slow up\\\\put the brakes on\\\\\ You did What? Oh No-o-o ...... you're going over .. the .. edg .. e
|
|
"I want to warn patent holders about a new company that wants to take their money."
|
-- "The following has come to my attention by two different clients who asked about it. I want to warn patent holders about a new company that wants to take their money. It's probably legal, but certainly misleading. The United States Patent Renewal Service (USPRS) sends a very official looking notice in the mail, apparently to any individual having a patent needing a maintenance fee payment. The notice uses scare tactics and mysterious terms like "MFT" to keep the process enough of a mystery to induce people to send them $125. What they don't say is that the "MFT" is the publicly available Maintenance Fee Transmittal form PTO/SB/45. If you read past all the scary bold and highlighted print, all the way to the last paragraph of the fine print, they do tell you that "We can prepare the necessary documents for you to renew your patent..." They never say that USPRS is not an official government service in spite of the "United States" in their name. Your only hint is buried in the second paragraph where it (truthfully) states that "The USPTO does not provide any reminder of the due date(s) of the payments" [of the required maintenance fees]. The payment coupon at the bottom has an official looking place for you to sign that the "above statements are true", thereby causing you to "certify under penalty of perjury" that there is no fraud in their notification. I imagine this prevents you from suing them? There is no such required swearing on the USPTO fee transmittal, since by their rules anyone can pay a maintenance fee on any patent. "Finally, the coupon shows "AMOUNT OF
PAYMENT" as $125. This is NOT the maintenance fee, and their envelope directs your payment back to them, not the USPTO. If you send them the
$125, then they will send you back the USPTO Maintenance Fee Transmittal form PTO/SB/45 so you can send the real maintenance fee to the USPTO. Incidentally, the maintenance fee due at the 7.5 year anniversary of the patent issue date is presently $1150. For an additional $65 penalty fee you can pay the maintenance fee up to 6 months after the 7.5 year due date. You can also make this payment online by credit card or EFT at the USPTO web page:
https://ramps.uspto.gov/eram/patentMainFees.do You will need to enter both the patent number and the application serial number (including a leading zero if the serial number is lower than 10/xxx,xxx). So, bottom line, the non-governmental entrepreneur calling himself the United States Patent Renewal Service (USPRS) is notifying you for free about impending maintenance fees due, and then trying to trick you into paying him $125 for the service (plus filling out a very simple form for you and mailing it to you).
Since this is not an official USPTO notice, you shouldn't count on receiving his notice about maintenance fees due. It is still ultimately up to you, the patent owner, to remember to pay your maintenance fees by the 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 year anniversaries of your patent's issue date."
-- Derry Stauffer, Registered Patent Agent President, ICGC -- Another scam now being perpetrated upon innocent people is being telephoned by the schemer and being told that your license for invention has expired for failure to extend your Maintenance on your patent. They ask you very personal questions "To be sure we are speaking to the right party." -- They then ask for your Social Security Number and Bank Checking Account numbers, etc. They steal your identity AND your money!! -- "IRS Warns of Scams To Steal Data With Offer of Tax Rebate - washingtonpost.com" -- -- Thought for the day:
-- "To pull together is to avoid being pulled apart." -- The Motto of the IASL --
"Coming together is a beginning...keeping together is progress...working together is success."
|
|
... "And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far."
|
NETWORK WITH INVENTORS AND THOSE WHO CAN HELP INVENTORS: DON'T QUIT "When things go wrong, as they sometimes will. When the road you're trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is strange with its twist and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow, You may succeed with another blow. Success is failure turned inside out. The silver tint of the clouds of doubt. And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit. It's when things seem worst, that you must not quit." -- "How long will it take to get my patent?" -- Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph invention was approved by the USPTO in seven weeks. "When he first heard his voice, Edison said "Is that what I really sound like?" -- David Letterman" It took Gordon Gould, inventor of the LASER, thirty years to obtain his patent, awarded in 1988. -- "I dunno about yours-- When did you file for it?" Go to USPTO.gov-- Back in 2001, I saw this posted on the Net: Why is it that there aren't any cars that come with a microwave? You could substitute it for the glovebox. Not only can you still keep your gloves in it but now you can warm them up
|
|
And now YOU know the difference..
