The Nevada INVENTOR
Official newsletter of and by the Nevada Inventor's Association
Volume: XVI No. 12 -Education, Assistance, and Networking for the Inventor- December 2004
Next Meeting: January` 27, 2005 9:00 AM Washoe Medical Center Room cr101
Our web site is 'www.nevadainventors.org' Founded in 1988
We are a 501(c)6 group under IRS rules.
The purpose of NIA is to educate inventors and potential inventors through whatever means available, including regular meeting, classes, seminars, workshops, and evaluations, within NIA or in cooperation with other persons or organizations. The education of inventors, or potential inventors, may also include the publishing of written materials, such as a regularly published newsletter, flyers, notices, or letters.
Additional goals of NIA are to inform its members of private, civic, governmental, and public resources which may be of assistance to inventors; to promote a positive public image of inventors; to provide for its members a referral/resource directory; and to furnish assistance to its members, whenever possible, by directing their efforts toward the successful
November 27, 2004 Meeting
1. NLA group invention
2. Brochure for NLA - discussion
3. Insert for newsletter
4. Product evaluation sheet
5. BayWaterPublishing.com group purchase -15 members
6. Call for donation of 20 copies 650-812-3491 for newsletter in exchange for advertisement - no response
7. Status of property in Eastcrn Nevada - Quit Title Cow County Title
8. Questions about show and tell
9. Run TV advertisement for next meeting
10. Contact the General regarding speaking at a meeting Call Phil Neadeau
11. Mobil library at each meeting or library card for each member
12. Final draft from Dieter at next meeting
13. Contact the attorney for advertisement in newsletter
14. Jackets - shirts - caps - logo for members
15 Library cards - check price - books - Google - no response
16. Hat Bods gage for pin stopper - Paul McCain
17. Ejler explained his software system: IBASE
Sometimes l hear about inventors who question the value of prototyping their inventions.. l cringe when l hear an otherwise intelligent person make a statement like that. There are so many reasons why producing a prototype is important.. l will list the one that come to mine.
1. Prototyping the invention helps smooth out design issues. There is an interesting development process that occurs when the design goes from Cranial to the lateral." the details l gloss over in my mind make themselves painfully evident in the process of producing the first model of the invention. this is called reducing the invention to practice. even put labels and instructions together to really begin to look at marketing my invention.
2. Prototyping allows you to patent all the details that are patentable. I normally give my patent attorney a prototype for him to use in visualizing the invention. When he is writing the patent application. Any details that are not clear in my description are easier to understand, when looking at the prototype.
3. The artist who does the patent drawings will also appreciate the model to work from. It will be a lot easier to sketch the device when you can see one and examine it from all angles. The drawings are more accurate and will reflect the actual device when there is something to go from.
4. Producing the first model will also help you consider the best way to actually manufacture the device you have invented. Can you make one on a lathe? Must it be molded, carved or sculptured? Will you be able to injection-mold the item in plastic? All of these issues begin to come into focus when you actually have to build the invention.
5. What will the device cost to manufacture? While the first model may cost a bundle compared to the actual production version, you will begin to appreciate the cost of manufacturing the item. How will the actual product be best manufactured? What kind of Dackaoino work best? I even put labels and instructions together to really begin to look at marketing my invention.
6. Once my intellectual property rights are assured I will use my model for photographs. Video, 3D computer modest and Jpegs for use on the web are a snap, if I have a respectable model.
7. Testing an actual model is far more informative than the imagination you can muster. Identifying weakness becomes easy, when you can test the actual device in real terms. There are always surprises when you test the
8. When the time comes to make a presentation of the invention, having a model really gets the marketing juices flowing. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a prototype worth? One day I sold rights to 5 of my inventions to one company, on the same day. The CEO went around my hotel room pointing at my prototypes and said, bI want this one, this one and that one...where is that tape tool you showed me? I want it too..." While this guy was also an inventor, the actual prototypes made the inventions real for him.
9. Demonstrations sell technology. While I have not always sold inventions when demonstrations go flawlessly, many times it is critical to show how it works. The better the prototype works, the better you will control the situation and make the best deal.
