Heard of Article One Partners?
You should be aware of them. They are in the business of helping people find prior art. Article One Partners uses the power of the global online community to research evidence that relates to the claims of novelty of selected patents. A patent, in essence, tells the story of a technology as of a certain date. Its validity is analyzed based in part on whether the same story is told in earlier publications. You can request a study be done by the AOP community for such publications that relate to select patents. These publications, known formally as prior art, are publicly available and may be in any language from anywhere in the world. Article One Partners offers compensation to researchers from 176 countries to help find prior art, and that reduces the risk of infringement assertions by competitors, and improves your patent quality.
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Glow in the Dark Science
Photo-luminescence by definition is the emission of light from a molecule or atom that has absorbed electromagnetic energy: examples include fluorescence and phosphorescence materials. Photo-luminescence spectroscopy is a contact-less, nondestructive method of probing the electronic structure of materials.
The photo to the right depicts photo-luminescence materials spread on 7-inch wide roll. This is from a patent pending technology developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that uses small organic molecule materials to create organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) and other electronics. Proof-of-principle of the technique has been demonstrated by successfully coating the small molecule Alq3 on a PET substrate (photo). The method may also be used to produce "patterned" electronic thin-film devices in which an active small molecule organic material is selectively deposited on a substrate to form a pattern appropriate for the operation of the device. Photo: Department of Energy
History of Glow in the Dark
Glow in the dark powders, glow sticks, ropes etc. are all fun examples of photo-luminescence. Phosphorus and its various compounds are phosphorescents, or materials that glow in the dark. Before knowing what phosphorus was, its glowing properties have been reported in ancient writings. The oldest known written observations were made in China, dating back to 1000 B.C. regarding fireflies and glow-worms. In 1602, Vincenzo Casciarolo, discovered the phosphorus glowing "Bolognian Stones" just outside of Bologna that started the first scientific study of photo-luminescence.
Phosphorus was first isolated in 1669 by German physician Hennig Brand. Brand was an alchemist who was attempting to change metals into gold when he isolated phosphorus. All glow in the dark products contain phosphor. To make a glow in the dark toy, toy makers use a phosphor that is energized by normal light and that has a very long persistence - the length of time it glows. Zinc Sulfide and Strontium Aluminate are the two most commonly used phosphors.
Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that "glow in the dark".
Capturing Light & Shadows
San Francisco photographer, Eadweard Muybridge conducted motion-sequence still photographic experiments and is often called the "Father of the motion picture" even though he did not make films in the manner we know them as today.
Photo Credit: Eadweard Muybridge, Daisy jumping a hurdle, saddled, preparing for the leap from Animal Locomotion Library of Congress 1887
Fifteen Amazing Nominees for The European Inventor Awards of 2012
Fifteen scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs have been nominated for a 2012 European Inventor Award (EIA). The winners will be chosen by the European Patent Office (EPO) based on their contributions to technological, social and economic progress.
Finalists "Lifetime Achievement" Category
The Austrian engineer and entrepreneur, Doctor Josef Theurer, has filed for some 1,050 patent families throughout his life, while establishing one of the most successful international companies in Austria, Plasser & Theurer - the world market leader for railway track-laying machines.
Professor Josef Bille from the University Heidelberg in Germany has filed almost 100 patents in the field of ophthalmology and is considered the "father" of laser eye corrections. Bille's ground-breaking invention of laser eye surgery (LASIK) has corrected near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism for millions of patients worldwide.
Italian entrepreneur Mario Moretti Polegato, founder of the company GEOX. Polegato's determination to find a better solution to smelling feet has led to an improved vapor-permeable shoe that turned the footwear industry on its head.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Josef Theurer, Josef Bille, Mario Moretti Polegato ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Industry" Category
Together with Doctor Klaus Hallermayer at Roche Diagnostics, the German cardiologist Professor Hugo Katus has developed a new blood test which revolutionized the diagnosis of heart attacks - currently the leading cause of death worldwide. The so-called Troponin T antibody test brought a new level of accuracy to the detection of heart diseases and has become the "gold standard" for cardiologists worldwide.
