Inventors Council of Central Florida

Welcomes You

Please sign the non-disclosure

agreement.

Who are we?

• Inventors like yourselves

• Some with Ideas

• Some with Prototypes

• Some with Patents

• Some with Successful Products

• We have all been where you are.

• We can help you.

Is it Safe to Talk About My Invention?

• Yes!• We operate under a non-

disclosure agreement which we all sign every meeting.

• Have you signed it?• Under non-disclosure this meeting

does not constitute a public disclosure.

• What is discussed here stays here.

How Can We Help You?

• Evaluate your Invention

• We can provide suggestions on:• Design Problems• The Patent Process• Market Analysis• Manufacturing Sources• Marketing Strategy• Business Plans

• Networking with Members and their contacts

• Trading skill sets and equipment

• Our experience is yours.

Should I get a Patent?

• Do I have a new product?• Can I buy it?• Can I find it in a patent search?

• Can it make money?• Do I have a business plan?

• Can I sell without a patent?• Can it be a trade secret?• Can I flood the market?

How Do I Get a Patent?

• Patent Search

• Provisional Patent• Provides a Priority Date• Starts a 1 year clock to Patent Application• Allows the use of “Patent Pending”• Is not a Patent• Inexpensive• Can be done by yourself

• Patent Application• Design or Utility?• Self or use Patent Attorney?• Read “Patent it Yourself”

Get 75% off of Patent Fees

• The AIA has a new fee category – Micro-Entities. Most Patent Fees are reduced by 75% for them.

• Am I A Micro-Entity?• Less than 4 patent applications• Gross Income less than $150,162

(2013 – 3X avg. gross income) • Other parties meet same income

criteria

• Simple Form

Caution!!!

• Watch out for Invention Submission Organizations• Use these resources to verify your chosen

company before you send them anything.• www.inventored.org/caution

• list of invention submission and other organizations that you would best avoid.

• uspto.gov/inventors/scam_prevention/index.jsp

• public forum for the publication of complaints concerning invention promoters/promotion firms

• scambusters.org• explains a lot about scams, spam, phishing etc.

• www.ripoffreport.com• allows you to search for specific ripoffs or file

your own report.

Patent Search Resources

• United States Patent Office• uspto.gov/patents/process/search/index.jsp

• The official patent search site.  It provides access to the most recent information.  Unfortunately, it is the hardest to use and downloaded patents require a special viewer and only download 1 page at a time.

• www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/index.htm• find out what is in a patent classification.  This is key to

zeroing in on patents that affect you.

• www.google.com/patents• A source where you can get .pdf of complete

patents without registering.  Searches are quick and the advanced search will allow the use of classification codes and various other parameters.

• www.freepatentsonline.com/ • With free registration (I have used this for years with no

apparent spam) you can do comprehensive searches and get full .pdf copies of patents.  You can even keep custom catalogs of patents organized by your own areas of interest and output excel spreadsheets of the summary data.  Great for seeding a professional patent search.

Invention Evaluation and Marketing Resources

• Edison Nation - Invention submissions for licensing• www.edisonnation.com

• National Innovation Marketplace - Invention submission want ads (NIST)•  Look at “Free Stuff” to get useful tools to

evaluate your invention.• List of inventions wanted and for sale.• http://innovationsupplychain.com/

• Eureka Ranch• Learn the innovation mindset.

Companies improve their Innovation Success Rates and Speed to Market by a factor of 6

• www.eurekaranch.com

Legal Assistance

• Brian Steinberger, P.A.• Registered Patent Attorneys• www.flpatents.com• 101 Brevard Ave., Cocoa FL 32922• 321-633-5080

• The Patent Guild, Inc.• Patent Searches, Product

development assistance• Registered Patent Agent – Paul Royal• www.thepatentguild.com• 407-610-2097

National Entrepreneur Center

http://www.nationalec.org/

• African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida

• British-American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida

• Central Florida Disability Chamber of Commerce

• Hispanic Business Initiative Fund

• Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando

• National Association of Women Business Owners Orlando

• National Black MBA Association, Inc. of Central Florida

• Orange Country Government

• SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business

• Small Business Development Center at UCF

• UCF Business Incubation Program

• US Dept. of Commerce

Trade Shows

• AMCON• American Contract Manufactures

• Free Admission• Free Seminars• Sign up on line• www.amconshows.com

• Rapid• Additive Manufacturing Event

• Free Admission• www.sme.org

• Design 2 Part• Design & Contract Manufacturing

• Free Admission• www.d2p.com/

Invention Shows

• Orlando Mini Maker Fair• September (Free)

• Tampa Bay Inventors Fair• February (Free)

• Inventors Society of South Florida Inventors Expo• February (Free)

• Bay Area Renaissance Festival• February/March (Free)

Publications

• Inventors Digest• Keep up to date with invention

news, contests, USPTO, inventors, invention assistance organizations, and (of course) inventor related ads.

• $35 annual subscription• www.Inventorsdigest.com

Fabrication

Rapid Prototyping Services, LLC• Rapid prototyping FDM(Fused

Disposition Modeling)• http://rapidps.com/• 321-536-2611, Satellite Beach

Sunshine Labs• Rapid prototyping, Electronics,

Laser Cutting, Casting, Fab. Space• http://www.sunshinelabs.com/• 321-613-8136, Longwood

Materials

• Reynolds Advanced Materials• Casting supplies, rubber,

urethane, silicone rubber, epoxy• http://www.reynoldsam.com• 6512 Pinecastle Blvd., Orlando, FL

32809• 800-328-8786, 407-856-6115

Media

• Orlando Tech (Orange County Public Schools)

• They are in need of projects for their students in the area of 3D graphics, Video and Audio production. Your presentation materials can be prepared very inexpensively.

• 301 West Amelia Street. Orlando, Florida, 32801

• www.orlandotech.ocps.net/our_programs/3D_animation.html

• Allan Lynch is the point of contact 407-712-3778

What Are Your Favorite Resources?

• Please let us know your favorite resources.

• Send URLs, images, and descriptions to: ICCFWebmaster@cfl.rr.com and we will add them.

What Does Your Lab Look Like?Dave Woods’ Casting Lab