March/April Newsletter - The Tampa Bay Inventors Council

The
Tampa Bay
March-April 2014
Really,
what
is a
‘Patent
Troll?’
Pages 8 & 9
Wayne’s Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Recap of Recent Meetings . . . . . 3
3 Things to Believe. . . . . . . . . . . 6
Sites Built for Inventors . . . . . . 12
Visit our website: www.tbic.us
GET NEWS UPDATES: www.tbicnews.blogspot.com
JOIN US EACH
2 AND 4th WEDNESDAY
EVERY MONTH!
nd
MEET WITH US AT:
Tampa Bay Innovation Center
7887 Bryan Dairy Rd., Ste. 220
Largo, FL 33777
“Inventors Helping Inventors”
The Tampa Bay Inventors Council is here to help you succeed, forge ahead, maintain your
purpose and achieve what you intend to. Everyone in this group is behind you.
A Message From Our President
P
romotion is
two
thirds
motion so if
you’re not moving
you’re not going
to catch the best
opportunity!
Wayne Rasanen
You need
to get up and get out and show
your best every minute.
And that is why we are happy to announce that we have
joined up with two big events
here in Tampa Bay!
On April 5th & 6th we will
join with area Makers and creators
at the Florida State Fairgrounds for
Makercon 2014! We will have an area both
days for inventors to come and show their
stuff.
Then one week later on April 12th &
13th we will join the folks at Barcamp Sarasota for a DaVinci Exhibit where we once
again will be able to show our inventions.
It is critical to get a feel for how the public perceives your invention so that you can
judge your commitment to your idea.
It is easy to fall in love with your own
idea if you spend too much time in an echo
chamber listening to yourself. You have to
get out and promote your idea if you want
to be successful.
If you can’t make it to one of these
opportunities, stay in touch with
us and we will share more to
come.
Better still, find out when
a convention is being held
related to your invention and
go there.
Don’t rent a booth but rather
walk the show with samples of
your idea and see if you can find the
deal you want.
Talk to everyone and don’t be shy, you
have a great idea and people want to hear
about it. Get up, get out and keep moving!
You are the engine that makes your idea
go so put it in gear and hit the gas!
Wayne Rasanen, President, Tampa Bay Inventors
Council
Need to Reach TBIC?
Office: 727-565-2085 or call: 727-251-4056
George Mouzakis g.mouzakis@chicagobooth.edu
Mailing Address: 7752 Royal Hart Dr. New Port Richey, FL 34653
Website Info www.TBIC.us
Visit our website for information about current and past happenings. You can also download current
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to download this free document viewer.
Monthly TBIC meetings are held every 2nd and 4th
Wednesday of EVERY month.
All meetings start at 7 p.m.
at Tampa Bay Innovation Center, 7887 Bryan Dairy Rd., Ste. 220, Largo, FL 33777
Information and articles printed in this newsletter are not necessarily endorsed
by the TBIC and may not be applicable to everyone
Page 2
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
General Meeting Summary
Jan. 8, 2014
Past Meeting Summary
Club President Wayne Rasanen was out of
state, so Vice President Pam French conducted
the meeting.
Tonight’s speaker was our own long-time
member Joe Navarro. Joe is a local self-employed
product designer. His ad is on the back cover of
every newsletter edition.
3D C.A.D. (3-Dimensional Computer Aided
Design) is the way of the future...today. To get
any physical object manufactured today, you
must have 3D CAD drawings of it. Blueprints
just aren’t good enough any more. Product designers specialize in creating CAD drawings.
In light of the fact that our club meetings in
Nov. and Dec. had three separate product design
firms as guest speakers (Inventors Launch Pad,
Veritek EMP, Evo Rapid Prototype), Joe elected to
skip the basics of 3D CAD and instead dive into
whatever questions, comments, observations or
experiences we might have about the subject.
There were many. The open discussion covered CAD, rapid prototyping, 3D printing, 3D
scanning, design, engineering, manufacturing,
injection molding, CNC machining, patenting,
licensing, crowdfunding, marketing and much
more. Joe’s free-form discussion was just the right
addition to all we had learned from the product
designers in the previous meetings. It clarified
many points the previous speakers had made.
Then our member Randy Landreneau gave an
update to the Innovation Act now before Congress. Actually, there wasn’t any progress due to
Congress’s holiday recess. The proposed Act was
approved by the House before recess and is on its
way to the Senate. Randy will be traveling to Washington D.C. soon to argue against its passage.
Most independent inventors oppose this Act.
Randy says that now the United Inventors Association officially opposes it too. If this proposed
legislation becomes law it will virtually eliminate
the ability of the independent inventor to defend
a patent from infringement by a large corporation.
This would be accomplished through two
parts. One is “Loser Pays All” which creates a
huge financial risk to the “little guy” by slanting the playing field in favor of big corporations.
Under Loser Pays, an independent inventor
would have to risk financial ruin to defend his/
her infringed patent. The other is that the Act
undoes provisions that were intended to prevent
serial challenges to a patent. Under present law,
a party challenging a patent must put their best
argument forward in a single case rather than
multiple cases. Eliminating this provision means
big corporations will be able to file one expensive
lawsuit after another, eventually bankrupting the
independent patent holder and crushing him/
her as a competitor.
The supposed reason for this legislation is to
tame “patent trolls” because of the public misconception that they are social parasites. But it
looks as if the real reason is to enable big corporations to get away with infringing patents held
by independent inventors who have little money
to fight back with.
Get more info about the Innovation Act at
www.IPwatchdog.com/2013/12/08/house-passesinnovation-act-battle-goes-to-senate/id=46611/
Randy wants us to call our senators immediately because they need to hear how the Innovation Act will harm independent invention. He is
going to tell them in person and invites any of us
to join him. This proposed legislation must be
stopped! Please help. Contact Senators Bill Nelson (www.billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm)
and Marko Rubio (www.rubio.Senate.gov/public/
index.cfm/contact) today!
General Meeting Summary
Jan. 22, 2014
Pres. Wayne was home with the flu, so Vice
Pres. Pam ran the meeting once again.
Our guest speaker was Clay Gambetti of the
Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance to explain StartUp Quest, which is an evaluation study being
done by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department contracted the University of
Florida College of Business to write educational
material about starting a business, and the material is being taught nationwide in selected cities by the cities’ own local workforce alliances.
The USDOL will then monitor the progress of
the students for a few years after the training, to
evaluate whether the StartUp Quest course was
truly effective. If so, the program will be expanded nationwide. If not, it will be dropped.
