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In This Issue
Design Patents
The Washing Machine Story
Industries facing Extinction
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 Newsletter - March  2013
  This newsletter is for the benefit of: our customers both current and past, our workers , board members and friends including those of you we haven't talked to recently. Please feel free to forward to others who might be interested in our activities.   

Design Patents

 

When most people think about patent they think about Utility patents and their various incarnations.  But one special category of patent is not at all like a utility patent.  It has no claims , it is usually only 1 page long and its less expensive to write and to file.

 

These patents are not on the function of an invention, they are on its appearance.  In the design patent space, protection by patent and protection by copyright intersect.  

 

Generally speaking you would not patent a work of art, you would copyright it.  However, suppose that artwork has some function other than just its appearance.  For example suppose it is a piece of furniture like a table.

 

You couldn't patent a table unless it had some very unusual functions since tables have been in the public domain for thousands of years. but you could get a design patent on the appearance of a highly artistic table design.

 

A design patent is fundamentally just a drawing or series of drawings.  In the case of the table I mentioned you might want to show several different views of the table from different angles.

 

Sometimes both a patent and a copyright might be appropriate.  For example a sneaker endorsed by a famous basketball player might be copyrighted.  Bud if the style of the sneaker was unique (even if there was no difference in functionality)  a design patent might also be applied for.

 

I have one client who is a celebrity.  If she endorses an object and puts her photo on it, that would be a copyright.   If the design of the object is unique , a design patent might also be applied for.

 

Wikipedia has an interesting overview of design patents.  The article points out something surprising to me.  Computer Logos and Fonts can be the subject of design patents.  With all the Apps being designed for smart phones and tablets there should be lots of possibilities for design patents on their elements.

 

Some very famous objects are the subject of design patents.  The include 1) The Statue of Liberty,  2) The Iphone  and NFL Officials Uniforms.

 

A patent agent I know tells how the NFL, being frustrated by ads showing their officials in less than a flattering light,  redesigned the officials uniforms.  The NFL then design patented the new  uniforms.  The offending ads soon stopped as the actors in the advertisements  no longer looked like real NFL refs.

 

 

Please feel free to comment on this topic and if 

you need more help or advice , contact us.   just send us an email to rblazey@businessmetamorphosis.com or  give us a call at   (585) 520-3539  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Washing Machine Story
 
Many inventions that are offered for sale are improvements on earlier inventions.  That is as it should be , but sometimes those "improvements"  are not quite what they seem.
 
Clients are often dismayed to learn that  the invention that they thought was so valuable is not viewed the same way by prospective buyers.  This often happens when the "improvement" interacts with other parts of complex systems in a counterproductive way. 
 
I think the best way to illustrate this interaction is with what I call "The Washing Machine Story".  
 
Sometime ago a washing machine company decided to have a contest to improve the efficiency of their machines.   All the workers who made various components of the machine were invited to contribute ideas and a large prize was offered for the employee who contributed the idea that increased efficiency the most or saved the most in manufacturing.
 
The workers put on their thinking caps and devised many ingenious ideas.  Many of them improved efficiency or reduced costs of the part they were working on.   The agitator workers made cheaper agitators ,  the drum workers made more efficient drums and the case makers made more attractive cases for less money.
 
Finally the day came to award the prize.  At the banquet,  the General Manager said that he was very sorry but despite their best efforts , no one had won the grand prize.
 
The workers were dismayed.   What could be wrong?  The manager went on to explain that while many of their ideas did indeed reduce cost or increase the efficiency of their component,  the same change increased the cost and reduced the efficiency of some other function in the machine, so that the result was a less efficient more costly product than before.
 
We see these kinds of counterproductive effects everywhere in large organizations.   The stock room that saves money by firing a clerk, causes the engineers (who had much higher salaries than stock clerks) to spend more time standing in line, reducing the efficiency of the engineering department.  Accounting driven organizations are particularly prone to these mistakes.
 
So, when you consider the value of your neat new invention, don't just  ask, what problem it solves,  but also what other problems in might unintentionally cause.   You may be surprised.
 
 
To learn more contact us at the address below
 

Email : rblazey@ittrifecta.com

Phone: (585) 520-3539 

www.ITTrifecta.com

  Industries Facing Extinction

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One interesting article I came across recently reports Ten Industries that are Facing Extinction.  I was particularly interested because one of the industries was the province of my former employer, Eastman Kodak [ photographic film].         The other industries  included phone booths, used bookstores, record stores and would you believe  "piggy banks".  Their existing  products are largely casualties of the digital revolution which is rapidly replacing  physical objects with bits and bytes stored in "the cloud".

 

These legacy industries have many loyal customers and brands built up over the years that people trust,  yet they have been left in the dust by the winds of technological change.   They are a classic case of what we at OA call a "Quadrant 1" business that has lost its place in the market [Quadrant 1 means selling existing products to existing customers]. 

 

One thing to note here is that it is the products that have become obsolete.  The customers are still around and if their loyalty can be attracted to new product or products the business might be preserved.   Selling a new product to existing customers is what we call a Quadrant III play.  

 

The question is what should that new product be?   In my bankrupt former employer their were many, many inventions that were later  commercialized by other companies.  Kodak ignored them because they couldn't match the profits from photographic film or competed with it.

 

An earlier incarnation of Kodak with a less rigid management made thousands of other products including  such "unfilm like" items as crazy glue and  vitamins.   

 

The rigid management that took over the company following the business fashion of the time sold off these "none core" items to concentrate on feeding  their dying cash cow. 

 

OA helps you locate unexploited opportunities in your business and get going on growing them before your business becomes an endangered species

 

 To learn more about how  OA  can help you find new opportunities to exploit .  Log on to our website Or you can call me at (585) 520-3539 or email at rblazey@rochester.rr.com
We appreciate your responses to our newsletters.  Please send us your comments.  We are always interested in what you want to know.
 
Sincerely,
 

Richard Blazey
Business Metamorphosis LLC
Disclaimers 

 
Please realize that this newsletter contains only our opinions on patent matters.  We are not authorized to give legal advice.  If you are seeking such advice please contact an attorney.
 

 

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