10. While buyers for major chain stores are normally able to understand the concept, they are actually human beings (claims to godhood are questionable). I have seen demonstrations of the competitor's product in comparison to our new product turn a buyer right on the spot. Having a good prototype will help sell the product even if it is not even in production yet. Prototypes remove the element of uncertainty and make the product real.
Certainly there are valid reasons to not prototype an invention, but they are the exceptions that prove the rule. If the invention is to large, too expensive, too complicated, or too hard to prototype you can get by without it, but that rarely is the case. Don't try to cut corners, do your homework and prototype the invention. It will pay off in spades.
President ; Len Schweitzer 775.323.8586 Vice President; Dr. Bill Torch 775.329.4060 5ec/Treasure; Vince Chemist 775.677.0123 Serg. at Arms: Dieter Berndt 775.825.5655 Prgm Director: Terry Kelly 530.546.5226 NIA Founder: Don Costar 775.322.9636
Deehert LLP Client synopsysw Ine. Ends long-Running Dispute
Tuesday, December 07, 2004 by: PatentCafe Staff
Palo Alto, Calif. (December 1, 2004) - Following a series of court victories by Dechert intellectual property attorneys on behalf of Mountain View, Calif.-based software company Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), Synopsys has announced that its rival in a five-year-long trade secret and patent dispute has agreed to a $192 million takeover offer and will make a $61 million settlement payment to Synopsys.
Synopsys' planned purchase of Santa Clara, Calif. based Nassda Corp. (NASDAQ: NSDA) will not only end its litigation with Nassda and several of its co-founders -- who were one-time Synopsys employees -- but also will bring to Synopsys the technology it has long claimed was derived from its own intellectual property.
Synopsys makes electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor design. Nassda sells simulation software used to simulate and analyze circuit designs for chips. In 1998, several Synopsys employees left the company to form Nassda. In 2000, Dechert attorneys filed, on behalf of Synopsys, a California state court suit against Nassda and its president for breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and unfair competition, among other allegations. The dispute was later expanded to all Nassda co-founders and eventually also included parallel cases in District Court alleging infringement of Synopsys patents.
In these cases Synopsys had been seeking more than $100 million in damages, as well as injunctions against Nassda's further sale of certain software products.
Dechert LLP partner Chris Scott Graham said the settlement and acquisition agreement was a victory for his client on several levels. "This is a classic example of a dispute coming full circle, with Nassda agreeing to be acquired by the very company its co-founders left. Not only does the agreement give to Synopsys the technology that was derived from its own intellectual property, the acquisition, when approved, also will allow Synopsys to preserve Nassda's products and continue to support Nassda's customers."
Over almost five years of litigation, Dechert's Palo Altobased litigation team won a number of pre-trial motions that severely limited the defenses that Nassda would have been able to assert at trial. Most notably, in June of this year Dechert attorneys argued that it would not have been possible for Nassda employees to have written 60,000 lines of source code for a new product in the one month period the defendants claimed, and obtained an order establishing that a portion of Nassda's source code was, in fact, copied or derived from Synopsys' source code. Dechert also obtained numerous sanctions against the defendants for intentionally altering and destroying evidence.
Michael Edelman, the Dechert partner who handled the litigation with Graham, said the June rulings were crucial to Nassda's eventual decision to agree to the acquisition. "Nassda and the individual defendants were in a very difficult position after the court found that the defendants had copied Synopsys' source code and then altered or destroyed evidence after Synopsys filed its suit. In addition, we were successful in winning every significant claim construction issue that was raised in both patent infringement cases, which was quite an achievement for our legal team."
Nassda's subsequent petition with the Court of Appeal to overturn the June rulings in the state action become moot with the
agreement announced on Dec. 1. The aggregate purchase price of Nassda by Synopsys will be approximately $192 million, or approximately $92 million net of Nassda's estimated cash at closing. In addition, upon closing, the Nassda officers, directors and employees who are defendants in the litigation between Synopsys and Nassda will make settlement payments to Synopsys in the aggregate amount of $61.6 million.