To be eligible for enrolment, one must have
a college degree (any level, any subject) and be
unemployed.
According to Clay, this entrepreneurial training is unique and excellent. Classes take place
once a week. On day one the students divide up
into teams, and advisory mentors are assigned to
the teams. These mentors are local retired busi-
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Continued on Page 4
Page 3
Past Meeting Summary (Continued from Page 3)
ness executives who have had successful careers
running their own companies. Each team will
form a simulated start-up, including a simulated
business plan and simulated funding from simulated investors.
Although each start-up will be fictional, the
products are real. See, most engineering colleges
nowadays have a Technology Transfer department. Its mission is to transfer inventions and/or
processes that the school’s technology labs have
developed, into the hands of entrepreneurs to
manufacture and market. This creates jobs and
improves the world. Most engineering lab projects are solutions to real-world problems that
were carefully researched, investigated, analyzed,
measured and quantified by the college. These
solutions are the products that the StartUp
Quest students will build simulated businesses
around.
As the U.S. Dept. of Labor reviews several
business plans for the same product from several
teams around the nation, more extensive educational material can be created. Furthermore, by
monitoring the students’ progress after they’ve
completed the training, gone forth and built
their own businesses (unrelated to the simulated
ones in the training), the department can create
additional educational programs.
StartUp Quest’s training is to prepare college grads to become entrepreneurs by educating them about opportunities to commercialize
technologies developed in U.S. universities. The
10-week program includes classes in:
nDetermining the Venture’s Value - Every investor
must have this clearly spelled out. The investor will
then double-check every figure. The start-up’s team
must know how to make this analysis and present it
to investors coherently.
nMarket Analysis - To study the entire industry in
which the new product will launch. Is this a good
industry in which to form a start-up, or does it now
contain too many well-established competitors? Can
the product be launched in some other industry(s)?
nCommercialization Strategies - The pathway to
transform a laboratory invention into a successful
business is seldom obvious. This class can help.
nTeam Building and Technology Matching - How to
obtain just the right people with just the right mix of
skills and experience to commercialize the particular
technology in the most appropriate industry. Team
building is always one of the most important challenges before even starting any new business.
nFinancial Requirements to Bring a Product to Market - Determining how much money will be needed
Page 4
is difficult, even for the accounting member of the
team. Money is raised in stages for various steps
of the strategy. Sequence is crucial. The team’s accounting/financial wizard needs this training in particular, as does the rest of the team.
nPresentation Skills - Presenting the venture’s opportunity to potential investors must be done in a proper
sequence and in a format that answers the investors’
questions before they’re even asked. The training
includes mock presentations to the program’s advisors, but the advisors are actual accredited investors
in real life. Therefore they ask realistic, tough questions.
nAnd Much More
A close look at the headings above shows that
this training is just right for an independent inventor who intends to build a business around
his/her product, and then grow the business bigger and bigger. Then what? Keep it going henceforth or sell the business...the choice is yours.
Furthermore, additional benefits an inventor
would reap from participation include:
nGaining valuable entrepreneurial skills
nLearning tools and knowledge useful in starting a
business
nAcquiring knowledge about new, cutting-edge technologies
nLearning to write a business plan
nCollaborating in a team environment
nCompeting in an investor pitch
nNetworking with talented peers and mentor/advisors.
Classes start Mon. 10Feb2014 with the “Introduction and Welcome Aboard” meeting. Clay
invited our club to have a table in that meeting
to hand out brochures and invite students to our
meetings. We just might take up his offer!
General Meeting Summary
Feb. 12, 2014
First guest speaker: Terry Willingham discussed the upcoming Makers’ Fair this April. It’s
a two day innovators festival with an emphasis
on technical, creative and professional exhibits,
workshops and sessions covering everything
from patent development and the inventive process, to 3D printing, CNC mills, programming,
mechanical and electrical design, robotics, green
tech, open source technologies and much, much
more.
The fair takes place the weekend of 05 &
06Apr2014 in the Florida State Fairgrounds,
Continued on Page 5
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Past Meeting Summary (Continued from Page 4)
Tampa. Get full info about the event at http://
GulfCoastMakers.com/gulf-coast-makercon.
TBIC will have a booth at the fair! In fact, all
inventor clubs in Florida have been invited. We
will definitely participate!
The annual Makers’ Fair is operated by Learning Is For Everyone, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates public experiential learning opportunities in the sciences and
arts for people of all ages, including FIRST robotics programs and TEDx, as well as Maker Fairs
across the country. www.LI4E.org.
Then Terry gave us more good news. Learning
Is For Everyone is about to open a Community
Innovation Center annexed onto a public library
in Tampa. The Center is a fabrication lab for tinkerers like us. Located in the John F. Germany
Library on Ashley Street, it’s a 10,000 square
foot state-of-the-art space containing machine
shop equipment and a hands-on workshop,
electronics and computer labs, learning and
entrepreneurial centers, plus an arts & crafts
center and much more. This is a fantastic boon
for inventors in this area because we can now
fabricate our own prototypes ourselves and save
big bucks! The Center will teach us how to use
all the machines and equipment it has. Get more
info at www.LI4E.org/programs/li4eCommunityInnovationCenter. Terry said the Center is expected
to open in March.
It’s always a pleasure to listen to a successful inventor, and our second guest speaker did
not disappoint. Gary Bronga was an aerospace
employee at Cape Canaveral who visualized a
simple, marketable idea, and - spending only
$500 - turned the idea into millions of dollars.
Far from being an advanced technological development within his industry, his invention is a
simple, down-to-earth device to attach an employee’s badge to his/her clothing. The typical
type of ID card-badge that millions of workers
and managers wear every day. He trademarked
his product as ‘ClipEze.’
After achieving big success with his ClipEze
invention, Gary wanted to share the secrets of
his success with others, so he authored “Bringing a Product to Market From Your Home: With
$500 and an Idea You Can Make Millions”.