|
-- In the old-old days, when you could leave your small kids alone to play together and without close parental supervision, two three year olds, a little boy and a little girl were playing in the sand on the beach next to the ocean. -- The little boy says to the little girl, "Let's go swim in the water." And she says, "No, my mommy says I can't get my clothes all wet." And he stands there as she continues to play with her bucket in the sand... ...
"I guess if we take our clothes off it'll be all right?" She gets up and she starts taking off her halter-top and she doesn't look different up there than he does. They both take their pants down. He looks at 'hers' and she looks at 'his' and she says, "Ya-know what, there's a real big difference between a Republican and a Democrat!!"
:-)) -- A visiting minister waxed eloquent during the offertory prayer. "Dear Lord," he began with arms extended and a rapturous look on his upturned face, "without you we are
but dust..."-- He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening carefully for a change!) leaned
over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?" -- "NewsFactor Network | Google Offers Patent Search to Inventors" -- -> Here's Another - --> And Another
|
|
-- "Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent." - Thomas Edison
|
-- "Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent." - Thomas Edison -- "Now for the really bad news. No intellectual property rights actually "protect" you--they just let you "defend" your rights by, through the courts, legally attacking parties violating your rights. Generally it is NOT a CRIME for anyone to violate your intellectual property (patent, copyright, trademark) rights therefore the government will not enforce your rights for you, you must instigate a civil suit and play it through at your own expense and trouble. There are some situations where copyright violation is a crime but I do not believe there are any situations where patent infringement is a crime.-- But there is good news too. The vast majority of people will honor your intellectual property rights when you have the evidence to support your claim." -- by James E. White
Chapter 5: The Lemelson Notebook
-- Is My Invention Worth Patenting?-- Before spending a small fortune on patenting an ingenious idea, consider several market issues: e.g., Does your invention offer a unique and better solution to a real problem? Can it be easily manufactured or integrated into an existing product? Is there a market for the product? How big is the market? Will it grow? What is the competition? Will the product be obsolete by the time the patent is issued? How much will it cost and how long will it take to bring the invention to market? How will it be sold?-- "PRODUCT COACH: Product Idea to Product Success" --
-- Peak Performance --
|
|
-- If, after thorough investigation, the answers to critical marketing questions lead to the conclusion that your invention has no commercial potential, you may want to forego patenting.
|
-- The answers to these questions rely on market research. Professional firms provide this service for a fee, or to get low-cost help in this arena, consider contacting business faculty or entrepreneurial groups at local colleges. They are often willing to have their students take on entrepreneurial projects. Retired business executives also may provide business and marketing perspectives for little or no money. Call your Small Business Administration or local government agencies for contacts in the business and academic communities. National and local inventors clubs are also a rich source of information and advice, as are local distributors of products similar to your invention.
-- If, after thorough investigation, the answers to critical marketing questions lead to the conclusion that your invention has no commercial potential, you may want to forego patenting.-- If your goal, however, is not profit, but to make a contribution to society's body of technical knowledge, consider filing a Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) application with the USPTO, which costs much less than a patent. -- A SIR puts a patent into the public domain, preventing others from patenting it in the future. -- A message to all members of SERIAL INVENTORS
There is a network of rural Michigan towns that have joined together to identify inventions that could be commercialized and headquartered in Michigan.
Each town is working on creating a local Design Studio and new investment policies that would allow for substantial community ownership of a headquarters that might create higher paying jobs.
This is an innovative program that has never been tried before. See info at http://www.rugged-engagement.com One innnovation is the use of "Gifted and Talented" teens as the staff of the local Design Studio.
