Funny Patents

I have a book review up over on the What the Funny…Patents website, reviewing Scott Seegert’s book “It’s a Guy Thing: awesome real innovations from the underdeveloped male mind.” Check it out.

Related Posts:

• “What the Funny…Patents” blog (wtfpatents.com) goes live
• What is YOUR expired patent worth?
• David Allen’s GTD “43 Folders” and an old patent

Fore Inventors Only — Golf Channel

In case you missed it, the Golf Channel has a new show “Fore Inventors Only” directed towards inventors of golf related inventions. 

[It] will uncover the next big thing in golf. Aspiring inventors will showcase their inventions and compete for prizes as they attempt to be the last person standing in the competition. This series will give inventors the opportunity to share their designs with the world, and at the culmination, one product or idea will be selected as the top invention…

The prize package includes: shelf-space for the winning invention within a major national golf-retail outlet; a Golf Channel-produced infomercial; air time for the infomercial on Golf Channel.

More than a thousand inventors auditioned, 103 made it onto the show, and now they are in the process of narrowing the field down 39 inventions that will advance to the “field testing stage” of the competition.  It looks like the most recent episode (covering day two of the narrowing) will be reshown tonight, Saturday and Sunday.  Here’s a link to the Tivo “record this show” page.  The live finale, where the winner is announced, will be September 4. 

What interests me about this show the most is the fact that a local Boise inventor (Dean Thompson, Z Factor Sports, U.S. Patent No. 6,893,356) made the second day cuts, making it into the final 39 and the “field testing stage.”  The Golf Channel page spotlighting his invention can be found here.Additional information about his product can be found at www.perfectputtingmachine.com.  Good luck Dean!

Related Posts:

• Fore Inventors, Part Deux!
• Boise Inventor Makes it to the Finals of the Gold Channel’s Fore Inventors Only Show
• Black American Inventors…can you help?

Who is Inventor-Link.com?

Amazingly, I have received three inquiries today from inventors asking about an invention promotion company named Inventor-Link LLC (Delaware).  They appear to be operating in Portland, Oregon, specifically targeting U.K. inventors.  Their website is at www.inventor-link. com (link intentionally left broken).  

I don’t have any information about them, but I will leave the comments open so my readers can provide whatever information they may have.

Related Posts:

• I’ve been ripped off by an invention promotion company…what should I do next?
• Who is Pacific World Marketing?
• UPDATE: post on Invention Promotion Companies

Downloading Patent Copies, My Current Thoughts

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.  [Abraham Maslow]

I have an extensive list of patent downloading options, methods, tools, websites, etc. (Patent Download), but even I forget sometimes…using a hammer where I need a screwdriver.  

Sometimes you need to do hard core patent research, that is where tools like IP-Discover, WizPatent and related tools really excel.  

Sometimes you need to just grab a quick copy of US patents/applications, that is where www.pat2pdf.org, www.patentreader.com (which I understand is currently off-line), Google Patents and Patent Monkey really excel.

But when it comes to just quickly needing a copy of a foreign patent reference, there is nothing better than IPDL.  I paid for a license years ago (before I even started blogging) and it has paid for itself 500 times over (cost is currently $89).  I don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to punch the Esp@ceNet (or other web page) in the figurative teeth when I couldn’t find the patent I was looking for.  Then I remember IPDL, load it, plug in the patent number, click download and the PDF of the patent I’m looking for magically appears.  The perfect tool for that purpose.

Just my two cents…comments are open if you have other preferences.

Technorati Tags: patent, pdf, download, patent copy, us patent, foreign patent

Related Posts:

• New Patent Download Tools
• Nine Patent Tools for you….
• Excellent tool for patent searching and research

Recommended Reading: The “Legal Andrew” Blog

While he may only be a law student, Andrew Flusche (Legal Andrew) has a knack for writing great posts, the type of things many of my readers would really enjoy.  Example posts:

• Network with Solo and Small Firm Lawyers (regarding ABA Solosez)
• Maximize productivity with Browser Tabs
• Best Legal Business Card Ideas

Andrew’s blog reminds me a lot of Matt Homann’s, only with a law school twist.  If you like Homann’s writings, give Andrew a try.