Continued on Page 6
PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDING
COMPLETE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
¸
3-D CAD DRAWINGS Drawn for the Injection Molding process
¸
PROTOTYPING
Rapid Prototyping in days, not weeks
¸
MANUFACTURING
Short runs or high volume
¸
ASSEMBLY
Component and Product Assembly
¸
PACKAGING
For the retail or wholesale market
¸
SHIPPING
Directly to your buyer or distribution center
800-509-2920
Email: sales@delaneymanufacturing.com
Web: DelaneyManufacturing.com
"LAIKIE#OURTs3ARASOTA&LORIDA
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Page 5
Past Meeting Summary (Continued from Page 4)
He says when beginning your invention innovation you will not know if your product will
sell in the marketplace. There is simply no way
to predict if a product will sell. You must TEST,
TEST and TEST your product to determine marketability. Do not spend a lot of money and time
on a product if it will not sell. Gary recommends
a three to six month trial period. If you put all
your effort into a product for six months and
have not at least broken even on your costs, perhaps you should move on to the next idea. But
if you have covered your cost up to that point
and the product shows great potential based on
results and reactions of customers, you should
proceed at full speed from that point on. Do not
take “no” for an answer. Give it 100% of your
effort.
The first bit of testing is to sell - or even give
away - some of your product. Ask for feedback.
Generally people will give their opinions freely
about products. You need honest feedback from
potential customers. If you start to hear things
like: “I wish I thought of that,” “You’re going to
sell a million of these,” and “You’re going to be a
millionaire,” you may have a successful product
on your hands.
Gary’s plan was to wear, give away, and SELL
as many of his initial order of 200 pins as he
could. Then he sat back and waited to see if
people would contact him for more. During that
time he read several books about marketing, patents, trademarks and small business.
He was contacted by several dozen people
who wanted more ClipEze badge holders, so he
ordered 500 more from his contracted manufacturer. The demand quickly increased, so he had
another 1,000 made. By then, he had completed
reading many business books and applied for all
local, state and federal business permits and licenses required for a home business. These early
sales meant that his business was receiving revenue as soon as it was founded.
This was 1995 and not many companies had
websites. Gary knew little about setting one up,
but he could plainly see that doing so would be
the best way for him to reach a lot more customers. Through effective networking he found
a friend who had made a web site for his church
and was happy to set up a ClipEze site for free.
Then sales really took off.
Gary says trade shows are wonderful for assessing your product’s ability to sell. Trade shows
are expensive, but exhibiting at a show will allow
you to directly explain your product and see/
Page 6
hear the reaction to it. You get instant feedback,
plus you can eye your competition and also meet
service providers for your industry whose specialty services you might just need now or soon.
This includes distributors and sales reps.
Gary advises to start slowly and develop the
business one step at a time, rather than borrow
money to start a home business. Market your
business based on how much it is earning now,
then upgrade the marketing plan as things increase. In other words, don’t over-promise. Sell
100 units of your product and then pay to have
200 more made. Sell the 200 and buy 400 more.
Go slowly. Begin small. Keep your day job until
the right time. Gary did.
He says persistence and commitment are the
keys to success. As everyone knows, most small
businesses fail. Gary believes most fail due to
lack of effort or lack of persistence. But if you
work hard, have an outstanding product and
provide great customer service, your chances of
being successful improve substantially.
He gave an important tip about protecting
your idea before you’ve had the chance to patent
it. Whenever revealing it under a non-disclosure
agreement, always e-mail very soon afterward:
“Thank you for signing my NDA on such-&such a date. Please remember to not reveal its
contents to anyone for the time period of...” as
stated in the document. Then save and file this
e-mail message and the signer’s reply. Print them
out too. They are admissible in court, should the
signer double-cross you some day.
Gary Bronga started with only his computer
and $500. He received enough rejection letters
to wallpaper his home office...He actually did
cover the walls with them. Yet today most of
the people and companies that rejected him are
now his distributors! To date Gary has sold more
than 3 million ClipEze badge holders; distributed through the web, retail stores and catalogs
around the world. Along the way he overcame rejection, acknowledged his mistakes and learned
from them while never once allowing himself to
become defeated. And he wrote an interesting
book. His two websites are www.GaryBronga.com
and www.ClipEze.com.
Next, our own Randy Landreneau gave an update in the fight against the pending legislation
known as the Invention Act. Previously Randy
and another inventor from elsewhere in the
country flew to Washington D.C. and met with
Continued on Page 10
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
3
Things Successful
Entrepreneurs Strongly Believe
by T. J. Philpott
Most of the successful entrepreneurs found
on the internet are highly motivated and therefore more productive!
It is primarily these characteristics that allow
them to get more done than their competitors
thus allowing them to taste the fruits of success
while others languish in frustration and failure!
In so many words they make their own ‘rules’
and set their own standards due mainly to 3 important beliefs they hold!
Let’s explore how the most successful people
found online approach their businesses based
upon 3 fundamental beliefs that differ from
those of their competitors!
1
They Do Not Allow
Time to Manage Them
People who regularly experience success work with focus
and in an efficient manner!
This is to say they typically do not procrastinate or allow ‘deadlines’ to dictate how long it
takes to accomplish a task or project!
They work at their own speed and NOT a
pace that has been dictated to them by assigned
deadlines!
So if a task takes less time than expected
which it generally will since these people are
more productive with their efforts, they move on
to something else!
When a person is highly motivated such as
these people are, they accept and conquer challenges routinely!
They absolutely refuse to be ‘hemmed in’ by
the expectations or standards that have been set
for the masses!
Time does NOT control their actions but rather they control time and how they use it!
2
Lacking Experience
Is Not a Barrier
All that ‘having experience’ really says is you put in the time
and perhaps maybe NOT even
successfully!
People who tend to accomplish their objectives are obviously more productive which is
more admirable than simply having experience!
Having a lack of experience in certain areas does
NOT hold successful people back!
Remember they are first and foremost highly motivated and mastering new challenges is
something they relish!
Possessing such a mindset therefore does not
allow for success driven entrepreneurs to be intimidated by having a lack of ‘experience’ in any
field with which they have an interest! Sorry but
experience is NOT a barrier for these people!
3
Personal
Accountability
Blaming your errors or lack of
success on others is a good
indication you have not or are
not willing learned from your
mistakes!
Embracing each set-back or failure for the lessons they offer insures you’re likely to NEVER
commit the same mistake again!
The blame-game is a silly waste of time to any
entrepreneur who focuses primarily on reaching their goals and thus they hold themselves
accountable to any errors or setbacks they encounter!
How else do you expect to learn and grow
other than to identify and address your own deficiencies and this can only be done by holding
yourself accountable!
Besides the time and effort you put into finding somewhere to place the blame for your lack
of success can be put to better use to get more
done and bring your goals closer!
Reprinted with permission from ArticlesBase, the Free
Online Articles Directory at www.articlesbase.com.
