by Cynthia Price
Legal News
Inventors who think they have a hot property tend to rush right into getting a patent, believing that protection of their property rights is the most critical step in profiting from their inventions.
Not so, says attorney and Grand Rapids Inventors Network board member Dan Girdwood.
What an inventor should do first varies from case to case, and the new Inventors Network exists for inventors to help other inventors get through the maze of choices and opportunities.
GRIN, as it is called, meets every second Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at the Cook-Devos Center of Grand Valley State University on Michigan Avenue.
Inspired by the Muskegon Inventors Network, and after a brief period of trying to include Grand Rapids-based inventors with those from the Muskegon area, in meetings held in Coopersville, GRIN started up, holding its fourth meeting Nov. 10.
Through its board, the group avails itself of the expertise of Dan Clark, a top-notch business and product development consultant; attorney Girdwood, who works for the firm of Price, Heneveld, Cooper, DeWitt, & Litton L.L.P.; and Joe Finkler, a store owner who sells a broad diversity of products at his store As Seen on TV in the Woodland Mall.
The inventors also learn from each other, whether on the plus or the minus side of the ledger.
Though Girdwood defers attention from himself to the benefits of the network, he does seem to have an ideal set of skills for assisting those with a great idea.
He grew up on a farm, but then spent 15 years as an engineer, working for Oldsmobile in Lansing and other companies, ending up as a certified Professional Engineer. He then indulged his curiosity about the financial side of businesses through obtaining a Masters in Business Administration from Michigan State University and then becoming a CPA (Certified Professional Accountant). He then got his Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, became eligible to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and, finally, passed the exam to become a patent agent.
Girdwood started out his legal career at Price Heneveld working with large corporations, but about five years ago he decided he wanted to focus on "the little guy."
It is also a matter of belief: Girdwood also thinks that over the history of economics in the United States, small-scale entrepreneurs with useful, needed inventions have been the backbone of the economy. "The person who says, 'I've got a new idea' - that's the engine to get this economy going."
Though he has a thriving practice, Girdwood is generous with advice at the Grand Rapids Inventors Network meetings.
One of the key pieces of his advice is, "It's OK to make mistakes, but you don't want to make mistakes in a stupid way. Don't mortgage the house in order to bring your product to market." GRIN and other similar inventors' networking groups help prevent such mistakes.
The November meeting of GRIN featured speaker Mike Suman of Product and Market Development LLC, formerly of Johnson Controls and a vice-president of Prince Corporation in Holland. Suman has experience in both management of larger corporations and invention of individual products.
The bulk of his presentation focused on how an inventor can maximize his or her great idea. Suman started out with a slogan which stated, "Stop Developing Products and Start Developing New Businesses." Much of his advice focused on business planning.
He acknowledged that developing one's own business is just one way to profit from an invention. Girdwood points out that Jerome Lemelson, a hero of the inventors' community whose ideas made possible such well-known products as cordless phones and camcorders, never brought any of his 605 patents to development himself. Girdwood advises clients to consider the possibility of either selling the patents or "leasing" them to some entity that will bring them to market -- but stresses that for that model, protecting the idea through a patent first is crucial.
Suman offered a detailed checklist-type process for inventors to make the case that they should make more than the one or two cents per item sold that is the norm if they decide to go the route of receiving royalties.
It involved showing the producer/developer company, which admittedly bears much of the risk, where the invention adds value along the way.
Suman said he could not stress enough the importance of doing broad market research, using a lot of creativity in determining what might constitute the competition.
Girdwood said, "I can't be an expert in the industry of every person who asks me to help write a patent." Clients must have an idea of how much their product is worth, and Girdwood regards his role as telling potential clients their options, including that of producing the product themselves. "My thing is how to protect your concept," Girdwood says. He feels a well-written patent application sets the inventor up for good results in many ways.
A primary function of GRIN being to facilitate inventors learning from each other, there is a half hour networking period at the beginning of each meeting, where such successful small-scale inventors as Deborah Tacoma ("The Freedom Wand") circulate. As Clark started out the meeting, he asked if anyone had news they wanted to share, and Tacoma announced that her invention had been deemed the Best New Product at the recent MedTrade convention. Tacoma makes the product in Holland, using local labor, local supplies, and local service firms.
The Grand Rapids and Muskegon Inventors Net-works are affiliates of the United Inventors Association, a national organization "dedicated to inventor education and support" since 1990. GRIN and MIN have jointly taken out a billboard encouraging membership along I-96.
President Dan Clark is the contact for GRIN; he can be reached at 616-293-1676 or clarkd@me.com.
Published:11/18/09
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