She's so HOT!!!!

I recently saw a show on TV about how the mind works. It was fascinating to think about how the mind processes data – but more specifically how the mind fills in the blanks when real information is missing.

Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about. What do you see in this picture?

Like most of us you likely see a woman’s backside. Why? - Because your mind took the basic information and filled in what it didn't have with assumptions. We as Inventors often do the same thing.

As the inventor rushes down the road with their shiny new invention headed straight for the wild and often scary world of business, quickly realizing it’s a world we know little about.

We enter armed with a few bits of real information we picked up along the way, some information we believe is true because we saw it on some stupid inventor TV show, but largely we leave our minds to do what they do best - fill in the blanks with assumptions and force fed images of what our mind is now telling us is reality.

The problem is, just like your mind tells you this is a picture of a woman’s backside – the mind is often wrong. This is in fact, a picture of a pair of shoes – Ahhhh, now you see it!

The same is true with the assumptions we make about the business end of the inventing industry. Taking a little bit of known information and allowing your mind to fill in the blanks is a really bad idea in business. You need to take the time to educate yourself on the real processes and information associated with taking an invention to the market.

Don’t listen to your friends who know as little as you do about the process, don’t listen to your Dog, or your Cat. Take the time to fill your mind with real information so it’s not left to fill in the blanks with assumptions that could later cost you a great opportunity or a lot of money.

Mark Reyland

Not so fast buddy... I want my cut

Okay, so you do a “market survey” with 10 of your friends. They all love your idea, tell you how great it is, fill out your survey and send you on your way.

You go back home and start reading the information and comments they provided. You find that in addition to glowing scores, your friend “Jill” put down in the remarks that although she loved the product, you should move the handle from the side, up to the top, make the product 25% larger and far more functional.

You start looking at your product and realize she’s right. It not only looks better, it functions much better as well – that was great advice!

Fast forward a year, all your friends were right. Your product is a great big hit and it found national distribution in major retailers.

One day your friend Jill sees you driving your brand new BMW and thinks to herself “wow, that product must be making a ton of money”. Later that same week she sees it in her local Walmart noticing you took the advice she had offered a year earlier. You moved the handle, making the invention far more functional than your original design.

After seeing your new car, and the product in Walmart, Jill is convinced you're making millions of dollars from your product.

She talks it over with her husband and they come to the conclusion that your success is obviously because of the enhancements Jill suggested. She feels (no doubt validated by her husband) that she should be rewarded for her part in making your product such a great success.

So Jill looks at her options and contacts an attorney. In the end Jill files a law suit against you and claims “Co-Inventor” status on your patent - Giving her a legal share of your invention.

Should Jill be entitled to Co-Inventor status? What are the legal issues involved with asking people advice during the inventing and development stages of a product - and how do you indemnify yourself and your product in a case like that?

These are all very important questions, and you had better take a few moments to answer them before you start to ask people their opinion on your invention.


Mark Reyland

You're a friggin nut job!

I was kicking around one of the "inventor forums" this morning looking for an interesting topic to talk about. I found such a topic in a question that has both a surface meaning and a subsurface meaning.

An inventor posted this on a site asking for advice:

A very large manufacturer I’ve been in contact with since last week was interested in seeing my patent pending product design. So yesterday I emailed my one page sell sheet, and the Product Manager sent me this about an hour ago:
…
“For us to proceed with reviewing this concept, we need to know what you are looking to get out of it. What licensing terms are you requiring?”

For this gentleman it appears to be an exciting response asking for additional information. However, to those of us who do this every day it's a much different question being asked.

You see - what the company is really asking is a series of questions designed to give them insight into this person on the other end:

- Are you a nut-job inventor like the last guy?

- Do we really want to be dealing with you for the next few years?

- Do you watch too much TV and think we love your idea as much as your dog did?

- Do you have any clue what you're doing and am I going to have to teach you every step?

- Were you smart enough to do your homework and give us what we need to commercialize this idea?

While there's no doubt the guy on the other end was interested at some level, after all, why else would he send the email. His question was much more about the inventor than the royalty.

Contrary to popular belief companies do not make decisions based solely on dollars. Companies understand that the relationship with the inventor is every bit as important as the money to be made or the idea itself - most have learned over the years to test those waters carefully by sending out a response that will let them know quickly who's on the other end and just how experienced they are.