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Page 7
Make Way for the Patent Trolls!
by Rob Aiken
Social Parasites or Capitalist
Superheros? Should We
Obstruct ‘Em or Should We
Applaud ‘Em? You Decide.
W
hat is a “patent troll?” A patent troll
(also called a “patent assertion entity”)
is a small business that enforces patent
rights against accused infringers in an attempt
to collect licensing fees, but does not actually
manufacture or sell the product that the patent
covers. Using special software, a troll cruses
the web looking for noticeable trends within
high tech industries. After identifying a specific
industry, the software compares new products
to recent patents in hopes of finding infringers.
Finding one, the troll contacts the patent owner
and offers him/her money in exchange to have
him/her transfer the patent rights to the troll
company. I.E.- sell the patent to the troll.
Upon getting the rights, the troll spends its
own money to sue the infringer. The winning
payoff is many times greater than the outlay, and
that’s the troll’s income. The patent troll’s business model is entirely...lawsuits. The troll does
not use the patent to actually manufacture and
sell the invention, but only to sue the infringer.
Then another and another. And the troll does
not share the royalties with the inventor because
the troll owns the patent.
Internally, a patent troll is a team of professionals typically consisting of patent lawyers,
business lawyers, engineers and deep-pocketed
investors. The team is a business entity (LLC,
LLP, corporation or company) and each lawsuit
it initiates is, essentially, a business venture. The
practice is entirely legal, under current law.
What makes independent inventors so fond
of patent trolls is that trolls have a very good
record of success at tackling big corporations
in court; independent inventors do not. When
a big business decides to make/sell a patented
invention without paying royalties to the patent holder, that’s infringement. To stop it and/
or force the corporation to make payments, the
patent holder must prove in court that the corporation’s product infringes the patent. Very
complicated high tech inventions can be difficult to explain in court, so proving the infringe-
Page 8
ment can be extremely challenging,
time-consuming and expensive.
And that’s why the field has always been slanted in favor of big
corporations. An independent
inventor usually has little money
to spend on lawsuits, and the big
boys know it.
Yet, some infringed inventors
who have been contacted by trolls
have successfully negotiated with
the trolls into a win/win situation for both. It works like this:
The inventor allows the troll to
sue the infringer, then collect and
keep all royalties received from
the infringer; while the troll allows the inventor to find another corporation(s) to license to
and receive royalties from after the case i s
settled. Although the inventor gets nothing
from the infringer, he/she can
still profit from the patent
through subsequent
licensing deals later.
Although the troll
gets nothing from
subsequent licensing deals, it does
get royalties from
the infringer. Win/
win.
As this practice
becomes more
well known and
widespread, it’s
easy to see why
big
businesses
with ethically-challenged corporate
cultures find this trend
so upsetting. Thus, they’ve hired the hottest
ethically-challenged lobbyists to promote the
Innovation Act to congress.
The proposed Innovation Act should not
be confused with the America Invents Act.
The AIA was signed into law over two years
ago, while the IA is under consideration
within the U.S. Senate now. It was already approved by the House recently.
Proponents of the Innovation Act claim that
Continued on Page 10
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Patent Trolls 101
by Randy Landreneau
T
he term “patent troll” was
coined in 1999. It was
inspired by a libel suit
against Intel by Ray Niro, a
patent litigator, who had been
called a “patent extortionist” by
an executive at Intel. The execs
at Intel wanted to come up with
a better term for the press, and
they actually had a contest which
resulted in the creation of the
term “patent troll.”
There is an interesting connection to TBIC in this story. You
see, our former President, Chuck
Van Breemen, after trying to license
a patent of his, later discovered the
company producing and selling
his invention. Chuck sued for
patent infringement, and was
successfully represented
by none other than Ray
Niro.
The term “patent
troll” was created to
make a patent holder suing for patent infringement
look bad. Less derogatory
terms are patent assertion
entity (PAE) and nonpracticing entity (NPE). In
either case, the entity owns patents but
does not produce products encompassed by the patents. Some NPEs
are individuals like Chuck, others are
companies that purchase patents from
inventors. NPEs that purchase patents
from inventors do so as part of a business
model that includes filing patent infringement suits against companies that are infringing the patents.
As you are reading this, you might be
thinking that the term “patent troll” is
really just for the large entities that buy
up lots of patents and aggressively litigate them, not for inventors who seek
to defend their patents. Well, in the
world of public relations, the term is often used
very loosely in ways that definitely impinge heavily on us. I attended a lunch meeting in recently
in Washington DC where lobbyists were work-
ing to get the current “patent troll” legislation
passed. One of the panelists called Eli Whitney
(inventor of the cotton gin) the first patent troll!
If the political operatives consider Eli Whitney a
patent troll, then you and I are under attack.
One thing to realize is that efforts to weaken
the American Patent System go as far back as the
mid-1800s. When a new technology arises, an
industry builds around it, and there are a relatively high number of lawsuits in the early years
that lessen in later years. This has occurred with
the telegraph, telephone, train, and automobile,
as well as with current technologies like the smart
phone. And historically, the corporations being
sued for patent infringement call for changes to
the American patent system.
The difference now is that large corporations
have gotten very good at getting misleading propaganda into the media and pressuring politicians for legislative changes. The typical report is
that “patent trolls” acquire questionable patents
and use frivolous patent infringement litigation
to strong-arm companies into paying undeserved licensing fees. Furthermore, as the argument goes, “patent trolls” are causing an “explosion” in patent litigation and significant changes
need to be made to the American Patent System
to handle this situation.
Careful analysis of the situation yields a much
different story. The apparency of an increase in
patent litigation has been caused by a procedural
change from the America Invents Act, wherein
similar infringers that used to be sued together
now have to be sued separately: “After considering the total number of patent litigants, we
found almost no difference between 2010 and
2012. In other words, the “explosion” of PAE
litigation between 2010 and 2012 is simply a
mirage.” (Unpacking Patent Assertion Entities,
by Christopher Cotropia, Jay P. Kesan, & David
L. Schhwartz).
Also, research by eminent US patent office
historian B. Zorina Kahn shows that patent litigation in the last decade is also not out of line
with the historical rate: “This historical trend in
litigation rates relative to patents granted clearly
does not support claims that litigation in the
past decade has “exploded” above the long term
norm. In fact, the per patent rate of litigation was
highest in the era before the Civil War…” (Trolls
and Other Patent Inventions, B. Zorina Kahn).
