The Inventor

• In a world full of problems, inventors are able to create solutions.

    An inventor with a good idea can have a far greater, more lasting influence

    than any powerful politician or military general with all their power.

    Edison conquered half the world with a little glass ball

    ( the dark half with the light bulb ).

Invention vs. Innovation

•  Invention is coming up with a new thing.

    Innovation is improving on an old thing.

•  For the purposes of this discussion,

    we shall refer to both as "invention".

The Invention

deductive (now used almost exclusively)

        •  "Erector-set of mechanisms" style

        •  "Paint-by-numbers"

        •   Imagination BEGINS with a parts/tools approach

        •   Sees as "objects" rather than as "process"

        •   Structural rearrangement of existing parts

        •   Often looks at symptoms rather than causes

        •   Impose a solution on the problem

inductive  (try 1000 ways until it works)

        •  Shotgun approach

        •  Focus on the problem not the parts-palette

        •  Not how high you aim, but how often

intuitive   (undefinable)

        • "It just came to me"

        • "It just pours from me"

misc.

        •  Accidental (accidents can be good)

        •  Gadgeteer (gadgets are usually marketing projects)

Invention as a  Non-Industry

•  Inventors are widely distributed throughout every industry,

    yet inventors seem to have a hard time coming together

    to form an invention industry of their own.

    It is because the two people they are most wary of

    are other inventors and lawyers.

Sharing

.... Idea development involves SHARING thoughts.

•  Ideas often do not grow because the originator is too paranoid of idea loss. 

    Unlike under the copyright laws,

    the laws covering invention do not protect the idea originator very well. 

    As a result, rather than gladly sharing our thoughts to make whole, viable ideas,

    we spend thousands protecting ideas from each other. 

•  This distrust within the invention community keeps the process fragmented,

    even though inventors may need each other to finish ideas. 

    The result is that many partly-finished ideas

    languish unexplored, unfinished and unused.

Brain - Storming

.... Brainstorming is about ideas, not people

•  Brainstorming is often short-circuited

    due to the the posturing, fear of speaking up, fear of being wrong

    and therefore looking foolish or incompetent,

    because in the corporate environment

    the job is often felt to be more important than the work.

•  Brainstorming often concentrates on the individual's success first,

    then the success of the idea.

Patent Stats

        •  only 10% of patent requests receive patents.

        •  only 10% of patents ever make any money.

.... that is an overall 1% success rate.

Legal Obstacles

•  The patent system was supposed to have been designed to encourage innovation,

    yet patent laws are designed by and for corporate level lawyers. 

    As in the software industry, many great ideas are born in people's garages. 

    The patent laws offer little protection and aid to these individual inventors. 

•  For example, copyright infringement is prosecuted by the government ,

    yet a patent infringement is not

    and must be prosecuted by the patent holder at his expense in civil court. 

    Therefore, those with the most money and the greater ability to delay legal action,

    most often win disputes. 

•  If that wasn't enough of a burden, anyone can use someone else's patent

    and need not pay unless and until the patent holder discovers the infringement. 

    The liability toward the infringing user applies only to that period of time

    after the infringement was discovered and the infringer was notified. 

•  Does this feel like a rigged game

    in which only those very well financed have a proper chance to play the game ?

See the IBM  article on  "Patent Wars" ....

The Corporate Parado

the "idea man"

•  Companies are often not grateful enough toward the inventive mind. 

    They may see the initial solution as only a small part

    and not as important as the engineering and marketing functions. 

    This is because they can more easily measure engineering and marketing output.

•  There is also a "not invented here" syndrome

    in which good ideas are more easily rejected

    because the in-house team can be resentful

    that they did not find that solution first.

thinking vs. doing

•  The old-style corporate structure

    tends to be a structured lab-coat worker-drone atmosphere

    in which doing / action was more important than thinking / planning. 

    It is hard to measure the productivity of a person sitting around thinking.

can't go too fast

•  Plant and Equipment is expensive and needs to be paid off,

    so change needs to be slow and methodical

    .... "tomorrow must not come too quickly". 

•  What happens when a much better idea comes

    on the heels of a prior new-idea that a company is already heavily invested in ?

• Is it put to sleep .... for a while, if they can ?

good enough

•  At the same time the marketing team is anxious to sell the new idea. 

    Even if it is not quite ready for "prime-time" they see it as "good enough" to sell. 

    As a result the first few customers sometimes feel like guinea pigs

    used to work the final bugs out of a new technology release.

The Transition

•  Business is very linear thru time,

    while invention is non-linear and unpredictable. 

•  The "mind-factory" that Edison created

    has become the "production-house'" of today

    but hopefully is now re-evolving into the "mind-studio" of tomorrow.

New Process

•  With design, prototyping and physical simulation software

    and the additional communications advantages of the Web and E-mail,

    independent inventors are now able to better play along side the large companies.

    In this new world, smaller is often better because it is more flexible to change.

•  Alliances are replacing employees with associates as overhead is being reduced.

    Old ideas can afford to be abandoned more quickly.

    Change can afford to be quicker.

Patent Protection    ( editorial opinion )

•  Different industries move at different paces. 

    What too short in a slow moving industry may be too long in a fast moving industry.

    We feel that patent protection should reflect these differences.

    The protection type and length should vary per industry.

•  Since new patentable ideas are so important to a nation and to the world,

    why do countries not pay for applications that result in patents ?

•  This would mean that independent inventors would be able to better function

    and patent lawyers would tackle inventions without up front payments

    if they felt that the application had a really good chance of succeeding.

•  Why do governments not enforce patent infringements

    in the same way that they enforce copyright infringements ?

•  Why do they now leave it up to the inventor to defend his patent

    against well funded corporate giant's legal departments ?

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