The first issue of the “Inventors Eye,” a USPTO bimonthly publication for the independent inventor community, is now available.  The articles in this first issue include:

• Patent Reform – An Open Letter

• Protect Your Innovation: Avoid Scams – By Ronald Jaicks : Office of the Solicitor

• Spark of Genius: The Spiral Eye Needle – By John Calvert : Inventors Assistance Center

• Do Your Homework – Advice

Look for inclusion of a reference to our affiliate, The Inventors' Roundtable^TM, in subsequent issues.

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Founder of IP Watchdog Resigns from United Inventor Association Over Invent Help Concern

Gene Quinn, founder and main blogger of the IP Watchdog website, has resigned from the United Inventor Association expressing concerns over the UIA's ongoing reconsideration of its posture with respect to the company known as Invention Help.  Read Gene's reasons for his resignation here.

By STEVE LOHR

Published: November 10, 2009

BY now, a thick pile of recent books and expert reports warns that the United States is losing its innovative edge, and a poorer future for the nation beckons unless the trend is reversed.

 

With the American economy in a wrenching downturn, the innovation imperative seems more pressing than ever. Is there a role for foundations in advancing an innovation agenda? And, if so, what?

Definitions of innovation vary widely, but in the current context a crucial distinction needs to be made between invention and innovation. Invention is coming up with the breakthrough idea, and foundations focused on science and technology typically support those ambitious quests, from H.I.V. vaccines (the Gates Foundation) to hyper-efficient cars (the X Prize Foundation).

Innovation is the process that translates knowledge into economic growth and social well-being. Invention is science, innovation is economics.

In universities, interest in “innovation economics” is surging. And foundations, experts say, could help advance innovation research.

“Innovation itself is a field in need of innovation,” said John Kao, a former professor at the Harvard Business School and an innovation consultant to governments and corporations. “What we really need is more original thinking about how innovation works in society, and that could come from the philanthropic sector as well as universities.

”Others make grants in the innovation field, but the Kauffman Foundation has made the broadest commitment. Its support and focus in recent years are helping push “innovation” from being a vague admonition in policy speeches to the basis for a growing discipline of serious research.

The Kauffman Foundation was established in 1966 by Ewing Marion Kauffman, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and owner of the Kansas City Royals. A self-made man, Mr. Kauffman, who died in 1993, wanted his philanthropy to promote entrepreneurial activity and education.

The foundation, based in Kansas City, Mo., has assets of $2 billion and still broadly pursues the founder’s mission, but it has evolved considerably. In 2002, Carl J. Schramm, an economist and lawyer, became its president.

At the time, Mr. Schramm recalled, the foundation focused on trying to persuade business schools to begin entrepreneurship programs. Today, by contrast, the foundation is one of the nation’s largest private supporters of economic research in universities.

The climate for innovation, Mr. Schramm said, is vital in determining whether entrepreneurs succeed or fail. “We try to foster a deeper understanding of the innovation process,” he said “and that is our leverage point to help stimulate economic growth, create new jobs and wealth.

”Soon after he arrived, Mr. Schramm recruited Robert E. Litan, the director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, to head Kauffman’s research program. Mr. Litan, who joined in 2003, recalled that his assignment was to expand and improve the foundation’s research, and sponsor more work by mainstream economists.

Recent grants went to Edmund S. Phelps, a professor at Columbia University and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 2006, and William Baumol of New York University, a pioneer in applying economic theory to entrepreneurs.

The Kauffman Foundation often supports data-intensive research. For example, the Kauffman Firm Survey is a study of nearly 5,000 companies that were started in 2004. The survey will follow the fledgling firms over the years, seeking factors of success or failure. Each participant initially answered more than 100 questions.

The research, Mr. Litan said, is the economic equivalent of the Framingham Heart Study, the landmark health survey begun in 1948 to examine the causes of heart disease. The Kauffman survey data, he noted, has already been used by more than 100 academic researchers.