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Continued on Page 11
Page 9
Past Meeting Summary (Continued from Page 6)
senators who are involved with this bill. He felt
then that a small amount of progress was made
at convincing them to kill the bill. His update is
that he and the other guy went back last week
and made considerably more progress. Randy
feels that now we actually do have a chance of
defeating the bill! This is an uphill battle because
big corporations and their well-financed lobbyists are pushing hard to get this bill passed. But
Randy says that not only are the senators now
listening to the voice of independent inventors,
the media is starting to get both sides of the story
too. He urges us all to go to www.IndependentInventorsOfAmerica.org, read the articles about this
proposed legislation and please sign the on-line
petition to stop it.
Last but not least, Vice President Pam French
described her recent interview on MyCoolInventions radio show about her cell-phone purse
product. It went well and received a whopping
97% ‘thumbs up’ from the web voters afterward.
MyCoolInventions radio interviews are easy. No
need to go into the studio downtown; it’s conducted entirely over the telephone. And it’s free.
Radio is a great way to spread the word about
your invention product. And MyCoolInventions
is great at helping you do exactly what Gary Bronga recommended earlier; TEST if your product
will sell in the marketplace. Pam did. Go to www.
MyCoolInventions.com and/or tune in AM 860
WGUL Saturday afternoons from 4 to 7.
General Meeting Summary
Feb. 26, 2014
With no guest speaker, our own Randy Landreneau had all night to describe his recent progress at blocking the proposed Innovation Act.
He and his inventor friend from the Midwest,
Paul Morinville, just returned from their third
trip to the nation’s capital, where they discussed
with several Senators why the act should not be
allowed onto the President’s desk.
Paul Morinville is an inventor who actually
used a patent troll to successfully sue a big corporation that was infringing his patent. He and
Randy recently founded Independent Inventors
Of America, which is the #1 organization dedicated to killing this proposed legislation.
Randy gave us a detailed description of all the
points within the act, along with a pro & con analysis of each point. He said that lots of progress has
been made at showing members of the U.S. Senate
why this act is a bad idea. He now has their attention and they are listening intently.
Thanking us for our support so far, Randy now
is feeling cautiously optimistic that independent
inventors just might succeed at getting this awful
piece of proposed legislation killed. But this is far
from over. Stay tuned for further developments.
This is about whether or not independent
inventors will continue to have the rights that
we have had since the founding of America. We
simply must not lose this fight!
What is needed are e-mails and phone calls to
our Senators. This is very easy to do. Go online
and find their websites. They all have an easy
way to e-mail a message. Do so. Then call their
Washington D.C. number. You’ll probably get
voicemail. Leave a good message. Tell them you
are against the further weakening of the American patent system. Tell them that all the provisions of the Innovation Act are anti-innovation.
Tell them that independent innovation made
America great, and that America needs more
of it; not less. Tell them it would be shameful
to allow multi-national corporations to destroy
American independent innovation, and to vote
NO on the proposed patent reform legislation
named the Innovation Act.
He also asked us to go to his organization’s
website, www.IndependentInventorsOfAmerica.org,
read and sign the petition.
Make Way For The Patent Trolls (Continued from Page 8)
patent trolls:
nare bad characters that game the system to make
undeserved income.
nwaste billions of dollars from the U.S. economy.
nwork with ‘junk’ patents and unethical lawyers using
questionable tactics to extort money from innocent
companies; ranging from small local businesses to
very large manufacturers.
nhave caused an explosion of patent litigation, most
of it frivolous.
Page 10
nhijack inventions while providing no product; therefore they have no societal value and are social parasites.
Further, they claim that the only way to stop
this nefarious activity is to enact radical changes
to our patent system, and that this needs to be
done right away through the Innovation Act.
All of these assertions are highly disputed and
based on questionable data.
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Is DRTV Right for YOUR Product?
by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com
S
ince I serve as a Product Scout for direct
response
television
(DRTV)
companies and for
manufacturers, I’ve gained
a pretty good idea of what
kinds of new products they
want. In this article, we take a
look at what DRTV companies
look for in new products.
First of all: How do you
know if your product is right
for DRTV?
DRTV companies look for
problem-solving
products
that:
nMakes consumers say, “Wow, what a great idea!”
nIs of high quality, and is unique and innovative
nDemonstrates well on TV
nIs easy to use
nAppeals to a mass audience. Niche products and
products with a narrowly defined
market generally do not make it to
TV.
Also, the product should
have a retail price between
$9.95-19.95. The production
cost should be no more than
1/5 of the retail price. If you
are already selling it in retail
stores, on your website or
on TV, that is OK with most
DRTV companies.
The product should be patented or
patent-pending, although some DRTV compaContinued on Page 14
Patent Trolls 101 (Continued from Page 9)
Even if the rate of litigation has not increased,
there certainly are NPEs buying patents and litigating them. So what is really going on? Changes
in our patent system have made it increasingly
difficult for an independent inventor to defend
a patent against a large corporation. An example
from the America Invents Act (passed in 2011)
is Post Grant Review - a new and easier way to
invalidate an issued patent. As defending a patent has gotten harder for the individual, entities
that do have the wherewithal to get the job done
have emerged - PAEs.
In some cases, an inventor with a patent that is
being infringed is not in a position to defend the
patent. He or she sells to a PAE in order to make
some profit from the valuable intellectual property. The PAE then litigates the patent. Sometimes,
the inventor continues to have a percentage interest in the patent and the litigation proceeds.
In other cases, an inventor who is not being infringed sells to a PAE to move on to other
things. An investor in a startup that fails can end
up with one or more patents that could be sold
to a PAE or litigated by the investor if the patents
are being infringed.
The bottom line is that a patent has always
been transferable. But for any large corporation
that is infringing patents, fighting a PAE is more
daunting than fighting an individual inventor.
So, the public relations machine has been push-
ing the “patent troll” scenario very hard and paying lobbyists in order to enact changes in our
patent law that would make it much harder to be
sued successfully for patent infringement.
The Innovation Act (HR 3309) passed the
House in December. This bill passed without
any input from independent inventors. The provisions of this bill would have the unintended, or
intended effect of making it virtually impossible
for an independent inventor to defend a patent
against a large corporation. The Senate is considering several additional proposals, some slightly
less harmful, some more harmful.
