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Report 103
Your newsletter on applied creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in
business – delivered to your e-mail box on the first and third Tuesday
of every month.
Tuesday, 17 October 2006
Issue 92
Hello and welcome to another issue of Report 103, your fortnightly newsletter
on creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in business.
As always, if you have news about creativity, imagination, ideas, or innovation
please feel free to forward it to me for potential inclusion in Report103. Your
comments and feedback are also always welcome.
Information on unsubscribing, archives, reprinting articles, etc can be found
at the end of this newsletter.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
I am delighted to present another expert guest writer for this issue of Report
103. Jeffrey Schox has kindly contributed a very informative article on a simple
and affordable approach to patent application in the USA. And he knows what
he is writing about.
Jeffrey Schox is a U.S. Registered Patent Attorney and the founder of Schox
PLC (www.SchoxPLC.com), a small patent
law firm devoted to inventors and entrepreneurs. Drawing on his experience of
over ten years in the patent law field and the filing of over 150 patent applications,
Jeffrey strategically advises his clients and advances their patent portfolios.
Jeffrey also teaches the course “Patent Law and Strategy” at Stanford
University.
DIY PATENT PROTECTION
by Jeffrey Schox, Esq.
Losing your patent rights is shockingly easy. Follow these simple steps to
avoid this loss—without the expense of an attorney.
Have you ever had an amazing invention, wanting to tell the world about it
without thinking to first file a patent application? Or have you kept it under
wraps, but put off the preparation of a patent application until the next stage
in the development process? Or perhaps, have you gone ahead and published an
article on your idea, unable to wait for adequate funding to pay a patent attorney
(fees can exceed $10,000) to file a patent application?
In each of these situations, you stand to lose patent rights in the United
States and in other countries. While losing patent rights is not as devastating
as infringing someone else’s patent rights, it nevertheless will erode
your competitive advantage. It will negatively affect your ability to generate
licensing revenue, attract outside investors, and control the use of your invention.
It may even allow your competition to patent your invention, and then prevent
you from making and selling it.
Fortunately, these legal pitfalls can be avoided by filing a provisional patent
application, which can be as easy as mailing a $100 check, a copy of your presentation
or article, and some drawings to the U.S. Patent Office. Anyone, regardless
of their citizenship or residency, may file a provisional patent application.
The Provisional Patent Application
About one-third of patent applications filed in the U.S. Patent Office are initially
filed as a provisional application. As the name implies, a provisional application
is a simpler and cheaper—albeit temporary— way to start the patent
process.
Filing a provisional patent application informs the patent office that the
inventor possessed a particular invention on a particular date. As long as the
inventor files a regular U.S. patent application or an internal PCT patent application
within one year, the U.S. or PCT patent application will be evaluated as though
it were filed on the date you filed the provisional application. You’re
effectively asking a friend to save you a spot in line, allowing you to cut
in later on—as long as you don’t show up too late.
Having an earlier filing date could save you from losing your patent rights.
The filing of a provisional application also provides some additional benefits,
such as permitting you to use the ‘Patent Pending’ notice.
The Requirements
The requirements for a provisional application are fairly simple. An inventor
needs to include a written description and drawings, a filing fee (currently
$100 for solo inventors and small companies), and a cover sheet (form SB/0016,
downloadable from the U.S. Patent Office site).
The written description and drawings must enable someone to make and use the
invention. Ideally, the written description and drawings should describe a few
essential, as well as some optional, components or process steps—elucidating
their function, the best implementation, and some alternative implementations
of each. As optional background, the written description can also include the
expected customer or user of the invention, the problems with conventional techniques,
and the advantages of the invention.
Got More Inventions?
Once a provisional application is filed, an inventor can’t add to or amend
this provisional application. An inventor may, however, file an additional provisional
application, which can be combined with other provisional applications into
a single regular patent application.
Using this strategy, an inventor can file a provisional application immediately
upon conception of a bright idea. If the idea becomes obsolete in a month (or
if a superior idea trumps it), then the inventor can abandon the provisional
application, losing only the filing fee and a little time. If the idea holds
promise, then the inventor can subsequently get a regular application prepared
and filed with the confidence that the application will receive the best possible
filing date.
The U.S. Patent Office holds all provisional applications secret until their
regular-patent filing dates. Inventors, therefore, can change their minds later,
possibly deciding to protect their inventions instead as trade secrets or, taking
a completely different tack, sharing them as open-source projects.
The Regular Patent Application
To avoid abandonment of a provisional application, the inventor must file a
regular patent application within one year of the filing of the provisional
application. The temptation’s there to simply buy a book and try to go
it alone, as the cost of preparing and filing a regular patent application is
so high. Be forewarned, however: The main difference between a provisional and
a regular patent application is the inclusion of claims in a regular patent
application, which define the legal protection afforded to the invention.
Writing claims, as once declared by the U.S. Supreme Court, is one of the trickiest
challenges in the legal world. The inclusion of an extra word or phrase in a
claim can make the difference between a broad and valuable, and a narrow and
worthless, patent. To avoid banking your business on a legal pitfall, I would
recommend finding a registered patent attorney for the preparation and filing
of a regular patent application.
As an unexpected advantage, filing a provisional application forces the inventor
to decide whether to file a regular patent application in a timely manner. Too
many inventors continually hit the snooze button on this decision, which often
leads to a loss of patent rights. The systematic filing of a provisional patent
application upon the conception of a bright idea forces the inventor to make
a decision.
The filing of a provisional patent application is the easiest way to avoid
the loss of patent rights. My suggestion? File early, and file often.
