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In This Issue

Featured Article

Classification of Patents

Making a Good Introduction

Fishing for Information

Letters to the Editor

New Website

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Expedited Patent Examination for Seniors

I have just learned that the US patent office will offer their expedited service, which reduces the examination time from 18 months to as little as 3 months is free to those 65 and older. See Section IIIB of this link.

You Cant do it All Alone

If you missed our breakfast seminar on finding help for your business email me and I'll send you a copy.

Letters to the Editor

Section at the End of this Newsletter

Youtube Channel

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Newsletter Archive

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Newsletter - December 2015

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"Can Government classify your patent rights?

The Frank Trunk Case (and others)

Inventors are usually unaware that government possess certain powers that, while seldom used, can have huge consequences for someone trying to patent an invention in a sensitive area of technology. Such areas include inventions with Military or homeland security implications.

A famous case showcases the problems invention classification can pose for inventors. The case involves and inventor named Frank Trunk whose invention was said to be a breakthrough in stealth technology. Obviously such an invention has strong military implications and the patent office when it received the patent application proceeded to classify it.

The problem arose because Mr. Trunk did not have security clearance thus he could neither see nor participate in the examination of his patent. In fact one wag suggested that Mr. Trunk would be in violation of federal law for reading his own invention.

This absurd set of circumstances was followed by some illogical later steps taken by the USPTO when they first renewed the classification and then removed it.

Mr. Trunk took them to court asserting that his patent was being infringed to the benefit of insiders in the Military/Industrial complex. However, reading the transcripts indicates Mr. Trunk never receive a patent and abandoned the application when it was declassified.

Further research into this area has indicated that Mr. Trunk was hardly alone. This Wired article indicates from indicates that these government secrecy orders have stifled more than 5000 inventions?

So what's an inventor who works in this area to do to protect his invention from government theft by classification? Some inventors have relied on Trade Secret protection and not filed for patents. Others have move their inventing off shore to a country more favorable to allowing them to patent.

Once a patent application has been filed in a Foreign country such as by use of the World Patent Application [WIPO] there is little incentive for the government to try to classify it.

Those with a longer term or more community minded view may join such organizations as the Federation of American Scientists in their efforts to get these laws changed so the the inventors can at least profit from their inventions.

email rblazey@businessmetamorphosis.com

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

Finding the Right Person

One of the first things ITTr does after signing a client is prepare a list of target companies. But that is only the first step. Many of the large companies have thousands or tens of thousands of employees.

What we want to find is the person who is both interested in the technology the invention covers and has the authority to buy or license it. Often that is not the same person.

One big problem is finding the right title of the person to approach. The titles of persons in charge of licensing are often vary from company to company and these people may be in different departments.

Also some departments that ought to be interested often have a vested interest in protecting their turf from outside inventors. This is particularly true of manufacturing and engineering departments.

We use a number of resources to find the right person at companies. We use our own personal contacts, we use the contacts that the client has and we make use of social media, particularly LinkedIn.

LinkedIn can usually supply us with a list of members at the target company if it is of any size. We then have to pare that list down to those people who might likely have an interest in the clients technology.

The first thing we send to a target individual is the One Page Flier. This document is intended to quickly inform the target what the technology is about. We encourage the targeted individual to pass the flier on to the person they think might have a use for the technology.

Its rare to get the right person the first time. Often our best target is someone that an internal contact refers us to. And sometimes we go through a chain of several referrals to reach the right person.

We don't generally use a "shotgun mailing" techniques as do many of our competitors. We find most of these "shots" end up in the trash and whats more they don't tell us anything useful. Someone who is not interested but can tell us why and who might be is far more valuable to us than someone who simply sees and discards a mailing.

It used to be that we got useful referrals from the receptionists at these companies. Unfortunately they have largely been replaced by telephone trees that are less than useful and a real impediment go getting to the right person.

The "receptionist" has largely been replaced by social media as a means of finding the target.

So as you can see from the above, finding the right person is a challenge. Its one we face every day at ITTr. So if you need help connecting with buyers, think of us. We can help.

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

The Value of Business Cards

Anyone who attends a tradeshow or networking event or operates a booth usually ends up with a pile of business cards to followup on. The trouble with these cards is that they quickly become "stale" the further you get from the event as memories of the people you met who gave you the cards and what they said fade away.

That is why Penguin developed the TSF [Trade Show Followup] product. By making it possible for a client to contact All of the individuals that he/she met at the trade show, we can increase the likelihood a that the customer will make a useful contact for the sale or information that they seek.

TSF starts by scanning the business cards a customer obtains into a database. But that is only the first step. The next step is to prepare a script for our callers to use when contacting the target. We often use a "Tree Structured Script" with about 5 questions. In these scripts the answer to each question suggests the next one.

The answers that the targets give are recorded by the operators into the TSF system which is later used to produce reports that are ordered by the customer.

TSF information can also be used to direct other activities such as subsequent mailings of information or questions.

TSF is a process which uses our unique software package. The software can be operated by Penguin , by a third party contractor of by the client . Contact us and we will show you we can make it work for you.

just email 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

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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