Patent Pending Blog - Patents and the History of Technology

Marketing 101

The buzzword in today's business world is MARKETING. However, people often ask for a simple explanation of "Marketing." Well, here it is:

1. You're a woman  and you see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed."

-- That's Direct Marketing.

2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome guy. One of your friends goes up to him and, pointing at you, says, "She's fantastic in bed."

-- That's Advertising.

3. You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and get his telephone number. The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed."

-- That's Telemarketing.

4. You see a guy at a party; you straighten your dress. You walk up to him and pour him a drink. You say, "May I?" and reach up to straighten his tie, brushing your breast lightly against his arm, and then say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed."

-- That's Public Relations.

5 . You're at a party and see a handsome  guy.  He walks up to you and says, "I hear you're fantastic in bed."

-- That's Brand Recognition.


6. You're at a party and see a handsome guy.  He fancies you, but you talk him into going home with your friend.

-- That's a Sales Rep.

7. Your friend can't satisfy him so he calls you.

-- That's Tech Support.


8. You're on your way to a party when you realise that there could be handsome men in all these houses you're passing., so you climb onto the roof of one situated towards the centre and shout at the top of your lungs, "I'm fantastic in bed!"

-- That's Junk Mail.


9. You are at a party, this well-built man walks up to you and grabs your ass.

-- That's the Governor of California.


10. You like it, but twenty years later your attorney decides you were offended.

-- That's America.”

Confidentiality Agreement vs Patent Pending

Sometimes an inventor may wonder if he/she is safe to disclose his invention to a potential licensee if he has the licensee sign a confidentiality agreement.  Or perhaps an inventor has a patent application filed, and wonders if he should also have a potential licensee sign a confidentiality agreement just to be extra safe.  Here is my view on the value of both forms of protection. 

Many companies view independent inventors as a total waste of their time, a pain in the butt, and a potential lawsuit.  They often have policies that they won’t sign confidentiality agreements, and really don’t want to see an inventor’s invention.  The danger for them is that people in their own organization may be working on the same problem, and they could view the inventor’s stuff, reject it, then a year later come out with the product they have been working on in their lab.  The inventor could then sue them for breach of contract.  With that possibility in mind they usually won’t even look at an invention unless it is patent pending.  If it is patent pending, then the invention is defined, so then their decision becomes 1) whether their in-house product is an infringement of the claims of the patent, and 2) can they prove they conceived of it first. 

Their policy may be to never sign confidentiality agreements, to protect themselves from lawsuits by whacko inventors.

From the inventors point of view, if the potential licensee signs a confidentiality agreement and then breaches it, he can sue them for breach of contract.  That’s not too practical for most inventors, and the licensee knows it.  So its not much of a threat. 

If the inventor has a patent pending and the licensee rips him off the inventor can proceed to get the patent issued, and sue them for patent infringement.  As damages he can get triple damages if he can prove that the infringement is willful.  Patent damages start to accrue from the date that the application is published 18 months after it is filed, and he can ask for expedited prosecution if infringement is involved.  The inventor could also get an injunction against the licensee ever selling the product.  The inventor could also license the patent rights to the licensee's biggest competitor, or five of their competitors, who could afford to chase them through the courts and give them a spanking.  Once the patent infringement case was won, the infringer would pay triple damages if the infringement was willful, have to quit selling the invention, and their investment in marketing is lost, but they will have created a need in the industry for the product which will translate to lots more sales of the product to the inventor or his licensee.   

It's not likely that this sequence will happen, because the potential licensee will be able to see where things are going, and its just a lot better business to license the patent rights, and pay the inventor some money, and then for them to be able to keep their competitors out of that market if it’s a good idea. 

So if the inventor is patent pending the consequences of ripping him off are greater than if a confidentiality agreement is breached.  By being patent pending going into the meeting, the inventor conveys that he is not a dummy, he has some legal advice, and is approaching this in a business-like manner.

It would not hurt to have a confidentiality agreement as well, but I don’t think the inventor is likely to get it signed, and it doesn't buys him that much leverage anyway.

Inventors Need to be Flexible

Inventors are always looking for ways to make their invention a success.  A big factor is figuring out who the intended market is going to be, what they will use it for, and what the demand will be. 

When the first practical typewriter was invented, it was marketed to ministers and authors. Nobody thought that it would have much use in the business office.  Surprise, surprise, it was business offices that were buying them.  Oops.

When IBM came out with the first practical personal computer, the IBM PC, their marketing plan projected that they could sell 1000 units, in the entire country!  They figured that there would be a few large companies in every town that would have a use for a computer.

When Alexander Graham Bell made a working telephone, he got a patent on it, and offered to sell the patent outright to AT&T, the telegraph company.  They didn't see much future in it, and didn't buy it.  Since Bell is thought to have given away $100,000,000 over his lifetime, his entire fortune, I guess there was some future to it after all. 

I have seen several of my clients who made a product for group A, only to find out that the ones that were buying their product were members of group B, who the inventor had not even thought of.  So when a product is on the market, you have to see who is buying it, and start adapting it to them, and forget your notions about who you thought was going to buy it.

Does Hillbilly Sex Sell?

This ad on ebay for a '65 Lincoln tests the marketing addage that "sex sells".  The question is, "does Hillbilly sex sell?"  I'll bet it at least generates a lot more lookers at the auction.  We need some analysis and comment from some marketing types.