I have been going to Washington DC with
another inventor, Paul Morinville of Indiana, to
fight this legislation by educating our Senators as
to the harm this legislation will do to independent inventors. We have now been three times,
and we have definitely made an impact.
For information on the actual provisions of
the legislation that are harmful, and to sign the
petition against the legislation and be updated
on our progress, go to www.IndependentInventorsOfAmerica.org.
Randy Landreneau is a past president of the Tampa
Bay Inventors Council, current president of Complete
Product Development, and founder of Independent
Inventors of America. He presently is working diligently for
the defeat of the Innovation Act, a proposed piece of U.S.
legislation.
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Page 11
WEBSITES
Brief descriptions in parentheses.
U.S. Gov’t.
U.S. Gov’t. General Information Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.FirstGov.gov
USPTO Depository Library (UCF, Orlando) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://library.ucf.edu/GovDocs/PatentsTrademarks/default.php
SBIR/STTR (gov’t. wants inventions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir
Nat’l. Standards (gov’t. helps inventor’s business) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.nist.gov/tip
D.O.D. Tech Match (military R&D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.DODTechMatch.com
Patent Offices, Patent Search
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.uspto.gov
European Patent Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.epo.org
Google Patent Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.google.com/patents
State Gov’t.
Florida Department of Revenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.state.fl.us/dor
New Business Start Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.sunbiz.org
USF Technology Incubator (free help to inventors; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.incubator.usf.edu
Tampa Bay Innovation Center (STAR TEC, business incubation; Largo) www.tbInnovates.com
Gazelle Lab (biz incubation; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://GazelleLab.com
Inventor’s Education, Advice, Books, Lessons, Info, Etc.
Edison Inventors Ass’n. (non-profit inventors’ club; Ft. Myers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.EdisonInventors.org
Inventors Council of Central Fla. (non-profit inventors’ club; Orlando) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventorsCouncilCentralFLA.us
World Intellectual Property Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.wipo.org
National Inventor Fraud Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventorFraud.com
United Inventors Ass’n. (large nat’l. org.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.uiaUSA.org
Inventors Digest (magazine) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventorsDigest.com
Pantros IP (patent research) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.PantrosIP.com
InventionScore(evaluation service, Patrick Raymond) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.MyInventionScore.com
Inventor’s Blueprint (training, Ryan Grepper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventorsBlueprint.com
EdisonNation (education, contests, info) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.EdisonNation.com
Everyday Edisons (P.B.S. show, contests) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.EverydayEdisons.com
Idea Next Step (on-line contests) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.IdeaNextStep.com
From Patent to Profit (Bob DeMatteis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.FromPatentToProfit.com
Inventor Mentor (Jack Lander) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.inventor-mentor.com
The Basics of Patenting & Innovating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.inventors.about.com/od/firststeps
Ask The Inventors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.AskTheInventors.com
Inventions.com (inventor’s directory) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.inventions.com
Lloyd Marketing Group (Lisa Lloyd) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.LloydMarketingGroup.com
InventNet - Inventor’s Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventNet.com
MIT-Lemelson Inventors Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://web.mit.edu/invent
Intnat’l. Federation of Inventor Ass’ns. (Budapest, Hungary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.invention-ifia.ch
Intnat’l. Development Enterprises (nonprofit, 3rd world inventing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ideorg.org
Innovation TRIZ (problem solving method) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.innovation-triz.com
ASIT (inventor’s problem solving method) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.start2think.com
Invention Machine (R&D problem-solving software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.invention-machine.com
KeyWord Patent Search (workbook) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.USIntellectualPropertyAttorney.com/PatentSearching.html
Stephen Key (inventor’s blog, coaching) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://StephenKey.com
Product Design, Prototyping, Manufacturing
Source Direct (design, manufacture, distribution; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.TheSourceDirect.net
Evo Prototyping (rapid prototyping; Ft. Lauderdale) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.EvoPrototyping.com
EMS, Inc. (rapid prototyping; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ems-usa.com
Complete Product Development (Randy Landreneau; Clearwater) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.CompleteProductDevelopment.com
R&R Associates (product design, prototyping; Sarasota) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.RnRAssociates.com
Invention-Aids (rendering & virtual prototypes, Mal Greenberg; Tampa) www.invention-aids.com
Duracon, Inc. (Voytek Beldycki; Venice) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.DuraconInc.com
Delaney Manuf’ing (Injec’n molding, product des., prototype; Sarasota) www.DelaneyManufacturing.com
Chapman Mold (Brooksville) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.chapman-mold.com
Oaks Partners, TAEUS (design strategy, Dan Messick; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.opLLC.us
Trident Design (product design, prototyping, licensing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.trident-design.com
eMachineShop (product design, prototyping, free CAD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.eMachineShop.com
Machine Design (rapid design & prototyping info.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://MachineDesign.com
Society of Manufacturing Engineers (Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://chapters.sme.org/159/homepage.htm
Marketing Services
Innovative Product Technologies (Pam Riddle-Bird; Gainesville) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventOne.com
Hill, Coniglio & Polins (market research, planning, ads; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.HCPAssociates.com
My Marketing Dept., Inc. (Allen Jernigan; St. Pete) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.MMDept.com
Grapple Hook Marketing (mkt. research for industrial products; Tampa) www.GrappleHook.com
My Cool Inventions (radio show, marketing; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.MyCoolInventions.com
Package Management Group, Inc. (packaging & marketing; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.pmg-packaging.com
Market Launchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.MarketLaunchers.com
Idea Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.IdeaVillage.com
Wal-Mart (new product contests) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.GetOnTheShelf.com
Impama (invention marketplace) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.inpama.com
One Stop Invention Shop (Don Debelak) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://OneStopInventionShop.net
Page 12
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Licensing Agents
Invention Home (household products) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventionHome.com
DaVinci Legacy Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.DaVinciLegacyGroup.com
Next Techs (patent sales broker, venture capital) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.NextTechs.com
Patent Lawyers, Patent Agents, Legal Services
Suzett Marteny (reg. patent att’y.; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.MartenyLaw.com
Ed Dutkiewicz (reg. patent att’y.; Dade City) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.EdDuke.com
Dave Kiewit (reg. patent agent; St. Pete) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.patent-faq.com
Smith & Hopen (reg. patent att’y.; Clearwater) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.SmithHopen.com
Stephen Powers (patent agent; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.GulfCoastIP.com
Mike Colitz (reg. patent att’y.; Dunedin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.colitz.com
Brent Britton (reg. patent att’y.; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ssd.com
Inventor’s All-In-One Services
Inventors Launch Pad (Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventorsLaunchPad.com
Veritek EMP (Colorado) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.veritek.com
Big Idea Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.BigIdeaGroup.net
Quirky (crowd-sourcing, evaluation & assistance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.quirky.com
Idea Connection (innovation hosting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.IdeaConnection.com
Innovative Consulting Group, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.biz-consult.com/ICG/
Jetta Co. (toys, electronics; Hong Kong) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.jetta.com.hk
Trade Shows
Invention Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.InventionConnection.com
Trade Show Nat’l. Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.tsnn.com
ERA Invention Showcase (Electronic Retailers Ass’n.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://retailing.org
Catalogs, Mail Order
Nat’l. Mail Order Ass’n. (info. about catalogs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.nmoa.org
Catalog Link (info. about catalogs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.CatalogLink.com
Catalog Times (learn to sell thru catalogs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.CatalogTimes.com
Tilbury Direct Marketing (agent representing many catalogs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://CatalogRep.com
Business Data & Info.
