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Originally Posted 5/11/06

I hate to say it but our Blog might as well be entitled the American Inventor blog. It seems that Pete and I have written about nothing else for the past two months. We have to dispense words of wisdom to our readers in our posts but nonetheless I will be glad to […]

Originally Posted 4/29/06

You will notice that I did not provide live commentary for last Thursday’s episode of American Inventor. Why? Several reasons: first, I a becoming more and more disillusioned with the show. We just do not get the whole story of what is going on. In short, I have it on reliable information from […]

Originally Posted 4/20/06 

Mark Martinez (sackmaster 2000): He is not going anywhere. He refuses to listen to professionals that can help redesign his invention. Short sightedness will kill an inventor. Succeeding is often knowing when to let go and lets others take your vision and remold it as necessary. He lost when he fired the Designers […]

Originally Posted 4/16/06 

I am speaking of Mark Martinez, the man with the sand bag scooping apparatus. Frankly, I think his invention is one of the best of the final 12 BUT I wouldn’t invest a dime in it.

Why? Simply, it isn’t protected. Sure, Mr. Martinez has a patent but his patent will not prevent any […]

Originally Posted 3/30/06

The thing missing on American Inventor or at least the segments broadcast is any discussion of the patentability of the inventions. Many of the inventions that have got through to the second round are just not patentable.

And the producers of the show are not going to give a one million dollar advance […]

Originally Posted 3/23/06

Tonight there was one inventor featured in Chicago that had spent the last 26 years working on and promoting his invention, bulletball. 26 YEARS! And the invention a sort of cross between ping pong and knock hockey just wasn’t that good. 26 YEARS!! He had quit his job; ruined at least one marriage; […]

Originally Posted 3/16/06

Yeah, I am watching the show. After all, I am a patent attorney. Hokey show? Sure, but strangely enjoyable. Hopefully, the show will inspire those on the sidelines to create and go for their dreams. After all, many of you can do better than many of these inventions.

One moment I would like to […]

Originally Posted 3/14/06

The Denver Post had an article this past Sunday discussing the fearsome “patent troll” (you may want to read the article before proceeding). Apparently, a Patent Troll is anyone who (i) had a great idea, (ii) reduced the invention to practice, (iii) filed a patent application, (iv) received a valid United States […]

Originally Posted 2/26/05

Last month I wrote about “low cost providers”. This month I talk about an even more insidious provider, “the high priced charlatans”. I mentioned in the previous article that below market pricing was a pretty good way of identifying patent practitioners that as a general rule provide low quality patent applications and associated […]