Inventor Resources
Books to help Inventors Develop and Market their Inventions
The following are some books for inventors. If you can’t buy them, see if your local library has them. If it does not, ask them to get them. The Inventor’s Desktop Companion by Richard C. Levy Visible Ink Press. This is an excellent book by a successful inventor who discusses all the relevant issues including: getting a patent, licensing your invention, presenting products to manufacturers preparing proposals, negotiation, licensing toys and games, getting federal funding, and inventor organizations. This book has over 400 large pages filled with facts, and, more important, a seasoned inventor’s advice. It is Richard Levy’s third or fourth book on inventing. Two review quotes:
“A practical sidekick for anyone whose invents are beyond the figment stage.” — The Washington Post
“The best single source of knowledge and resources about invention process.. All serious inventors need this book.” — Inventors Digest.
Marketing your invention by Tom Mosley, Dearborn Publishing. Tom Mosley has a business connecting inventors with manufacturers. He wrote this book when he was connecting inventors with manufacturers for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. This book is shorter than Richard Levy’s and focuses on only one aspect of inventing, marketing the invention, but that is the most crucial part and the one most inventors are least equipped to handle. We highly recommend this book as it focuses on that which the inventor most needs to know. And the inventor can benefit from hearing from two different sources with two different slants
This Little Inventor Went To The Patent Office by Bill Nasset
Little Inventor Associates
3923 Lancaster Dr NE
Salem, OR 97305
patwiz@InventorWorld.com
Patent it Yourself, by Dave Pressman, Nolo Press $39.95 ISBN 0-87337-167-4. This has become a standard for people who file their own patents. Indeed, beginning attorneys sometimes use it. It is by far and away the best book on the subject.
This brings up the issue: Should you file your own patent or have an attorney do it for you. Whether your are a seasoned inventor or a beginning one, the answer to the question is that it is best if you take an active roll in your patent prosecution, writing the specification yourself and possibly even trying to draft claims. But use a good patent attorney to review what you have done and suggest improvements at one extreme, or rewrite it at the other extreme. One or the other of you can then file it.
Their are several reason for this recommendation.
- You are the expert on your invention and its area of technology. You know it better than you attorney will. But the attorney is the expert on patent law and although you will pick up knowledge of it, you will never be as knowledgeable as he is.
- You will be using your attorney more efficiently as he won’t be doing the time-consuming work of writing the application, but will be operating in a more supervisory role focusing on getting good claims fixing other problems. You might be able to cut down the costs, but more important you will likely get a better patent.
- You will learn more about patent law and the patent rights your patent provides. This will be useful should you license or litigate your patent, or file patents on future inventions. If you are an inventor and will have several inventions, you should learn something about patent law.
- Since you will have a better understanding of the law, your technical invention, and how it will be sold, used and marketed, you may come up with ideas for claims that your attorney would not have done alone.
In any case, I strongly recommend against filing your own patent completely by yourself. But, even more, I recommend against turning it all over to the attorney and then just signing where he tells you to sign. Filing a patent application should be a cooperative process.
Jack Lander
The Inventor’s Bookstore
37 Seneca Road
Danbury, CT 06811
phone 203-797-8955
fax 203-792-1377
jlander@eci.com
Inventor Magazines
The magazines oriented towards inventors are:
Inventors Digest. a bimonthly magazine Published since 1985, edited and published by
Inventors’ Digest, a bimonthly magazinePublished since 1985, edited and published by Joanne Hayes. 310 Franklin St. Suite 24
Boston, MA 02110
617/367-4540
InventorsD@aol.com
http://www.inventorsdigest.com/ Subscription Price: $22.00//yr.
c/o The IPDC, 72a Bedford Place
Southampton, SO15 2DS, United Kingdom.
Tel (UK) 01703 570101, Fax 01703 570102
International Telephone: +(44)-1703-570101,
Int. Fax: +(44)-1703-570102
Regional Inventors Organizations and Innovation research centers.
One of the best ways to get help is to go to the meetings of local inventors organizations. There are hundreds of them throughout the country. Richard Levy’s The Inventor’s Desktop Companion has a list of these organizations along with Innovation research centers. These organizations are very useful and we highly recommend that you at least check them out. It is useful to know were there is an organization of people with similar problems to yours and who can help you.
Avoid the Invention Marketing Scam Organizations. that advertise on radio and TV.