SCORE (Service Core Of Retired Executives) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.score.org
Small Business Development Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.asbdc-us.org
Small Business Administration (loans & loan info) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.sba.gov
Entrepreneurial Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.entre-ed.org
Start Up Nation (business education) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.StartUpNation.com/topics/11/Inventing.htm
Florida Women’s Business Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.flwbc.org
World’s Market Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.WorldOpinion.com
Thomas Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ThomasNet.com
Hoovers On-Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.hoovers.com
Industry Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://Research.ThomsonIB.com/
Funding, Angel Investors, Venture Capital
Angel Capital Ass’n. (angel groups, non-profit) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.AngelCapitalAssociation.org
Alliance of Angels (angel groups) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://AllianceOfAngels.com
National Venture Capital Ass’n. (VC groups, non-profit) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.nvca.org
Florida Venture Forum (VC education, non-profit) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.FloridaVentureForum.org
Quintic Capital, LLC (angels, VC, coaching; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://quintic-capital.com
Go4Funding (angels, VC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.Go4Funding.com
AngelList . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (secret website)
http://angel.co/
CEO Space (international networking club) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.CEOSpace.net
ClickStartMe (donation & equity crowd-funding, Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ClickStartMe.com
FundAGeek (crowd-funding) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.FundAGeek.com
KickStarter (crowd-sourcing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.KickStarter.com
Indiegogo (crowd-funding) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.IndieGoGo.com
CrowdFunding Boot-Camp (June Hollister; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.CrowdFundingBC.com
TIE Tampa (Intnat’l. biz network; Tampa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.TieTampa.com
CAD Software (Computer Aided Design)
CAD Std (free 2D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.cadstd.com
Alibre (free 2D & 3D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.alibre.com/promos/online/personal.asp
CoCreate (free 3D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.CoCreate.com/products/PE2/ModelingPE2.aspx
Parts, Supplies, Materials
Don’s Salvage Yard (used stuff; Clearwater) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.DonsMarineSalvageYard.com
Skycraft Electronic Parts (new parts, Orlando) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.SkycraftSurplus.com
American Science & Surplus (mechanical & electrical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.sciplus.com
W. M. Berg, Inc. (small parts supplier) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.wmberg.com
McMaster-Carr (industrial supply) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.mcmaster.com
American Plastics Supply (supplier & manf’er.;Clearwater) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.AmericanPlasticSupply.com
ADVERTISE WITH TBIC!
TBIC is now accepting advertisers for the TBIC Newsletter! If you would like to place an
ad please contact the TBIC Main office at: 727-565-2085
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Page 13
Is DRTV Right For You?
(Continued from Page 11)
nies will sign an NDA. Some companies want
you to already have the manufacturing done,
while others prefer to do the manufacturing
themselves.
How do you approach DRTV companies?
Here are a few guidelines …
1. If you know who the contact person is,
then contact him / her directly. Most
DRTV companies have a “submissions”
page on their web site but do not list the
name of the person. In the case of my current DRTV client, you submit your product
directly to me (and you will receive a reply
within a few days).
2. Have something to show. Don’t try to explain it over the phone or in an e-mail. We
need to see pictures! There are two ways
you can do this:
n Get a web site so you can give out the
web address. This is the easiest and best
way to do it. This is the 21st century, and
you should have your own web site (We
do this for inventors; give me a call or
e-mail and we’ll discuss it. Or visit this
page to get started immediately: www.
marketlaunchers.com/forms.html
n E-mail the pictures. Sometimes the pictures don’t show up porpoerly, if at all, in
the other person’s e-mail. It is better to
just get a web site instead.
3. Do follow up, until you receive an answer. Too much follow up can be annoying.
4. Pitch it to multiple cases to increase your
chances. If you strike out with DRTV, there
are other outlets for your product. If you
succeed with DRTV, then they will take
your product to retail stores next.
I have a DRTV client that is looking for new
products that meet the above criteria. If you
think that your product has what it takes, then
submit it to me for consideration. In a future
issue, we will discuss whether your product is
right for catalogs. Stay tuned.
Paul Niemann runs MarketLaunchers.com, where
he lists his customers’ inventions on his website’s
invention database so they can be seen by companies
that search for new products to acquire. Visit www.
MarketLaunchers.com or call Paul Niemann at
(800) 337-5758 or niemann7@aol.com for more
information. Reprinted with permission.
Page 14
TBIC Members are entitled to
receive Discount Subscriptions
to Inventors Digest Magazine!
Inventors Digest is the official publication of the United
Inventors Association. TBIC
is an affiliate member of the
U.I.A. and therefore TBIC
members are entitled to a discount on the price of Inventors Digest subscriptions.
Regular Price Discount Price
$36 for 1 year$27 for 1 year
TBIC Members can get this
discount when subscribing
(or renewing) ONLY by phone or
snail-mail, not through Inventors
Digest’s website.
Phone: (800) 838-8808
Ask for the Account Manager
and explain that you are a TBIC
member and ask for the discount.
Snail-Mail: Send your check and a note
that explains the above to:
Inventors Digest
520 Elliot St., Suite 200
Charlotte, NC 28202
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Officers &
Board of Directors
A Student Member at the $25.00 rate
must be an active student enrolled in
an accredited school. They may attend
meetings and receive the Newsletter.
