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Value from Trade Show Visits
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 Newsletter - January  2015
 
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Obvious Combinations

Defending against this argument


 

One of the most common strategies the patent office uses to deny someone's patent application is to argue that an "obvious combination"  exists.   The criteria for getting a patent says that the invention must be Novel, Useful and Unobvious.  Most inventors read that as saying that the prior art cited against them must look like their invention.  But that is seldom the case.


 What often happens is that the patent office cherry picks claims from several different patents arguing that "in combination"  they amount to the inventors idea.


 This befuddles many inventors.  When they see a legalistic argument stating that their invention is obvious because of the prior art from Jones, including the work of Smith and Brown they have no idea how to respond.


 To understand this argument I like to tell inventors about a famous case that began this line of reasoning.   A firm had invented a road laying machine combining a stone spreader, a tar spreader and a roller.  The patent office argued that the road laying machine had done nothing except to combine these three functions  in a single frame, and thus had invented nothing new and was not entitled to a patent.  This invention was an "Obvious Combination"  of known prior art.


 

To defeat this argument it is necessary to show that either the combination was not obvious or that the prior art elements when combined would not work to perform the function of the invention. I often tell my clients that in this all the blind alleys you went down in trying to make your invention are your best friends.


 There are always many different roads you can take to reach an objective.  Some of those roads will get you there and some are blind alleys.   Since the correct road always looks obvious in hindsight, you need to be able to show the examiner that there were many other ways to get to your invention that the "strawman" who is "skilled in the art"  might have followed and run into  a brick wall.


 The best possible help in these situations is an article where a supposedly expert person says that what you did couldn't be done.  That kind of mistake is solid gold.  And since shortsighted people are always making such remarks , you might likely find an article you can use.


 There are other strategies one might employ to deal with obvious combination rejections.  If you want help in deciding which one to use or are not sure if you agree with the one your patent attorney suggests, give us a call.  We may be able to help you out.


 

Just call or email.

 

email  rblazey@businessmetamorphosis.com 

or  give us a call at  (585) 520-3539  

 


Tools of the Sale
The art of connecting buyers and sellers of patents requires a number of specialized tools.  When I use this word I'm talking about both physical and human resources.  The ITTr phase chart I'm attaching describes some of them by name but doesn't provide the level of detail I'm going to go into here.

The most important resource is not even on the phase chart.  Its the ITTr Associate Broker who is assigned to the project.  We try hard to find an associate broker who has experience in the field of the invention for sale.   Whether its Sporting Goods or Medical Equipment,  its important that the person selling the patent understands the market, the players and the technology and is able to converse intelligently with prospects and clients.

The first sales tool we construct is the "Single Page Flyer".  The goal of this flyer is to explain the benefits of the patented invention to the prospect.  Our flyers are different than what an inventor might construct , as an inventor often concentrates on the end user of their invention.  Our target is the company that would make and sell the invention to that end user.  So while the benefits to the end user are very important, the benefits to the licensor are more important.  If the licensor doesn't believe that he or she can make the invention and sell it at a profit sufficient to cover the costs of licensing and more, then there will be no sale.  

Another element that is of interest to a licensor and not an end user is that of "conversion cost'.  If your new product will replace an existing product currently sold by the manufacturer, he/she will have to factor a "conversion cost" into the deal with you.  That cost is what it takes to switch from the old design to a new one and can be very substantial.  I remember a case where a R&D laboratory had come up with a clearly superior product , but what it would take to make that product was to replace an entire factory costing many millions of dollars.  This issue of cost is one reason that new products are often launched by upstart companies who have nothing to loose rather than the existing players with large investments in the status quo.  Clayton Christensen's book The Innovators Dilemma  deals with this issue.

One very useful tool to use in a flyer is a video.  If a video showing how the invention  is used is available we link it to the flyer.  If the customer doesn't have a video we have resources available to create one.  Usually this is done at extra cost by resources outside of ITTr.

The purpose of the flyer is to attract the prospect's attention and get them to ask for more information.  If the prospect does take that next step we try to connect to them directly.  If they now want more details and they usually do , the next tool we draw upon is the Executive Summary.  That is  a detailed document prepared by the client with ITTr's help which contains much more information on marketing, manufacturing and other technical and business details of the invention.

These tools help us to explain your invention to prospective buyers in a way that focuses on what they want to know.  The better these documents are the better job we can do in representing you.


For more information write to rblazey@ittrifecta.com or call (585) 520-3539

Extracting Value from your Trade Show Visit

Penguin Logo

One of the Penguin products is called Trade Show followup or TSF.  Trade Show Followup was created for a very specific reason.   To get the most out of the contact information you gather at a trade show.  Many  people extract just a tiny amount of the value that they could get from their trade show visit which may have been costly both in travel expenses and in time spent. 

 Its hard for most people to extract and organize the value that they obtain from meeting lots of different vendors, listening to their sales pitches and talks. Sometimes only a few of the most important bits of information are collected and acted upon.  The rest becomes part of  the large diffuse category called "look at someday" residing the in an  unused desk drawer.  The data ages quickly and is eventually tossed out.  

Suppose you were able to make use of all that data.  It might bring in a lot of  business you are now missing and give you a much higher return on your investment in your trade show visit.

This was Ruth Balkin's idea when she invented Trade Show followup as a method for  attendees to get more out of trade shows.  Her original idea was taught as a course and contained in a large binder with accompanying Power Point presentation.

When Ruth joined Penguin we decided to standardize and automate the TSF process.  Without getting into a lot of detail, we can say that we have developed software that allows a team of callers  to access the unaccessed data residing in the business cards and other contact information you collected at the show.

Working with Penguin or companies using this software the information collected from business cards is input into a database.  The contacts in the database are then each called by callers  using this software to deliver the customers message or script and the results recorded and returned to the client.

Trade Show vendors and attendees can both use TSF for different purposes.  It is designed to be flexible and has a number of reporting formats.

If you want to know more about TSF contact us using the information below

to rblazey@rochester.rr.com or
 visit our website at www.RochesterPenguinGroup.com
 or call us at (585) 520-3539
We appreciate your responses to our newsletters.  Please send us your comments.  We are always interested in what you want to know.  See the New Letters to the Editor link in the block below
 
Sincerely,
 

Richard Blazey
Business Metamorphosis LLC

Comments and Letters to the Editor

 

To Readers of the BML Newsletter:

 

Many of you have wished to comment on articles in the newsletter and up until now there has been no mechanism to do so.  Now if you wish to comment you can just reply to this article.  Please mention the issue of the Newsletter (Month, Yr) and the title of the article you are commenting on.  Add your name if you wish

 

Best Regards,

 

Dick Blazey

 




 

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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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