.  Investment (from $10,000 to $30,000) in a patent application is wasted if the patent office denies grant of a patent.  And a patent doesn’t even guarantee that we can use, sell, or profit from embodiments of our own inventions, though we can often do so without a patent.  Patent attorney Ronald Aust helped us understand the risk of a utility patent and how to minimize it. In some ways, a patent is like a land deed.  A deed specifies where someone’s land is; claims of a patent specify where (in the world of useful ideas) someone’s invention is.  Owners of either land or i...

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children.  One of these is roots, the other, wings."       Henry Ward Beecher Jim Bartek (317-614-0792), Business Development Manager of the Purdue Technology Center of Indianapolis ( PTCI ), offered us advice on whether and how to turn an idea into a business. Understanding where your idea fits into the market can help you decide whether starting a business is worth the effort, whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Benefits      Who needs help, why do they need it, and how can your business provide them with it?   Market share     What and who do you need to get your product or service to market?  What will keep competitors from kicking you out - a patent or trademark, a high start-up cost barring entry of competitors to the market, or a strong business network? Business model     Who specifically has the money you want...