We are looking for inventions that could generate over 5-10 years $10,000,000 in annual revenues with products/services sold to national not local markets.
My name is Bill Wilkie and I will be calling you in the next ten days to chat. You can contact me at 989.339.4998 or wwilkie@netscope.com
You can sign into our site with your e-mail address and your last name as the password. http://www.serialinventors.ning.com
We intend to keep this group small but build in-depth trust relationships both within the group and with the towns. This is not easy and it will take time.
Visit SERIAL INVENTORS at: http://serialinventors.ning.com
--
To control which emails you receive on SERIAL INVENTORS, go to:
http://serialinventors.ning.com/profiles/profile/emailSettings
|
Deeeep
Tho u g h ts
|
1. The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.
2. Money will buy a fine dog but only kindness will make him wag his tail.
3. If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.
4. Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.
5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.
6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?
7. Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.
8. Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?
9. Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job.
10. No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.
11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.
12. There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM. Like this: It could be a right number.
13. No one ever says "It's only a game" when their team is winning.
14. I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.
15. Be careful reading the fine print. There's no way you're going to like it.
16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket.
17. Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? (And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!)
18. Money can't buy happiness - but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than in a Yugo.
19. After 50 if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead.
-- -- Thought of the day --
-- "The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top."
Dr. Joyce Brothers
Psychologist and Television Personality
******************************************************************
CLEVER QUOTE: “All worthwhile men have good thoughts, good ideas and good intentions – but precious few of them ever translate those into action”… John Hancock Field
******************************************************************
“Learn the 4 P’s for your inventions”
by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com
You must know the 4 P’s of your invention. Or should we say, the 4 P’s of your business, because they apply to EVERY business, and since you’re inventing, you are in business for yourself.
The 4 P’s fit into the marketing equation like 4 pieces of a puzzle. What exactly are the 4 P’s ?
They are the:
* Product
* Price
* Place (a.k.a. distribution channel)
* Promotion
Every product and business must deal with them. Which one is the most important?
Well, that depends on the product. For example, for a commodity like fuel (where each brand is pretty much the same), the most important P is the Price.
For a fast food restaurant, where each brand is essentially the same price, the important P is either the Product or the Promotion used to sell it to you.
The 4 P’s apply to your invention in this way:
While you probably focus more on the Product component, it is also important to make sure that it is Priced right in order for you, the manufacturer, the wholesaler and the retailer to each earn enough profit from it.
The Product must be able to fit into a Distribution Channel, which is the Place component of the 4 P’s. The Distribution Channel can be indirect, meaning that it goes from the manufacturer to the wholesaler and then to the retailer. Or it can be a direct Distribution Channel, where it goes straight from the manufacturer to the retailers.
If any of the 4 P’s isn’t executed correctly, then your product is guaranteed to fail. Unfortunately, even if you get all 4 of them right, there’s no guarantee that it will succeed.
**********************************
MarketLaunchers customers get FREE consultations once they have purchased a web page from me. It’s good for as long as you own your web page. WHAT A BARGAIN !!! Call me – I am very easy to work with. Just call or e-mail any MarketLaunchers customer on the site.
# # #
-- Paul Niemann (217) 224-8194
niemann7@aol.com
******************************************************************
---> > The Benefits of Getting Your own Web Page:
The #1 thing MarketLaunchers.com does for inventors is that it builds web pages for you. Why is this important?
When you contact companies about licensing or acquiring your product, you can use your web page to show your invention to companies when you’re unable to present it to them in person. It serves as your “online brochure.” This way, when they ask you to “send me something in the mail,” you can direct them straight to your web site while you’re still on the phone with them. Plus, it can be seen by companies who search the Internet for new products. AND YOURS COULD BE IT!!
*************************************************************-- Hey! Look what I found...
-- The Online Inventor Archives: - February 2006 - Article #2: "11 Reasons to become an inventor"
|
| |
|