Dr. Jaap Haartsen from the Netherlands invented Bluetooth while at LM Ericsson Telephone. Used in more than two billion devices worldwide, Bluetooth has changed not only the way electronic devices communicate with each other, but also how people connect and communicate.
The Danish team of Jan Tøpholm, Søren Westermann and Svend Vitting Andersen has developed a computer-aided method to manufacture individually-fitted, comfortable hearing-aid devices. The unique stereo-lithographic manufacturing method is known as CAMISHA (Computer-Aided Manufacturing of Individual Shells for Hearing Aids), and it revolutionized the hearing aid world immediately.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Hugo Katus, Jaap Haartsen, Jan Tøpholm, Søren Westermann and Svend Vitting Andersen ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Research" Category
Professor Jason Chin (UK) and Professor Oliver Rackham (Australia) created a way to incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins, enabling molecular biologists to control and elucidate the functions of proteins in cells with unprecedented precision. Their ground-breaking invention has the potential to revolutionize the way patients are treated in protein-like therapeutics, such as insulin treatment, as well as to detect prostate, ovarian, and colon cancer.
One hundred times more infectious than HIV, hepatitis B is a particularly recalcitrant disease that each year affects 350 million people chronically worldwide, and has proven resistant to most treatments, until Doctor Gilles Gosselin, Professor Jean-Louis Imbach and Doctor Martin L. Bryant (France) developed a drug that is more effective than any other of its kind. The drug has been successfully commercialized.
Professor Mark van Loosdrecht, Doctor Merle Krista de Kreuk and Doctor Joseph Heijnen (The Netherlands) invented an advanced waste-water treatment technology which uses aerobic granular biomass and is already in commercial application. The so-called NEREDA process reduces nitrogen and phosphate levels by 95% without relying on extra chemicals.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Jason Chin, Gilles Gosselin, Mark van Loosdrecht and Merle Krista de Kreuk ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)" Category
Doctor Manfred Stefener (Germany), founder of Smart Fuel Cell AG (SFC), Oliver Freitag and Doctor Jens Müller created the first fuel cell for portable use, the so-called direct methanol fuel cell or DMFC. Today SFC's fuel cells are used in a vast array of applications including traffic management, security and surveillance systems, as well as powering isolated environmental data stations. SFC has sold more than 24,000 fuel cells since it was founded in 2000.
A passionate yachtsman and former three-time winner of the Admirals Cup, Doctor Stefan Lehnert (Germany), aimed at improving his sails, which resulted in the development of ETFE- (Ethylene-Tetrafluoroethylene) based roof and cladding solutions. These cladding systems, based on plastic cushions filled with air, have since pushed the boundaries of architecture and allowed the creation of highly innovative structures such as the Eden Project in England or the Beijing National Aquatics Center in China.
The French scientists Doctor Farouk Tedjar and Jean-Claude Foudraz have developed a novel solution to recycle lithium-ion batteries and recover 98% of the valuable metals they contain. Discarding these rechargeable batteries creates a huge amount of waste: about 180,000 to 200,000 tonnes per year in Europe alone.
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Manfred Stefener, Stefan Lehnert, Farouk Tedjar and Jean-Claude Foudraz ©European Patent Organization 2012
Nominees "Non-European Countries" Category
Self-taught American scientist and social entrepreneur Doctor Stanford Ovshinsky developed NiMH batteries, which offer a clean-energy storage solution with record durability and double to triple the capacity of nickel-cadmium batteries of the same size. They have proven to be the battery of choice when it comes to the portable electronic device market. What is more, they enabled the hybrid and electric vehicle industry: More than 4.5 million hybrid electric vehicles with NiMH batteries have been sold worldwide with many more being built. Stanford Ovshinsky dedicated his life to research and innovation and holds more than 400 patents to his name.
Professor Federico Capasso (USA), Professor Jérôme Faist (Switzerland) and team invented the so-called Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs), which are able to reach areas of the electromagnetic spectrum previously untouched by laser light. Today, the ability of QCLs to produce wide bandwidths, high brightness, and high power very efficiently from a compact source has resulted in an array of unique products, from hand-held sensors for explosives detection and other toxic chemicals, to more powerful radar systems.
