The Invent Blog® » Historical & Interesting

Book Review – The Way Toys Work

nipper — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:38:34 +0000

Most larger cities have a “children’s museum” where kids (and grown ups) can experience “hands on” science. Anything that teaches kids that science is cool is worth supporting!

Our local children’s museum is called the “Discovery Center of Idaho.” For about ten years now, I have provided free patent searches to the winners of the Discovery Center’s annual “Invent Idaho” science fair contest for elementary and middle school students. It has been a blast working with young kids that are so excited about inventing.

Through that participation, I have come to be a big fan of the Discovery Center’s Education Director, Woody Sobey (@twsobey). A few weeks ago, Woody mentioned that he had a book on toys called “The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More.” I immediately ordered it.

The book is amazing. In the book they take apart toys, deconstructing them for kids while explaining how they work. Additionally, most of the toys mentioned include figures from the actual patents for the toys. It is definitely something that most of my readers would enjoy reading, as well as giving away as a gift to their children/grandchildren/nieces/nephews.

Book Recommendation for Entrepreneurs: ONO | Options Not Obligations by Marc Warnke Book recommendation: ONO – Options Not Obligations by Marc Warnke...
Referral request — Book Opinion A reader (who is writing a book on patents (historical/humor))...

Google patents (design) its user interface

nipper — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:57:55 +0000

Via Gawker, Google has obtained (Sept. 1, 2009) a design patent that covers its user interface. USPN D599,372.

What’s amazing to me is how long it took to obtain the patent, the application was filed on March 7, 2006.

It is also a good example of a patent containing a copyright or mask notice (see my earlier post on Are Patent Drawings in the Public Domain?).

Are Patent Drawings Public Domain? “Patents are published as part of the terms of granting...
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This Week in Law Podcast – patents

nipper — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:40:33 +0000

I’m going to be a guest on this week’s TWiL (This Week in Law) podcast, discussing patents with host Denise Howell and patent lawyers Adam Bagwell and Matt Buchanan. Topics on the slate include Volumedia’s “podcasting patent,” patent reform, “Web 2.0 and uspto.gov,” and Peer-to-Patent. Per Denise’s blog:

This Friday, August 7, this WEEK in LAW will be live on TWiT.tv at 11 a.m. Pacific. You can watch at live.twit.tv, or on Stickam or UStream. Chat with us real-time at irc.twit.tv or on FriendFeed (the Stickam and UStream channels have their own chat as well, but I won’t be monitoring those while we’re on.) If you can’t make it live, you can, of course, always subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcatcher (more options here).

Denise’s blog has details on how to submit questions/topics for the show.

This Week in Law — hot off the presses, er RSSes The Queen of the Blawgers Denise Howell has a new gig…working...
Audio from my appearance of This Week in Law – Patent Edition You can now listen to the audio (podcast) from my...

Patents per capita and Idaho

nipper — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:38:04 +0000

One statistic I get tired of hearing is how data shows (showed?) that Idaho is (was) #1 per capita for patents and Boise is (was) #2 per capita for patents. The reality is those numbers are (were) greatly skewed by Micron Technology and Hewlett-Packard both having facilities in town. Those two entities account for 75%+ of the Idaho patents since 1984.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not bad mouthing Idaho inventors. Instead, I’m criticizing those (typically in government) that pound on their chests like Tarzan, bragging about this statistic, trying to make it mean something it doesn’t.

A local friend of mine, Chris Blanchard, recently wrote a post on this exact topic: Blanchard v. Florida: Why Patents per Capita is a Poor Economic Indicator. In that post he takes issue with portions of Richard Florida’s book The Rise of the Creative Class. Chris’ post is worth reading too…

Idaho Universities and Patents Earlier today the USPTO released its list of top...
Idaho again #1 per capita for patents ZDNet Blog: Idaho first, La. last in patent-population ratio...

New patent data/statistics/analytics website

nipper — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:26:36 +0000

Boliven Patents. Impressive collection of patent data, searchable file histories, listings of the most prolific inventors, which examiners have examined the most patents…and so on. Related posts:Interesting data about this blog…statistics and other lies I’ve been blogging now for 9 months!! Seems like I... USPTO wants feedback regarding CWUs (chemical structure drawings, mathematical formulae, protein crystal data, [...] Related posts:

Interesting data about this blog…statistics and other lies I’ve been blogging now for 9 months!! Seems like I...
USPTO wants feedback regarding CWUs (chemical structure drawings, mathematical formulae, protein crystal data, and table data) Complex Work Units Pilot at the USPTO The United States...

King of Pop, and patentee

nipper — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:51:24 +0000

It is sad hearing that Michael Jackson passed away.

Did you know he had a patent? See this 2004 Invent Blog post.

Google bingo Dennis Kennedy was doing a Q&A format for a...

Robot inventors

nipper — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:25:45 +0000

FT.com notes “A laboratory robot called Adam has been hailed as the first machine in history to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of its human creators.”

Patent bar exam trivia question of the day: can the robot be listed as an inventor on a U.S. patent application?

Patent Bar exam Remember taking the patent bar exam? What a nightmare. I...
Top US Inventors Kevin Maney at USAToday (hat tip 271 Patent Blog)...

Video – Bob Shaver on Bicycle Patents and Technology

nipper — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:53:53 +0000

Video from Ignite Boise 01 is online now. One of the videos that my readers may enjoy is my law partner Bob Shaver’s (Patent Pending Blog) FIVE MINUTE presentation on The History of Bicycle Technology (below).

By the way, Bob has a new blog: BicyclePatents.com.

IgniteBoise|01 Speakers/Topics Announced I’m jazzed by the great speakers/presentations we have on tap...
In Boise? Going to Ignite Boise 1? I’m helping set up an event in March that I...

IgniteBoise|01 Speakers/Topics Announced

nipper — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:30:09 +0000

I’m jazzed by the great speakers/presentations we have on tap for IgniteBoise|01. See the IgniteBoise blog post”: Without further ado… « Ignite Boise | Boise’s best ideas in 5 minutes, 2 0 slides.

Included in the speaker list is my law partner Bob Shaver (aka the bicyclepatents.com blog) speaking on…bicycle technology.

In Boise? Going to Ignite Boise 1? I’m helping set up an event in March that I...
Video – Bob Shaver on Bicycle Patents and Technology Video from Ignite Boise 01 is online now. One of...

LegalZoom sues itself?

nipper — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:07:00 +0000

LEGALZOOM.COM, INC., a Delaware corporation v. LEGALZOOM.COM, INC., a Delaware corporation http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-nvdce/case_no-2:2009cv00273/case_id-64319/ UPDATE (2/20/2009): The page now shows “Incorp Services, Inc., v. Legalzoom.com, Inc.” Related posts:LegalZoom sued for Unauthorized Practice of Law Gene Quinn at IPWatchDog reports that LegalZoom has been sued... LegalZoom and Unauthorized Practice of Law in North Carolina Elawyering blog on LegalZoom Challenged by North [...] Related posts:

LegalZoom sued for Unauthorized Practice of Law Gene Quinn at IPWatchDog reports that LegalZoom has been sued...
LegalZoom and Unauthorized Practice of Law in North Carolina Elawyering blog on LegalZoom Challenged by North Carolina Bar. [hat...