© 2006 Jeffrey Schox
BASIC CREATIVITY: GENERATE LOTS AND LOTS OF IDEAS
This article is so basic, I debated including in an eJournal targeting creativity
and innovation experts like you. Nevertheless, as a core concept of creativity,
it is worth revisiting from time to time – even for us experts.
The single, most effective approach to generating creative ideas to solve a
problem or respond to an issue is simple: formulate the problem or issue into
a creative challenge (this is a topic we've looked at repeatedly in Report 103)
and then generate as many ideas as you can that respond to the challenge. Make
note of every idea you have, no matter how irrelevant, undo-able or ridiculous
it might be. And you must never, ever censor an idea – even your own idea.
Especially your own idea.
You can write ideas in the form of a list, a mind map, chaos notes or any method
that works for you. Note taking approaches such as mind-mapping or chaos notes
can help you think more fluidly and encourage lateral thinking.
Creativity tools and techniques, such as selecting random words and drawing
inspiration from them; idea cards; music; software tools; and anything that
helps your mind wander and generate new ideas are all useful. However, they
should be seen as a supplement to generating lots of ideas, rather than a replacement
for generating lots ideas.
Bringing other people into your idea generation activity can be very helpful.
More creative minds can equal more creativity and result in more and more varied
ideas. If you do bring others into your idea generation activity, it is important
to vary the kind of people involved. That brings more varied thought and even
greater creativity to the idea generation process.
Generating a lot of ideas is important because in creativity, unlike many other
disciplines, quantity is more important than quality. Indeed, quantity leads
to quality.
Consider Einstein, for example. He was not suddenly struck by an incredible
inspiration for his special theory of relativity. Rather, he was focusing on
a specific problem, or challenge: how might we explain the discrepancies between
Newton's laws of mechanical motion and Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics.
While focusing on this challenge, he spent a great deal of time generating and
trying out many ideas until he devised a theory that resolved the discrepancy.
Likewise, Da Vinci's numerous notebooks full of sketches are testament to his
approach of generating and experimenting with ideas.
Indeed, even that “aha!” moment, is almost never an inspiration
that comes completely out of the blue, rather it is the result of the mind reviewing
numerous ideas and suddenly finding one that solves the problem beautifully.
That “aha” moment may come long after the idea generation process.
But almost certainly, you have been looking for ideas at some time prior to
the moment
Unfortunately, because business has institutionalised brainstorming, we tend
to use this process of setting a challenge and generating ideas exclusively
in somewhat formal brainstorming sessions which often focus on big ideas.
But, there is no reason why you cannot run your own idea generation action
– or mini-brainstorm – for smaller problems or issues. You can work
on your own or invite a couple of colleagues, friends or family members to help
out.
For example: if you need to prepare a business proposal, a creative approach
ensures your proposal stands out and is remembered. Instead of rushing to start
up PowerPoint; instead of grabbing the first creative idea that comes to mind;
challenge yourself: “In what creative ways might I give this presentation
a real impact?” Then generate 50 ideas. Somewhere in those 50 ideas will
be one or more really creative concepts that will ensure your presentation knocks
the socks off those who will listen to it.
If you are applying for a job, particularly one which is likely to receive
a lot of applications, don't just write a clever cover letter and submit it
with your standard CV (resume). Rather, ask yourself: “In what ways might
I demonstrate that I am clearly the best person for this job?” or “How
might I ensure my application stands out from all the other applications?”
Then give yourself a goal of 50 ideas. Doubtless you will come up with some
creative ideas that will be sure to impress your prospective employer.
In short, whenever you need a creative idea, don't look for a single idea.
Rather, generate 50, 100 or more ideas and then select the best. Not only will
this provide you with creative solutions to all kinds of problems, but it will
also give your creative mind lots of exercise.
WORKSHOP: THE WAY OF THE INNOVATIVE MANAGER
I am leading a two day workshop: The Way of the Innovative Manager in a handful
of cities in Europe and North America. The workshop is designed to provide you,
as a manager, with an understanding not only of how to boost your own creative
performance, but also the creative performance of your team in order to make
your organisation more innovative.
The workshops will be highly interactive with exercises, team work, case examples,
role play and more. They will also be jolly good fun!
For more information, visit http://www.jpb.com/workshops/.
If your city is not listed, but you are interested, let me know.
10 SEEEEERIOUSLY COOL WORKPLACES
A couple of years ago, the East of England Development Agency undertook a survey
of about 1000 people and found that only 10% had ideas at their desks. Moreover,
only 6% of woman and 17% of men had ideas anywhere in the workplace. That's
not surprising. Most workplaces are remarkably dull places seeming designed
to prevent inspiration from interrupting the flow of routine work.
A few companies, however, buck the trend and have designed cool office spaces
which seem much more likely to inspire.
PositiveSharing.com has pictures of ten places they believe are seriously cool
at http://positivesharing.com/2006/10/10-seeeeeriously-cool-workplaces.
It is well worth a look.
LATEST IN BUSINESS INNOVATION
If you want to keep up with the latest news in business innovation, I recommend
Chuck Frey's INNOVATIONweek (http://www.innovationtools.com/News/subscribe.asp).
It's the only e-newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on all of the latest innovation
news, research, trends, case histories of leading companies and more. And it's
the perfect complement to Report 103!
Happy thinking!
Jeffrey Baumgartner
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Report 103 is a complimentary weekly electronic newsletter from Bwiti bvba
of Belgium (a jpb.com company: http://www.jpb.com).
Archives and subscription information can be found at http://www.jpb.com/report103/
Report 103 is edited by Jeffrey Baumgartner and is published on the first and
third Tuesday of every month.
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