Which Inventor and Industry Trade Shows Should Independent Inventors Attend?

I received a question today from an independent inventor like yourself asking “What are some of the best inventor trade shows like Inpex?”.

Well, my response is that there is no “one” trade show to attend. There are inventor trade shows for inventors to show-off and try to sell their inventions.

There are many more industry trade shows that are specific to particular industries such as housewares, boating, outdoors, and the like.

Here is a link to the Trade Shows portion of my Ultimate Inventor Resources:

http://ping.fm/iO3EO

Check out the inventor trade shows and the industry trade shows specific to your invention.

I hope this helps you.

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve
Owner, InventionPatenting.com

P.S. Make sure you have locked-in “patent pending” first and know the consequences of showing your invention at a trade show before doing so! Read my blog for details in posts below.

You can lock-in patent pending at:

http://ping.fm/caVHz

From: http://ping.fm/LQk3x

Which Inventor and Industry Trade Shows Should Independent Inventors Attend? (http://ping.fm/LQk3x)

Which Inventor and Industry Trade Shows Should Independent Inventors Attend? (http://ping.fm/LQk3x)

Hoping Your Patent Application Gets Published Soon... Think Again!

I received a question today from an independent inventor like yourself who is hoping to have publication of his patent application within few weeks. He also indicates that his invention may be protectable as a “trade secret” (as interpreted by me).

Well, I probably wouldn’t post this question and answer except for the fact that I have received the same question before.

I think that inventors are anxious to see progress in the oftentimes lengthy patenting process. Publication of their patent application is something “tangible” for them to hang onto.

In case you do not know what I am talking about, patent applications filed in virtually any country of the world are published 18 (eighteen) months after the “priority date” (a patent application may claim priority of a previously filed co-pending patent application a the time of filing) of the patent application for the whole world to see.

This publication is automatic unless you “opt out” of filing foreign patent applications based on the patent application at the time of filing the patent application.

Opting out on future foreign filings is usually not done as inventors usually want to “keep their options open” for filing foreign patent applications. For example, even though an inventor knows that he/she does not have the rather large sum of money to file for and get patents in all desired countries, he/she is knowledgeable enough to know that preserving the right to file foreign patents (by not opting out of foreign filings and not prematurely publicly disclosing the invention) might be economically valuable, say for instance an international company subsequently comes along that will pay “big bucks” for your invention if they can still patent it in forein countries where their markets are located.

Such foreign patent applications (or a Patent Cooperation Treaty Application - discuss with your patent attorney) are usually filed within the one year period after filing the initial patent application to claim priority thereof under the Paris Treaty (non-treaty countries must be filed in before a public disclosure to have an enforceable patent issue - discuss with yor patent attorney).

Inventors usually file foreign patent applications in those countries where they: 1) want to exclude competitors (i.e. the main markets for their inventions - including where they want to license their invention; and 2) want to prevent manufacturing of their invention by others (e.g. China).

Opting out or failing to file before a “public disclosure” of their invention (such as product advertising or publication of their patent application) will ruin your ability to get a valid patent in the various foreign countries.

Additionally, present and future competitors can view your patent application which by law must include how your invention works and the best way of making it (the “best mode” or way of practicing your invention).

The scope of your desired patent coverage is also revealed since the claims (legal phraseology of your invention) is published. Therefore, your competitors can get valuable competitive information about your invention.

As an inventor, at the time of publication of your application, hopefully you are in a good competitive business position having:

1) Filed any foreign patent applications (or a PCT application) you desire;

2) A patent search with a favorable written patentability opinion (done before you file your initial patent application) so you have a reasonable idea of the scope of protection and that a patent of economic value will issue; and 3) you have products based on your invention market tested and either ready to sell or already on the market (discuss the ramifications thereof with your patent attorney).

A common misconception by inventors is that you need to have an issued patent before marketing products based on your invention. Actually, you need to discuss this issue with your patent attorney up-front, which includes the sub-issues of:

1) publicly disclosing your invention; and
2) infringing (violating) someone’s patent.

Note that even when you get a patent issued on your invention, you still can infringe someone else’s patent and need to dscuss this issue with your patent attorney.

Finally, there is something called a “trade secret” which is another way to protect ideas that are not easily “reverse engineered”. This includes how to make soft drinks, processes to make products, and the like but is beyond the scope of this post. It is something you should discuss up-front with your patent attorney prior to filing your initial patent application.

It is difficult to keep a trade secret as a secret if you file a patent application disclosing it that is subsequently published for all the world to see! However, you might patent a product made using a process that is kept as a trade secret. The advantage is that unlike patents in which you get a “monopoly” on your invention for a finite period of time, trade secrets last for as long as they are kept secret.

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve
Owner, InventionPatenting.com

P.S. You can lock in “patent pending” at a reasonable price at:

http://ping.fm/caVHz

From: http://ping.fm/2CP64

Hoping Your Patent Application Gets Published Soon... Think Again! (http://ping.fm/2CP64)

Hoping Your Patent Application Gets Published Soon... Think Again! (http://ping.fm/2CP64)

Franchises... The Good, The Bad, and the Downright Ugly!