Kauffman, along with the National Science Foundation, is building a database that tracks government-sponsored research for science and engineering and links it with company start-ups, patents and other data. One goal of the research is to identify the characteristics of “star innovators,” scientists who are most effective in ushering research advances into the marketplace.

Kauffman’s research into technology transfer from universities suggested that formal programs tended to ignore many inventions and discoveries that could have commercial potential. So the foundation set up a Web site and database, the iBridge Network, where scientists and engineers from 40 universities have posted 3,000 inventions, from software to chemical compounds. “It’s an eBay for ideas,” Mr. Schramm said.

Kauffman has also begun a Law, Innovation and Growth program, which will make $10 million in grants over the next five years. The research, Mr. Litan explained, will look at how copyright, patent and other laws affect innovation. In 1960s and 1970s, scholars like Guido Calabresi and Richard Posner made it standard practice to begin looking at legal issues through the lens of formal economic analysis. The Kauffman program, Mr. Litan said, seeks to “generate and grow a whole new generation of scholars” who explore the interaction of the law and innovation.

“It’s a big-think initiative,” he said. “That’s what foundations can do.”

(Reprinted from ArticlesSnatch.com)

By:      Loreno Lepe

 

Do you have an invention that has been burrowing away in your mind for years? Do you think it could make you real money, but you lack the financial ability to do anything about it at the moment? If you do, you might want to consider applying for a patent.

Whilst it can seem quite expensive to buy a patent for something that is currently only an idea, it can be well worth it in the long run. For every invention, from vacuum cleaners to mobile ringtones, there has always been somebody left kicking themselves because they had thought of it first but were usurped by a company that is now making millions.

Patents are awarded by the government and give an inventor the right to stop others using, selling or manufacturing their idea without permission. This lasts for a limited amount of time, depending on how much is paid. Patents are often described as granting intellectual property meaning that they can be bought, sold or rented to others.

A patent gives you the right to stop others from making your invention, but it does not give you rights above anyone else to have your invention made. Once you have one, you will need to start thinking about ways to manufacture your idea.

The two main types available in the United States are Design and Utility. Utility patents are awarded for the invention or discovery of any new, useful and developable process, article of manufacture, machine or composition of matter.

If you have a new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture, in the United States you may be granted a Design patent.

Additionally, Plant patents are available to anyone who discovers and can asexually reproduce a totally new variety of plant.

The rules for awarding these property rights include the fact that your invention must be useful. This means both that it should have a purpose, and that it should be manufactured by normal industrial processes. An invention that cannot be fesibly manufactured could be rejected.

Abstract ideas, including laws of nature and observed or created physical phenomenon, cannot be granted patents. Neither can you be granted property rights over an idea or suggestion it is the actual invention or machine described by you that it patented, not your idea.

Sometimes you have an idea, but do not know it already exists somewhere. If other people in this country have known about or used your idea before you apply, you will not be eligable to have it patented. There are websites where you can check which ideas have already been granted a patent.

Furthermore, if your invention has appeared in a printed publication in any country in the world, for more than a year before your application, you cannot have property rights over it.

For more information, you may wish to look up the Patent and Trademark office of your government, which will highlight the full rules and procedure. Often, when people are sure they are eligable, they choose to hire a patent attorney or agent to help them with applications. Good luck!

There are a series of articles appearing in eHow collectively referred to as "How to Invent New Products" (Parts 1, 2 and 3).  The first part deals with generating ideas, the second with the initial patent search and the last with market research.

Each of the parts is excellent reading on their own.   Collectively, they constitute valuable inventing wisdom, especially for the wanna be inventor in all of us.  Set forth below are the links to each of the three parts.

Enjoy!

How to Invent New Products. Part I Generating Ideas
How to Invent New Products. Part II: Initial Patent Search
How to Invent New Products. Part III: Market Research

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