The World Class Inventors Handbook

Stephen E. Moor, Stephen E. Moor

• Publisher: world class inventors
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780578608402
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

I'm positive that I can help you, because I've developedthe road map for inventors.

Here's a partial list of what I cover in detail:

Patents: provisional and non-provisional and how they work in the real world.

Patent Pending: and what that really means to you.

Idea evaluation: something that you can and must do for yourself.

Patent searches: when should you order one and why?

Market trends and product trend analysis: how will your product fit in?

The Patent Office and you: the role that the PTO plays inyour application process.

Inventor’s Notebooks: an inventor’s best friend.

Trade Secrets: and how they can work for you.

Trade Marks: how they work and how they add an extra layer of protection.

Trade Dress: The look and appearance of your product and packaging counts.

Prototypes: will verify if your idea can be produced and is mass marketable.

Lawyers: how to decide who’s qualified to be on your team and why?

Patent agents: an in-depth comparison of who they are and what they do.

Inventor service companies: should they be helping you with your invention?

The law and how it will affect you as an inventor: ignorance is no excuse of the law.

Royalty rate analysis: how to determine what your fair share of the money is.

Licensing agreements: how they work, what you sign will determine your future.

Marketing: it is your responsibility to know your market better than anybody.

Cold calls: you are your products best advocate.

Three different models of how to profit from your idea.

How to decide which model is best for you.

The three mountains that you must climb.

Where do you fit in as a person with an idea?

Chapter 1

AN INVENTOR’S PRIMER

Part I

The Spring Board

As you’ve no doubt already discovered, the world that I’m about to share with you can be rather complex. It’s also a high stakes game where the amount of information is so immense that an entire library could be filled to the brim with materials about the subject. That said, I thought that you would benefit if I provided a general introduction to the subject.

The word primer as defined, means the very first principles of any subject.

The word primer goes to the heart and soul of what we’re about to explore during these first two chapters. With that in mind, I’m going to give you a general lay of the land in preparation for the many important details that will shortly follow.

My hope is that every single one of you who is about to explore this book has come upon an idea that will become the basis for something incredibly valuable! You see, it’s one thing to dream up an idea and it’s quite another thing to slave over something and perfect it. Yet, it’s an entirely different universe to properly protect your idea and then be able to successfully market it.

It’s going to be my privilege to teach you about all of these things.

Here’s the key.

You must protect your idea every step of the way or in the end you may wind up with nothing.

Unfortunately, the world that we live in is greedy. Therefore, if your intellectual property happens to be capable of generating significant amounts of money, then your idea is vulnerable to an attack.

That is why I have taken on the mission of reverse engineering the inventing process for the aspiring backyard inventor. I want to teach you about inventing from the perspective that what you are about to invent is something valuable. And I want to prepare you well in advance that an attack on your idea is not out of the question.

Whether you know it or not, this is a major hurdle that plagues every modern day inventor who’s come up with a valuable invention. In my opinion, if you are going to go through the trouble of inventing something valuable, then you may as well do it the right way from the very beginning. That of course means protecting your idea. Although patents are an essential piece of that protection, they are not the only part. So I’m going to cover the entire spectrum of protection as we journey along.

I’m certainly not about to discount the fact that there are legal remedies afforded the inventor should he or she suffer an attack on their idea, because there are. However, don’t let the Voices out there or your lack of understanding about these matters lull you into complacency about the inventing process. What you may not know, and what the Voices aren’t telling you, is that these remedies are very time consuming, very expensive and they will leave you emotionally devastated.

Therefore, as an inventor, it’s your mission to avoid having your idea attacked in the first place. Simply put, an attack on your idea will rob you of your joy and any potential future earnings.

The best way to approach the art of inventing, is to simply know what the rules are before ever stepping onto the playing field. Whether you realize it or not, inventing is the big leagues and by the time we’re finished, you’ll have an understanding of why.

As I’ve already shared, I’ve been through the fiery furnace of an intellectual property lawsuit. An intellectual property lawsuit is not only the highest test of one’s patent, but of an inventor’s mettle as well. In a desire to put that horrific experience to good use, I have employed it as the springboard from which to teach you all about the inventing process. In my estimation, there is no greater real-world mechanism by which to teach you about the inventing process. The bright spotlight powered by a Fortune 38 company, and the experience of dueling it out with one of the most powerful law firms on the planet happens to provide the perfect backdrop to expose in high definition the important nuances of how the inventing and patenting process actually works.

Just so you know, I filed my lawsuit Pro Se for a reason. It wasn’t because I didn’t have a good case. And it wasn’t because I didn’t seek out the proper legal remedies either, because I did. The facts are, I had a very solid case and I conducted an exhaustive search for legal representation that spanned nearly a year and a half. During that time, I presented my case to not only the US Patent Office, but to some of the biggest and most successful intellectual property litigators in the country.