Related Posts:

• Homann via NFTLU on “Five Indispensable Tips for Law Students and New Lawyers”
• Vote for Pedro, er Homann
• Blawgers….Pony Up Full RSS

You might be an Entrepreneur if…

Top 10 Signs You’re Made to be an Entrepreneur

[Via: 10 Articles That Changed My Life via Del.icio.us Popular]

Related Posts:

• Today’s thought…
• Must Read Articles for Startups
• Pupa, larva and other life stages of inventors

Blawgers….Pony Up Full RSS

Nothing drives me more nuts than legal blogs that do not provide full RSS feeds, instead requiring you to click through to read the entire post. A.k.a., “summary” or “excerpt” RSS feeds.

Other law bloggers (who know what they are talking about) agree with me:

Matt Homann:

Google’s new Blog Search engine only indexes RSS feeds. So if you want to be found, publish a full-text feed. Please.

Rick Klau:

I think the primary justification often given for partial feeds - that it will drive higher clickthroughs back to the publisher’s site - is off-base. As people subscribe to feeds, they subscribe to more feeds. And that means they’re consuming more content, which means that each click out of the feed reader is taking the reader away from more content. In other words, feed reading is consumption-oriented, not transactionally focused. We’ve seen no evidence that excerpts on their own drive higher clickthroughs.

Kevin O’Keefe:

When I switched to full text RSS feeds more people read my blog posts and more people, other bloggers and the media, cited my blog posts in their writings. My reputation as an authority on lawyer blogs grew and LexBlog’s business increased.

Erick J. Heels”

I’m dumping all weblogs from my feed reader that only offer partial feeds (annoying, isn’t it - and I didn’t even make you click through to my website) instead of full feeds. To these sites, I offer two free pieces of advice:

1. Get a clue. It doesn’t matter if your contents is read in a browser, in a feed reader, on a cell phone, or elsewhere.
2. Get FeedBurner. This will also help you with #1.

I’ll come back if you get a full feed. Until the, buh-bye.

Don’t make me follow Dennis Kennedy’s advice:

Over the years, people who use newsreaders to consume RSS feeds often reach a point where they feel that they have subscribed to WAY TOO MANY feeds. They then decide to prune their list of feeds. Historically, one of the easiest ways to cut the feeds you subscribe to is to delete those that offer only excerpts of posts.

The reason should be apparent. You save yourself the time and effort of clicking through to see the rest of the post. If you read feeds offline with a stand-alone reader, as I often do, then you will prefer full-text feeds because you can read everything in the post.

So, give me a full RSS feed! Don’t make me start naming names.

Related Posts:

• RSS Feeds: Do you have my most current?
• USPTO News — automatically sent to you
• My new blog…it’s alive!!!

Pro Se It Isn’t So

An Examiner’s take on dealing with Pro Se Patent Applicants.

Related Posts:

• New USPTO IDS Regulations a Litigator’s Dream???????
• First Accelerated Examination Allowance
• Patent Examiner Training

Our tribute to the working man…Mr. et al.

Viewing our first design in the wtfpatents.com store, I can’t help but think of those Errol Morris ads for Miller High Life from a few years ago. For instance: http://www.errolmorris.com/commercials/miller.html

The design is our tribute to the working man. The average Joe who always gets demoted to “et al.” status on patents while his boss gets his name listed first. Here’s to you Mr. et al.

Related Posts:

• Law Firm Innovation, by Mr. Law Firm Innovation
• New blog…”SOLO Independent IP Practitioners”
• From RSS Feeds on Probation to Applications on Death Row

“What the Funny…Patents” blog (wtfpatents.com) goes live

For a few years we have irregularly updated one of our side projects…the patent humor site “IP Funny.” Thanks to those of you who have put up with our childish senses of humor (and provided your own funny patents for us to post) over the past couple years.

Recently, we decided it was time to finally get the project its own domain, namely www.wtfpatents.com. The “What the Funny…Patents” site is up already. As soon as I get caught up at home and work, maybe I’ll start irregularly posting again. [The RSS feed remains the same, no need to update.]

Related Posts:

• Funny Patents
• New Kids on the IP Block
• Four Years!