The Invent Blog®

The University of Idaho’s ILSA (International Law Students Association) has put together an interesting panel
discussion on International Intellectual Property issues, primarily focusing on China.  The seminar includes an USPTO Roadshow on “How your Government works to protect your intellectual property rights abroad” as well as a panel discussion:

• John Koeppen — USPTO Attorney – Advisor Office of Internation Relations
• Mark Costello — Xerox Corporation Attorney
• Russell Slifer — Micron Corporation Attorney
• Keith Jones — Washington State University Research Foundation Director – Office of Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights

October 19, 2006.  Moscow, ID.

Download panelbrochure.pdf

Download paneldiscussion.pdf

Stumbled on this one the other day.  A Mac OS-X program called "Patent Downloader" (Japanese origin) which:

Downloads patent specifications from
                JPO (Japanese Patent), USPTO (US Patent) and WIPO
                (PCT)
                and saves as RTFD. (or save as PDF file)
                Also analyzes specifications and creates reference
                character list automatically.

The Innovators Network, in conjunction with Kickstand and Idaho TechConnect, are bringing their “Turning Your Innovations Into Successful Business” breakfast seminar to Boise on Oct. 3rd.  The seminar will be held at the Red Lion Downtowner beginning at 7:30 AM.  For more information or to register for the seminar visit, www.innovators-network.org.  Phil Reed of Highway 12 Ventures and Steve Arnett of PerkinsCoie are a part of the seminar team.

uspto.gov site has a reminder up today:

IMPORTANT NOTICE
Patent and Trademark Fees – Fiscal Year 2007

Based on anticipated action by the U.S. Congress, USPTO’s current patent and trademark fee schedules will continue in effect on October 1, 2006, and beyond. Should any revision become necessary, it will be announced on this website as promptly as possible. USPTO customers should monitor this website for any updated information.

The previous Federal Register notice on fee increases:  Revision of Patent Fees for Fiscal Year 2007 [PDF].  If memory serves me right, that Notice indicated a slight increase (3.5%) in fees to cover changes to the consumer price index.

You’ll probably want to make sure you follow up on this on or before October 1, 2006…lest you pay insufficent fees.

More details to follow…

[Update:  It helps if you (I) actually read the notice…it says that current fees will continue in effect.  Sorry for the confusion.]

Via the uspto.gov home page:

Calling All Inventors
Enter this Year’s Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge Today

The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge, co-sponsored by the USPTO, is now accepting entries for the 2007 Modern Marvel of the Year. Created by the History Channel and the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, the Challenge offers a $25,000 grand prize, an opportunity to be featured on the History Channel during a special Great Inventions Week in May, 2007, and the inclusion of your invention in a national exhibit tour.

The deadline for entries is November 20. For more details go to www.invent.org/challenge

Question from a reader:

Do you know of a free way to find out existing court case regarding a US patent? That is, given a patent number, can I easily (or freely) find out the existing law suit about the patent and documents filed relating to the case?

Free, no.  However you can use Shepards via Lexis Pay As You Go (http://web.lexis.com/xchange/forms/uas/catalog.asp [$6 per search]) to do it.  You’d just Shepardize "patno x,xxx,xxx".  That would tell you if the patent was ever part of a suit.  You could then use PACER (http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/) to pull information about the case (if it is from the past few years).

As for monitoring NEW lawsuits, Rethink(IP) has an email newsetter (free trial) that sends out weekly updates of recently filed lawsuits.  See:  http://www.rethinkip.com/rssmojo/archives/introducing_patent_lawsuit_mojo.html 

Cat’s out of the bag…me and my pals at Rethink(IP) are about to release our latest project:  LegalMojo.

What is it?  It is what we hope will become the premiere job board for legal professionals.  LegalMojo will launch later this month and to wit we are seeking job postings for this job board. 

If you have legal job openings (IP or non-IP)…we want them.

For more details and get your posting listed, please contact our jobs board director (vince@legalmojo.com) as soon as possible. 

Seriously…send us your job posts!

Did you know that David Pressman, author of “Patent It Yourself” has a blog? 

The blog is essentially the “pocket part” (updates) for his Patent It Yourself book.

Bloomington/Normal Illinois Pantagraph:  Man sues company (Invent-Tech/Invention Technologies) over light-up fishing pole.  (09/11/2006)

“I’ve been ripped off by an invention promotion company…what should I do next?”…is a frequent question I receive from readers, particularly in response to my post on Independent Inventors and Invention Promotion companies. 

I recently asked an inventor advocate what she’d recommend.  I’ve taken her recommendations (and added some of my own):

1. Patent Office complaint page.  Unlike the FTC website, directions in how to self-draft it then snail mail are found toward page-end at:  http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/iip/complaints.htm
     
2. FTC.  Filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Comission (www.ftc.gov).  Go to the home page taking the link “Complaint” at the base of that page, filling in answers.  
     
3. State Attorney General.  Submit a copy of your complaint to the Attorney General of the state in which the invention promotion company is located and your state’s attorney general.  A listing of attorney general contact information can be found on the National Association of Attorneys General website.
     
4. BBB.  Submit, mail or fax a copy of your complaint to the Better Business Bureau in the invention promotion company’s home city and your local BBB.  Most people only sumbit it with their local BBB…which allows the invention promotion companies to indicate that they have a favorable rating with the BBB (referring to their local BBB) when in fact they may have hundreds of complaints filed against them in other cities.  http://www.bbb.org

5. RipoffReport.  Submit a complaint to www.ripoffreport.com (enter the invention promotion company’s name in the search box to add your complaint to the existing list).
     
6. Local Media.  Identify your  local (a) “Syndicated” Newspapers and (b) “We Help Consumers” TV show segments.  Identify the name(s) of their investigative reporters leaving a message for them to call you re a local human interest story about an inventor sucked in by an invention submission company. 
    
7.  Local Nonprofit Inventors Groups.  Additionally, if there is a local nonprofit inventors group more likely than not there are other inventors stung too in which case they could band together as a group. 

You could also contact a local attorney (in your state) to discuss any legal recourse you may have against the company. 

Other ideas?  The comments are open.

UPDATE: One inventor pointed out that if you paid by credit card many times you can “file a claim with the credit card company for failure to provide services contracted…” For that inventor, the result was a complete refund.

[Update: See also this post (and its comments) -- Counseling Victims of Invention Promotion Companies]