Year-End Review for Inventors

We have come to the end of another year and look forward optimistically to a new year – goodbye 2011.  It’s time to wrap up the year.  So while considering appropriate subjects, it quickly became clear that there were too many important topics to pick just one.
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2011 – THE YEAR OF PATENT WARS:

Patent Wars began this year.  Patent acquisitions mounting into the billions of dollars were purchased to serve as the ammunition in the personal electronics marketplace, especially for the exploding Smart Phone market.  The patent bidding war really began when Apple, Microsoft and their partners beat Google with a $4.5 billion bid for Nortel’s patent portfolio.  The objective for the patent purchase was a not-so-subtle attempt by the group to hinder Google’s Android SmartPhone platform from earning market share by filing infringement law suits.

Not to be outflanked in the war, Google countered with a $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility and its valuable patent portfolio.  Google was also able to acquire some patents from IBM.  Who will win the war will be one of the big stories for 2012.
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THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE:

The Patent Office has been in turmoil for a few years now.  An enormous backlog of patent applications finally reached a point where something had to done.  Complicating everything was Congress using the Patent Office bank account as a piggy bank to fund other programs.  The money raids made it impossible for the Patent Office to operate effectively.

Everything changed with the signing into law of the bipartisan America Invents Act on September 16.  Many significant reforms are underway along with needed financial stability for the Patent Office.  Now fees paid by inventors will stay with the Patent Office to improve the system.

As changes are being made, it is very curious to observe the timing of patents as they course through the Patent Office.  This past week our office had three utility patents issued all with a December 27, 2011 date. (Patents are issued on Tuesdays.)  One issued application was filed on May 19, 2011, the second filed on February 6, 2009 and the third filed on November 6, 2007.  Therefore, from filing to issuance, the first application took 7 months, the second took 2 years and 10 months, while the third took 4 years and nearly 2 months.

Don’t feel too bad for our third client.  Because the patent application took excessively long, the patent term was extended nearly three years (actually 1085 days) beyond the standard 20 year utility patent term.  Sometimes good things happen to those who have to wait.
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CHINA:

2011 saw continued price increases in China for finished products.  Gone are the days of pennies instead of dollars.  Along with increased prices, wages have improved to the point where China has the beginnings of a true middle class that has spending power.  One of our manufacturing partners has started selling American-made products to China.  That’s right.  China wants products in American boxes, printed in English with no reference to China.  There appears to be a growing impression amongst the Chinese that products made in America for the U.S. marketplace is of superior quality and that’s what they want for themselves.  Made In America is not dead yet.
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HOW TO INVENT A MONEY-MAKING INVENTION:

When meeting with our manufacturing partners, I always ask:  What products are they looking for?  How can we better advise our clients?  How do they pick the money-making inventions?

So as we begin a new year, here is the secret:  Invent something that the masses will want, that is not available today, and that has a high perceived value as compared to the actual cost.