The Inventor Sherpa Theater is All About You! Whether you’re a member of a global company with high powered research and lots of resources for patenting or a lone wolf inventor strapped for money and looking to do just as much as possible by yourself, this Patent World you find yourself in looks pretty much the same. It’s a complex demanding world full of ins and outs, of springboards and pitfalls, a tantalizing world promising successful endings while often delivering quiet disappointments or outright disasters. So, to go all the way from first blush idea to granted patent, and beyond, there are many roles to be played… by someone. Let’s have a look at some important player roles. Let’s have a look at you, the patent player.
Patent Player Roles
We see you playing roles focusing on:
- coming up with inventive concepts and making them real;
- searching for and then analyzing public documents describing closely related concepts;
- writing, filing, and prosecuting (arguing) patent applications;
- maintaining and defending patents; and
- managing the research and business underpinnings of the entire process, start to finish.
Oh, and all you patent examiners are important players too, even if you do play for a different team.
Many of us will play a few of these roles. A few of us will play many of these roles, or just one. Yet, all of these roles must be woven together into a cohesive whole if viable ideas are to be identified as such and pursued to become granted patents. So, it makes sense to identify the patent player roles you are well suited to play, and to work to understand key things you need to know in order to function well in those roles.
Where “The Pros” Fit In
Beyond this, it’s equally important to understand where and when you should step back and let others assume the roles you aren’t prepared to play. You’ll need to invite those others to contribute their talents, skills, experience, and scars to the effort. And, yes, I did say scars. It seems that the folks best at these roles have walked the walk for some time, have internalized the war stories, and bear a few scars of their own that make them wary when situations merit caution. If you are one of these “pros,” you already know what I’m talking about.
Weaving The “Patent Thread”
The Patent Thread that, in the of best cases, can run all the way from figment of imagination to valuable patent portfolio will likely travel over both fertile ground and barren forbidding terrain. So, if we’re planning to make this journey, a little preparation won’t hurt, and there’s no time like the present to prepare. We start with Season One, Your Patent World, because everyone can benefit from getting a feel for that many-faceted world, including how things can go right and how they can go very wrong. And, yes, Season One does feature explosions!
Seasons In Waiting
Seasons 2 through 5 don’t yet exist. Sorry! But, we’re working to change that. Seasons Two (Deep Space Search Party) and Three (Your Neighbor Has A Chainsaw) will feature searching and analyzing, respectively, while Season Four (You And The Team You Rode In With) will give you a chance to hear from The Players themselves so that you can understand what their lives are like, what their challenges are, what they can do for you, and what you, patent player that you are, can do for them to enhance the quality and sustainability of the patent value you’re all striving to bring home. Season Five (Between The Sheets) will describe how patent applications are written and why, tying this “how and why” to the “who, what and how” of the earlier seasons.
All About You
Ok, that’s not the end of where we’re headed, but it’s enough for now. The episodes of the Inventor Sherpa® Theater are animated videos. Our approach is, shall we say, non-traditional because the intent is to inform you in a visceral way and maybe have some fun for a change as we think about patenting, and more generally about invention. And, if we should all become savvier along the way, well, that’s probably not a bad thing either.
So, for once in your life, this is unashamedly ALL ABOUT YOU! Deal with it!
It’s all about you whether you’re a first timer or an old hand at the patent game, whether you’re operating out of a plush lab complex or out of your car. So, lets head over to the Lobby and go for it!