After all of that searching I began to realize something really scary. If I wanted any semblance of justice, I would have to represent myself. So allow me to fill in some of the blanks for you.

If you’ve been stolen from, the US Patent Office for the most part is going to wash their hands of any accusations of foul play and when they do get involved, their involvement is limited as to what they can actually do. Instead they will politely direct you to the Federal Court System to obtain resolution for your matter, because that’s what the Federal Law requires. That’s simple enough.

What about hiring an IP law firm on contingency?

Please don’t count on that option, since finding one that will represent you on a contingency fee basis is about as rare as finding a hen’s tooth.

OK. So how much does it cost to hire a law firm to wage an intellectual property lawsuit against a formidable adversary?

I can tell you from experience that you better have between one to two million dollars’ liquid to mount a serious legal campaign.

Again, my sentiments bear repeating. If you have come up with an idea that is valuable, and if you are lax about any aspect of inventing process, you could easily lose your patent rights without ever being aware of it.

It All Starts with an Idea

Ideas can come to us in many ways and they can take shape in many forms. Your idea may have dawned on you one day as a whimsical vision, or it may have hit you square in the head like a brick. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the idea originated with you and not with someone else.

Patentable ideas that are worth big money are indeed rare!

Patentable ideas that are worth big money are certainly worth protecting.

Most patents granted to backyard inventors rarely generate a dime for their owner’s. So please don’t be under the false impression that just because you’ve invented something that you’re automatically going to get rich. It doesn’t work that way.

The bottom line; if your idea is not revolutionary, beneficial, practical, useful or profitable to everyone who comes into contact with your proposed widget, then it is worthless. I’m not trying to be the bearer of bad tidings here, but think about what we’re actually doing. We are inventing! We are dreaming and we are trying to profit from our ideas against some mighty powerful odds!

Do You Know Why They Issue Patents?

I would like to give you my take as to what patents really are, and why they get issued. Simply put, a patent is an idea that is protected. An idea that has you so personally convinced of its value, that you want to both protect it and exploit it, all at the same time. An idea that in your heart and mind is so lucrative, that you’re willing to take the necessary courses of action to protect it, before ever exposing it in the public square. An idea that you’re so pregnant with, that you’re willing to pursue it despite the expenditure of time, capital and energy necessary to see it come true.

In short, a patent is your very personal vision! The point of this whole exercise is that one fine day, your idea is going to enter the public domain and you’re going to make money off of it. Hopefully, lots of money.

You see it doesn’t really matter how you got the idea, as long as it originated with you and that’s the key.

And if that’s not so, then please explain to me why there are Federal Statutes on the books, which govern the formation, the protection and ultimately the enforcement of those ideas that we call patents and trademarks?

That’s what it’s all about folks. Patents can sometimes be a very precious commodity. And they always require hard work and a considerable investment from any inventor who desires to obtain one. Therefore, to the backyard inventor like you and I, they are always personal. I care very deeply about that aspect, and you should too.

What Inventing is Not

I don’t know what you think inventing is, but I feel it’s important that I tell you what it’s not. Prior to our meeting, you may have previously subscribed to the notion that inventing was just about tinkering in your garage on some gadget. And in part, that’s what is.

Or perhaps, inventing to you is a bit more sublime, such as lying on your back in a tree-lined meadow, where you’re lost in some dream about a gadget that might make you rich. And in part, that’s what inventing is about as well.

Even so, those two idyllic pictures taken at face value are just myths; like the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Inventing is so much more than that. Although those are great pictures that conjure up warm feelings about the art of inventing, I have to break it to you; they are only the tiniest part of the inventing process.

The great Thomas Edison once said that, “Inventing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” and from where he stood as a man who made a living from his inventions, he was absolutely right.

But sadly enough in our age of bank scandals and celebrated cheats on Wall Street, things have changed dramatically. As compared to Edison’s times, intellectual property lawsuits have become even more of an aspiring art form. Fighting over patent rights has risen to meteoritic heights and patent litigation is a goldmine for IP firms. Therefore, it’s something that all backyard inventors should be keenly aware of from the start.

The patent process and the opportunity to make significant money from your idea is more akin to tiptoeing through a minefield than tiptoeing through a field of daisies. Therefore, unlike the inventors of Edison’s era, you should be spending a great deal of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Forward
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: An Inventor’s Primer
• Chapter 2: An Inventor’s Primer
• Chapter 3: Claim It
• Chapter 4: Some Important Things
• Chapter 5: Consider Your Options
• Chapter 6: Choosing Your Team
• Chapter 7: Choosing Your Team
• Chapter 8: Mountain Climbing
• Chapter 9: The Psychology Behind Royalty Rates
• Chapter 10: A Royalty Rate Primer
• Chapter 11: Mount Marketing
• Chapter 12: Pre-License Agreements
• Chapter 13: Licensing Agreements
• Epilogue