So what can you do if you believe someone is using your patented invention without your permission.   The answer of course is that you can first ask them nicely to cease and desist, (with a proper attorney letter)  and if they refuse to do so you can take them to court.

This is where many inventors give up.  They know they don't have the resources for a court battle  and often they don't even try to assert their rights as a result.

They are often most afraid of the large corporations with deep pockets who they believe can bury them in court.   However, to the great surprise of many inventors this group of copycats is exactly who you want to be infringing your patent.  

The reason is that there are law firms who specialize in taking on these big companies precisely because of their ability to pay.  And what's more the big companies would often rather settle than fight because they don't want to pay the attorney fees either nor do they want the adverse publicity that can come from an infringement trial where they can be pictured as the elephant stomping on the independent inventor.   Best of all for inventors, these firms will often take the job for a share of the settlement.   Sometimes they will even buy out the inventor in advance.

Log on to our alacarte website for a free list of patent enforcement firms.

 

Making the Most of Your Opportunities

Introducing Opportunity Associates

OA

Opportunity Associates  has been a long time in getting to its current state.   Some years ago BML invented a process for managing opportunities in large corporations. Our process was based on past experience and learning's from famous business experts like Phillip Kottler.

We realized that companies frequently are so focused on the day to day activities and fire fighting that they neglect the future.  Eventually this attitude destroys the company as others come along who take advantages of the opportunities that the company has been neglecting.  This is a well known story and has been described by such authors as Clayton Christenson in his famous book  "The Innovators Dilemma" .

Every company generates lots of opportunities in the course of its business  but mostly they go on the shelf as the day to day activities (what we ended up calling the Business Comfort Zone) dominates the company's focus.

OA began as a BML product called "Opportunity Portfolio"  which was and is an organized way to find, organize, rank and act on those neglected opportunities.  Here's a link to a Power Point on the entire Opportunity Portfolio  process .

Once we had developed a opportunity managment process,  we needed a way to deliver it to customers. We started out trying to sell the whole process as a consulting activitiy, but that was found too difficult and complex to explain to customers.

We ran pilot projects  and then we decided to offer the process as a series of short courses.   That approach ended last year when the facilitator who had helped us develop the courses moved on to greener pastures.

Now we have re-organized yet again with a new team as Opportunity Associates. 

We will offer the  Opportunity Portfolio process or any of its four modules as a product tailored to the particular interest of a a specific company.

Contact us at OA to see if we can help you to grow new business from your overlooked opportnuities.