I have been watching franchises offered by companies since the early 1980’s. While unlike the ’80’s and early ’90’s, franchises do not seem to be the “rage” anymore I have a few thoughts on them… as they apply to starting your own businesses. But don’t worry… I will present these thoughts over several emails to ease the burden of reading them!

For those of you not familiar with franchises, they are basically “canned” or “cloned’ business models that can be repeated by new “franchisees”. The franchisees “buy”:

1) a business model that works;

2) the right to use the “good name” (actually the goodwill of the business as built up in the public eye) to attract customers ready, willing, and able to buy from the franchisee;

3) a defined geographic area in which the franchisee has an “exclusive” or a monopoly on the franchise (or only a limited number of fellow franchisees as competitors in a defined geographic area such as a State); and

4) the ongoing support of the franchisor to give the franchisee the best chance of succeeding.

Some franchisors, many fast-food companies like McDonalds, have many “company-owned and run” stores and additionally have franchisee owned and run stores (franchises). Other companies are mostly franchises… the initial franchises being owned by the person(s) that started the company an the other ones cloned therefrom.

While franchises are good if the four requirements listed above are met, I have seen deficiencies in many franchise offers. Many people end up spending their “life savings” of from $5,000 to $75,000 or more and end up stuck with a 12-hour-a-day-job working for minimum wage… or worse! I will discuss in my next post.

Best regards,

Brian R. Rayve

From: http://ping.fm/D6m1D

Franchises... The Good, The Bad, and the Downright Ugly! (http://ping.fm/D6m1D)

How Do I Open This "Gosh Darned'' Plastic Package!

As a follow-up to my previous post “Some of the Best Inventions Are Those Developed on the Job!”, another thought (actually a series of thoughts only one of which is suitable and appropriate for posting here) came to mind.

About one year ago, at the urging of my Internet consultant, Shahar Boyanan of BuzzBoosters.com, I purchased a Flip Video Camera to make video recordings for the Internet. Well, yesterday I finally decided to unpackage and use the camera.

The camera was packaged in a two-halves, a clam shell type formed plastic container, which is common for electronic devices. The halves are nicely molded with a smooth S-curve and cardboard inserts which conform to and are visible through the clear halves. The halves are heat sealed together at a peripheral seam and a hanging hole is formed at a top end of the packaging.

Well, the packaging looks nice and probably is inexpensive to manufacture. The halves are vacuum formed automatically, the cardboard inserts are machine-inserted into the open packaging, the camera and component parts (prepackaged in a smaller, non-heat sealed hinged packaging) are machine-placed into the halves, and the peripheral seam is formed.

However, as you probably already know, this type of packaging is extremely difficult to open. Scissors are my “weapon of choice” when battling this type of packaging (knives can slip and cut vital body parts). The main problem in opening the packaging is that no room is allowed between the peripheral seam and the remainder of the packaging in which to insert the scissors. Additionally, the peripheral seam forms a channel which further complicates things. I had to cut from both ends of each side towards the middle of the side until the handle of the scissors hit the packaging and then rip the remaining part off. The plastic is somewhat stiff too which hinders the cutting process.

So what is my point… to “bitch” about how hard my life is? No, but rather to point out an opportunity for you independent inventors to improve the existing packaging. This is an example of an “everyday problem” encountered by millions of people. Can you imagine how many man-hours (or woman-hours) are wasted each year using this packaging? It is the type of problem (actually an opportunity for inventors to improve something with a proven large market potential - millions of packages on store shelves) you do not need to be an engineer or have a PhD. to solve the problem.

What improvements would be desirable? Well, the packaging needs to be secure in the stores so nobody can open it and steal the relatively small (easily pocketable) camera yet relatively easy to open after purchasing the product and taking it home. That is the improvement needed. You can think of your needs as a consumer and imagine the needs of the wholesalers/retailers.

However, some current (less obvious) features of the packaging need to be retained. This is where an Internet search can “fill in” some of the details that an engineer like myself is trained to do. The packaging must be made of low cost materials (e.g. clear sheet plastic) that allows manufacture (vacuum forming) on automated package molding equipment. The packaging must be usable with current packaging equipment (with minimal modifications) to automatically package and seal the camera and related parts therein. The packaging must look good to consumers and be both hangable from display hooks and be able to stand up on store shelves. The packaging must also be at least semi-rigid to allow stacking in boxes for shipping and to protect the camera. All of this could be found on the Internet doing some research on packaging of electronics for retail display and sale.

This is a prime opportunity: 1) there appears to be a real need for improved packaging for retail electronic products as is very easily demonstrated (a proven market for the product); 2) you do not need to be an engineer or a PhD. to work on this problem since it is not a complicated product; 3) the necessary background information is easily found doing a little research on the Internet; 4) prototypes can be made inexpensively using wooden molds and a vacuum forming machine; and 5) selling your improved packaging to manufacturers is likely a relatively easy sell if you show the benefits to them (they want to help consumers if it is of little or no additional cost to them).

Well, that is a wrap for today! By the way, the Flip Video Camera really works great! It is compact, easy to use, self-contained, and is reasonably priced (depends on which model you get). It records for one hour on solid-state memory and downloads videos directly through the USB port on your computer. I used it today to record my parrots Alex and Sebastian. They really “hmmed it up” for the camera and I am going to upload the video to my Facebook page. You can check out the various camera models at Amazon.com: