Originally Posted 5/10/05
Lo and behold I arrived to my office yesterday morning and had a message from American Inventor Eric Thompson – the inventor of the receivers vest. From the beginning I thought he has a great combination of the inventor spirit and pure passion and confidence that it takes to win the competition.
Anyway, he was calling to encourage people to vote for him on thursday and to offer to talk about his experience thus far on the show. We were able to connect later in the day Monday and were able to speak Erik for a few minutes about his experience so far with the show and what’s going on with him in general.
One of the most interesting aspects of the conversation was how much of a business sense that Erik has about him as well as a keen awareness of the other issues out there surrounding inventors and bringing a product to market. As with our discussions with Mark Martinez, it was apparent that the ABC show doesn’t really start to scratch the surface as to the real qualifications and personalities of the featured inventors. I learned that Erik has actually invented at least eight other products prior to the receivers training vest. As with Mark Martinez, the exposure has apparently been good and Erik is receiving a lot of interest in his other products. Additionally, the conversation seemed to support our theory that ABC doesn’t seem to be doing much in the way of patent searching to screen out the candidates. While, as we have previously discussed on the blog, you don’t need a patent to make and sell a product in certain circumstances, such as the case of an individual inventor, they certainly can be a valuable asset. However, with the name recognition of American Inventor and the supposed resources they will be throwing at the chosen product, they could probably do a successful first to market strategy – we’ll have to stay tuned to see how it goes. More than likely, the scenario that could actually play a factor in the American Inventor contest is whether or not the product actually infringes on a patent that already exists. Erik seemed to have a good grasp of the different aspects of patenting and while he said that the decision as to whether the receiver’s vest will ultimately be patented us unknown (as is up to the show), he personally takes a strategic view and often chooses for a first to market strategy. I definitely think that the First to Market vs. Patent debate would have been a very beneficial topic for ABC to have at least minimally addressed and the pro’s and con’s of each.
The other interesting aspect seemed to be that the producers of the show are keeping the contestants in the dark about what is going on. At the time we spoke Erik had no idea what was going to happen on Thursday’s final episode. An interesting aspect of our conversation was the actual camaraderie that seemed to exist between the contestants. Erik mentioned that he really got along with Mark Martinez and Sheryl McDonald and the other people in his “team” as the shows producers called them. It was only later that the contestants found out that they were actually competing with their “team mates”.
Anyway, it was a pleasure to talk to Erik and we wish him the best of luck. He has setup a website for fan registration and a personal video message. As for any of the other contestants on the show – feel free to give us a call and we would be more than happy to discuss your experience.