Officers &
Sustaining Member
Wayne
Rasanen
President
Board
of Directors
A Sustaining
Student
Member Member ($75.00 per yeargoodharbinger@yahoo.com
President
see
below)
enjoys
the
benefit
of
attendA Student Member at the $25 rate must be an active student
Wayne Rasanen
ing meetings,
seminars,school.
socializing
andattendAndrew
enrolled
in an accredited
They may
meetings Yauch
and - Vice President
Vice President
networking
with
other
members,
receivreceive the Newsletter.
Pam French
ing the Newsletter and participating as
Gayla
Kilbride
Treasurer
Sustaining
Member
Secretary
a reviewer
in our Focus Groups. They
A Sustaining
year- see below) enjoys the
Rob Aiken
are
allowed toMember
present($75
theirperprotected
Robert
Aiken
Secretary
benefit
of attending
meetings,
seminars,
socializing and networkproduct
to all of the
various
companies
Treasurer
ing
withas
other
members, and
receiving
the comNewsletter and participat(such
informercial
catalog
Mark Peterson
Board
Members;
ing
as a reviewer
in ourtoFocus
Groups.
to pres-Beldycki Board Members
panies)
that come
the TBIC
to They
find are allowed
Wojciech
new
products
forproduct
the market.
Members
ent
their
protected
to all of
the various companies
(such
Voytek Beldycki
Earl
Deen
find and
other
members
with that
thecome toKirk
asusually
informercial
catalog
companies)
the TBIC
to
Brad Bridgham
Hamlin
prototyping
knowledge
they need,
and usually
find
new products
for the market.
Members
find Jernigan
other
Allen
Diane MacKay
pay
that
member
for
their
time
and
for
members with the prototyping knowledge they need,
and
pay
Mark
Peterson
Joe Navarro
prototyping
materials
used.
that
member for
their time
and Sustaining
for prototyping materials used.
Jeff Tyszko
members
may
ask
to
have
a
free
Focus
Sustaining members may ask to have a free FocusFounder
Group done
Ron E. Smith
Group
done onandtheir
producttoand
are their product in our
Founder
on
their product
are allowed
display
allowed
to
display
their
product
in
our
Ron
E. Smith
designated display area.
designated display area.
Dues Descriptions
T.B.I.C. Prorated Sustaining Membership Dues Schedule
$75 per year, prorated.
Renewal date: 01 January.
People
who join
in the
month
of:
pay this
amount:
until...
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May June
July
Aug. Sept. Oct.
Nov. Dec.
$75
$69
$63
$57
$51
$39
$33
$15
$45
$27
$21
$9
...until the following Jan. 1st.
Then they renew their membership for a full year at $75.
Visitors Welcome
Welcome
Visitors
The Board of Directors of TBIC
wants
welcome
all visitors.
AdThe toBoard
of Directors
of TBIC
mission for visitors is $5.00 per
wants
to
welcome
all
visitors.
meeting, unless accompanied byAdan
mission
for visitors
is $5.00
per
active member.
We hope
that you
meeting,
unless
accompanied
can see the
benefits
of becomingbya
an
active Our
member.
We
hope
that
member!
Bylaws
allow
visitors
you
can see
benefits
of becomto attend
twothe
meetings
without
obliing
a member!
gation
to join. Our Bylaws allow
visitors to attend two meetings
without obligation to join.
Please Respect
Respect the
Please
theOther
OtherMembers
Members
At a recent Board Meeting, several members said
At ahave
recent
Boardcomplaints
Meeting, about
severaltalking
members
they
received
in thesaid
backthey
have
received
complaints
about
talking inis the
back of the
of the
meeting
room while
the meeting
in progress.
Somewhile
of our
hard
of hearing,
room
themembers
meetingare
is in
progress.
Someand
of as
oursuch
memfindare
it difficult
to hear the
is competbers
hard of hearing,
andpresentation
as such findifititdifficult
to hear
ingpresentation
with talking ifinitbackground.
acknowledge
the
is competingWhile
with we
other
noises. While
that networking is vital for all of us, we ask in the future
we
acknowledge
that
networking
is
vital
for
allthe
of preus, we
that our members try to network before or after
ask
that ourIt members
to network ifbefore
or after the
sentation.
would alsotry
be appreciated
all cell-phones
presentation.
It would
also be
appreciated
if all cell-phones
were put on silent
answer
during
the meeting.
were put on silent.Thank you! - Your Board Of Directors
Thank you! - Your Board Of Directors
Members are invited to write letters for inclusion in the newsletter. Email to robertraiken@verizon.net or
aletha@alethalady.com, fax to 727-547-5490 or mail to TBIC at our office address. Letters should be brief, to
the Members
point, andare
be invited
accompanied
byletters
member
email
and phone
number.
Letters may be edited forfax to
to write
forname,
inclusion
inaddress
the newsletter.
Email
to robertraiken@verizon.net,
clarity,
taste andorlength.
will
printed
as room
permits.
727-547-5490
mail toLetters
TBIC at
ourbeoffice
address.
Letters
should be brief, to the point, and be accompanied by
member name, email address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length.
Letters
Page
15 will
be printed as room permits.
Newsletter Staff
Executive Editor George Mouzakis
Contributing Editor Robert Aiken
To submit articles, send emails to: robertraiken@verizon.net
Submissions must be received by the first Tuesday of odd months.
The Tampa Bay Inventor’s Council (TBIC) is a corporation as
defined in Chapter 617, Florida Statutes, as a not-for-profit. The
corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, educational
and scientific purposes. The TBIC is a 501(c)(3) charitable
corporation, which allows the receiving of tax deductible
contributions of goods and services. There are over 150 active
members willing to share their expertise and experiences with
fellow inventors.
Tampa Bay Inventors Council • March-April 2014
Page 15
I n d u s t r i a l
J o e
&
M e c h a n i c a l
N a v a r r o
Principal
Design
D e s i g n
J r .
Consultant
Over Twenty Five Years | Design | Engineering | Manufacturing
Product Design
Concept to Production
Design for Manufacture
3D CAD Design
CAD models for Visualization, Prototype & Production
Rapid Prototyping (3d printing), Tool Making, CNC, Analysis,
Graphics, Patent Drawings
Extensive Experience
Consumer, Commercial, Medical, Industrial,
Military, & Aerospace
Plastics, Metals, Composites
3D CAD design using Pro/Engineer
www.ptc.com
N a v a r r o
D e s i g n
I n c
| Mobile: 727.421.1941
| joe@navarro-design.com
PO BOX 2628 | LARGO | FL | 33779
Office: 727.581.0766