So, next time you find yourself in that situation, remember the question has both a text, and a sub-text, one designed to see if you did your homework, and one designed to see if you're another nut-job inventor like the one who called last week.

Mark Reyland

I went broke inventing!

 No you didn't, you went broke entrepreneuring. In fact, in all the years I've been in this industry I can safely say I've never seen anyone go broke inventing.
 

Unlike it's close cousin Innovation, which we all know is the presentation of a hypothesis. Inventing is simply the proving of that same hypothesis.  To accomplish this feat of daring we may spend some money on research, maybe make a prototype or two, even spend a little money on having some parts made to prove the functional reality of our theory.

However, when those tasks are completed, our point has been proven, and we stand victorious over the innovation -  the inventing process is over. That's right, it's over. finished, ended, accomplished, whatever word you want to use - but inventing time is officially over.

So how did you go broke, and why did you need so much money in the first place? Because you didn't know when inventing time ended and entrepreneuring time began.

You marched off into the world of business holding your shinny new invention and never even knew it. Simple really, like most independent inventors you never got a map of your journey before you left the shed, and you ended up lost.

So how do we fix this problem? Well it's not so hard if you take the time to prepare. You need to understand the phases you will be going through on your way from the shed to the market and decide which of those phases you (and your family) should be going through.

Obviously the biggest jump is from inventing to entrepreneuring. It's where the real risks begin and where most inventors fail. To avoid being the next name on a very long list of broke inventors simply ask yourself these basic questions.

Am I an inventor or an entrepreneur?

Do I know enough about being an entrepreneur to risk my family's treasure?

Do I even know where the line is between the two?

Are there better ways to reach the market that allow me to stay focused on inventing?

These are simple questions really. It's not even a very complicated subject. What makes it difficult for most inventors is that it requires honesty and a long hard look at ourselves. It requires us to face our shortcomings and put our emotions in perspective. It's not easy, but it is necessary.

Do it for yourself, do it for the society we serve as inventors, but most of all do it for your family. That small group of people who love you unconditionally and trust that you are being a good steward of their faith in you.  

Can that NDA land you in jail?

We get many questions about the difference between the protection a Patent offers and that of a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

In addition to the fact that an NDA goes into effect upon signature and a patent is worthless in it's application state - the real difference lies in the U.S. Economic Espionage Act of 1996. This law you likely have never heard of is the legislation that makes disclosing trade secrets a crime. Since the information covered by the NDA is considered a trade secret, it stands to reason that under this law you can go to jail for violating the terms of an NDA - and you can in some cases.

So let's look at the law starting with the definition of a trade secret...

the term 'trade secret' means all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if --

(A) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret; and

(B) the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by, the public; and

(a) Whoever, with intent to convert a trade secret, that is related to or included in a product that is produced for or placed in interstate or foreign commerce, to the economic benefit of anyone other than the owner thereof, and intending or knowing that the offense will , injure any owner of that trade secret, knowingly--

(1) steals, or without authorization appropriates, takes, carries away, or conceals, or by fraud, artifice, or deception obtains such information;
(2) without authorization copies, duplicates, sketches, draws, photographs, downloads, uploads, alters, destroys, photocopies, replicates, transmits, delivers, sends, mails, communicates, or conveys such information;
(3) receives, buys, or possesses such information, knowing the same to have been stolen or appropriated, obtained, or converted without authorization;
(4) attempts to commit any offense described in paragraphs (1) through (3); or
(5) conspires with one or more other persons to commit any offense described in paragraphs (1) through (3), and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, shall, except as provided in subsection (b), be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b) Any organization that commits any offense described in subsection (a) shall be fined not more than $5,000,000.

In the world of inventors we here the use of NDAs talked about as if they were parking stubs. Everyone has a copy they lifted from the internet, they fax, email, and send them to each other all the time. Often with very little regard, and even less understanding, of the responsibilities associated with signing one.

The fact is this - an NDA is a contract with a criminal remedy for violation. By signing that contract you are expected to keep those secrets to yourself, store them in such a way that they are secure, and ensure that even by accident you don't divulge the information to an outside party for the full term of the NDA.

Just a little something you may want to think about the next time someone says ..."let me send you my NDA"

Mark Reyland

To read the entire law click here http://www.tscm.com/USC18_90.html