Doctor John O' Sullivan, Graham Daniels, Doctor Terence Percival, Diethelm Ostry and John Deane (Australia) created a technology that made the wireless LAN fast and robust so it could be as powerful as the cabled solutions of the time, which led to today's wireless networking technology (Wi-Fi).
Photo Credit: Nominees for the European Inventor Award 2012: Stanford Ovshinsky, Federico Capasso, Terence Percival and John O' Sullivan ©European Patent Organization 2012
How to Where to and Why to Patent an Idea
If you got it flaunt it. This is an introductory article I have written aimed at those of you who do not know how to patent it yourself. One hot tip, patent early, especially now when the first to file rule comes into effect in the United States, and especially if your invention is in a highly competitive field. Illustration: Getty Images/Chad Baker
Raise Money With Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.
While Kickstarter is intended for all types of creative projects and is not just for inventors. The possibilities for an inventor with a good design or technology product to raise some seed cash is there. Note: This is not for raising millions in venture capitol or for an invention that has not been realized yet. This is for those of you with a product already in hand and need some money to find novel ways to promote, present, finish and produce it.
Kickstarter is not an investment or lending company. Project creators (you) keep 100% ownership and control over their work. Instead, you will offer products and experiences that are unique to each project in exchange for public patronage.
You will have to be able to produce a short video and supporting material promoting your ideas. So good communication skills are essential to be a Kickstarter.
Visit the website to understand the concept:
USPTO Hiring Electrical Engineers
The largest intellectual property rights entity in the nation (USPTO) needs qualified applicants in the chemical, electrical and mechanical disciplines with a critical need for electrical engineers to work as patent examiners. They offer an inclusive organizational climate, competitive salaries, bonus incentives, paid overtime, top-notch health care and retirement plans. The USPTO supports flexible work schedules and telework. Photo Credit:Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
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History of Observing Small Things
The first vision aid invented (inventor unknown) was the reading stone. It was a glass sphere that magnified when laid on top of reading materials. It is considered an early precursor to the microscope.
What is a Electron Microscope?
In this kind of microscope, electrons are speeded up in a vacuum until their wavelength is extremely short, only one hundred-thousandth that of white light. Beams of these fast-moving electrons are focused on a cell sample and are absorbed or scattered by the cell's parts so as to form an image on an electron-sensitive photographic plate. If pushed to the limit, electron microscopes can make it possible to view objects as small as the diameter of an atom. Illustration: LOC
Alternatives to Patenting
A reader wrote in asking, "How do inventors successfully 1) market, 2) distribute and 3) grow profit from unpatented or unpatentable ideas?" The reader had an invention that was unpatentable in the United States because it had been publicly disclosed for over a year.
While the reader was in a position she had not intended to be in, a growing number of inventors deliberately forgo/delay patenting and take their product straight to market. Alternatives to patenting an innovation include: obtaining a trademark on the name, or copyrighting the rules or instructions. Rubik's Cube or Coca-Cola were never patented, good trademarks and great marketing brought those products success. Trade secrets are also an alternative, if your product is nearly impossible to reverse engineer. And if you can't patent your invention, maybe you can patent an accessory or disposable that makes your invention better.
For further information check our "Alternatives to Patents" directory and consult a intellectual property expert.
Employment Contract Provisions & Inventions
Reuters recently posted an article on the top items included in an employment contract. Third on list was Ownership of Inventions for employees who might invent. It went something like this," the employee agrees that anything he or she invents at work, or during a set period of time after termination, becomes the employer's invention, not the employee's own invention." Additionally, employees usually agree to assign their inventions to the employer, cooperate with the employer in getting inventions patented, and keep information about the invention confidential like any other trade secret. In return, sometimes the employer agrees to share with employee-inventors a percentage of the royalties paid for inventions.
What should you as an inventor watch out for before signing an employment contract?
Okay if they are hiring you to invent it is reasonable to expect your contract to give the intellectual property rights to your boss. However, do not let a contract claim too much, for example: the rights to any previous unpatented invention of yours that you did not tell your potential employer about in writing. Watch out as well for anything that claims the right to your invention post employment - beyond a reasonable six months or less - fired today, patenting tomorrow, okay you didn't make that invention overnight. Consider using a lawyer to look over your contract.