Inventor Scam Organizations
Be warned there are several organizations that scam inventors. Many of them advertise on TV. The organization that tracks the scam organizations is:
Inventors Awareness Group
1533 East Mountain Rd, Suite B
Westfield, MA 01085-1458
TEL: 413-568-5561 FAX: 413-568-5325
E-Mail: iagbob@aol.com
Check out the IAG Newsletter (The Disclaimer) site and in particular newsletter 3 which lists several scam operations. Bob Lougher, its editor and publisher has lobbied Congress hard to pass the anti-inventor scam bill.
Patent and Invention Marketing Organizations
A listing here does not imply endorsement of the company listed. While we would not knowing list a company that has a bad reputation we don’t have the time or resources to check out company that requests a listing. So caveat emptor. (Buyer beware)
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Docie Marketing |
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Oklahoma New Products Coalition: Invention Marketing |
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R.D. Design Co., Inc.“Offering a wide range of technical services to meet your needs”A full service engineering consulting corporation providing you with the experience and technology necessary to compete and dominate in today’s market. Specializing in plastic-based products, R.D. Design can assist you in all phases of bringing your product to market. Services include project management, solid modeling, mold design, and web page development. Interests and inquiries, please contact (908) 689-4444 or e-mail: Trutech@worldnet.att.net |
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The Gibbs Group Inventor Entrepreneur Business Start-up Resources |
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The Invention Convention. Held once a year on Labor Day weekend, this is a showcase for inventors. |
Inventors on the Web
See So you have an idea from the Franklin Pierce Law School
Newsgroups of interest to Inventors:
news:alt.inventors. This is a newsgroup for inventors.
news:misc.int-property. This is a newsgroup which discusses intellectual property issues, particularly patent issues.
Patent News Service. This is Greg Aharonian’s news service which keeps people updated about what is happening with patents.
Regional Inventor Organizations
See the entry about Regional Inventor Organizations.
Web Sites of Interest to Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Patentholders in the United States
IPC keeps a list of Web Sites that are of interest to inventors or patentholders. If you know of a Web site that should be on this list please contact us.
Patent information
Mailing Lists and News Services
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Patent-l Archives for the Patent List mailing list archives. |
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Internet Patent News Service |
Patent Services (many are commercial)
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Access Intellectual Property Law |
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EscrowTech International provides escrow services. |
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Micropatent |
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Lexis Nexis |
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Dialog (Knight Ridder) |
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IBM’s patent server. Allows extensive patent searches and it is free. |
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Institute for Patent Studies (Patent Bar Preparation) |
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Software Patent Institute |
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CHI Research. An organization that does citation research to determine the importance of patents. |
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Global IP Cost Estimater |
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www.mogee.com Conducts statistical analysis of international patent data and patent citation data for purposes of licensing targeting and negotiation support, competitive intelligence, and technology assessment. Comments or questions would be welcome. |
Entrepreneur/Business/Invention
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The U.S. Department of Energy Inventions and Innovation Division offers programs and information to assist inventors with developing energy saving products and processes. It provides a technical evaluation, commercialization training, and up to $100,000 in development assistance. They also sponsor a series of workshops around the country to help inventors and small businesses bring new products to market.. |
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Docie Marketing. Specializes in helping inventors market their inventions. |
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Inventions and Innovations Gateway |
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Inventus Websites lists inventions for sale |
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The Hook Appropriate Technology |
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John Trudel, The Trudel Group |
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National Patent Association |
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Inventors Digest |
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Alliance for American Innovation |
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Inventor World |
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Entrepreneurs on the Web |
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Ideas Digest OnLine innovation center |
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Small Business Administration |
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AZ Tech A University of Buffalo program for tuning innovations into products for people with disabilities |
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Deal Flow. A website designed to link investors, inventors, product developers and strategic partners. |
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Entrpreneurs and Inventors Financial Network |
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Raising Venture Capital by Kip Johnson and Paul Jones |
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Information on Equity Financing |
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A Venture Capital Primer for Small Business |
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New and Kewl |
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FaxPat faxes patents of U.S. and foreign patents for only $2.50 regardless of size. |
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http://PatentingServices.com |
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Inventors Network |
On Inventing
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The psychology of invention |
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The black inventors’ museum |
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Woman in science (and inventing) |
Foundations founded by inventors
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The Edward Lowe Foundation (Edward Lowe, who recently passed away, signed the Inventors Letter to President Clinton) |
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The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Foundation (See also the Lemelson Prize) |
Lobbying Organizations
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Alliance for American Innovation |
Other Websites
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Court TV Website. Contains many recent legal documents |
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19th Century Scientific American Online |
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