The agreements for the acquisition have been approved by the boards of directors of Synopsys and Nassda, as well as by a special committee of Nassda's board. The acquisition is subject to a number of other approvals, including all customary regulatory approvals.
With more than 700 lawyers in 17 cities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe, Dechert LLP provides a full range of legal services to corporations and financial institutions in transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters.
Visit Dechert on the web atwww.dechert.com.
Get the Picture? Why You Need a Patent Illustrator.
Monday, November 15, 2004 by: Nadine Andres
You have an invention and now you want a patent. Whether you're working with an IP attorney, or filing on your own, drawings are a significant and frequently neglected piece of the puzzle. Here are some pointers on what to consider.
I've got the picture! It's your invention. You know it best, so why in the world do you need to pay for someone else to draw what you already know? For starters, there are rules! While the USPTO has relaxed its acceptance standards, there are still rejections. People are constantly asking us to 'revise' their submitted drawings because an examiner rejected their original illustrations. Obviously this is a waste of time and money. If you want to be sure you don't get a drawing rejection a patent illustrator is your best bet BEFORE submission.
Picture this: if you were to see an examiner's desk you would be SHOCKED! It's not unusual for offices to have piles of pending patents that extend from floor to ceiling. With this much of a backlog, examiners must find ways to move quickly through applications. Thinking back to your school days, the reports that fell under the teacher's radar were not those that were neat, typed, and organized in a binder. It was the handwritten and terribly crinkled versions that received scrutiny. So, help the examiners out! Provide them with neat, computer generated illustrations they can visually scan in a second. It will make their jobs easier, and most likely avoid a rejection.
A picture is worth... Good illustrators are worth their weight in gold! Using advanced software and hardware, an illustrator can create a drawing quickly, and more cheaply than the average Joe Inventor. Illustrators are also better able to keep up with changes in the USPTO, and can create drawings that can be used in foreign filing and marketing venues as well. Perhaps most importantly, Illustrators also add a fresh view to your invention. After all, they must start from scratch at understanding your creation. Many times they spot inconsistencies. It is rare for a specification to leave our office without being littered with "stickiest:
Paint a picture. So how can you determine if a patent illustrator is any good? Usually lawyers have illustrators that they know and trust. If not, here are some points for you to consider.
1. First make sure the illustrations will be drawn electronically. This is critical not only for precision, but for further applications as well. Get a copy of the file from the illustrator in known formats such as bitmap and. Tiff. You can file with the USPTO electronically as well as use the drawings for brochures, advertising, and even fabrication.
2. Be sure the illustrator is using a well-known drawing package like CAD or Solid Works. These provide better transfer for all the uses of your illustration. Also make sure their version is up to date: at least no more than 4 years old.
3. Stick with an illustrator that does only patent work. Not every person that uses CAD knows the ins and outs of USPTO rules. Mechanical draftsman and designers can create your drawings, but may add marks that cause rejection. Lawyers don't know the fine details of patent illustration. Less aggravation occurs with an illustrator who can point you down a path they are very familiar with.
4. Require a laser copy of the illustrations. Ink jet varieties create less accurate lines, and may bleed on the paper. Request two or three copies of the work in the FIRST generation. This means, you want it straight from the printer. Drawings that go through varieties of photocopies degrade line texture and create a less crisp image.
5. Last but not least, be sure you or the attorney has a confidentiality agreement with the illustrator. Steet clear of internet communication without encryption or firewalls. This is sometimes forgotten in our fast paced e-commerce world. Requesting these priorities from your lawyer and illustrator will provide better safety in the protection of your design.
Take nothing but pictures. Much to your dismay, I'm advising to add one more person to the ever expanding time line and money flow of patenting your invention. A hassle? Maybe, but I contend a rejection is a bigger blow at a more critical juncture. It may seem like just a bunch of black lines, a simple sketch that anyone could create. And indeed, there are the white whales: the napkin notations that passed as "illustrations" at the USPTO. But don't forget that receiving the patent is just the beginning. Quite possibly your invention could be called into litigation. You will want a solid, immaculate illustration to stand as a backbone against the specification it supports. A few more dollars today could literally save the millions you make in the future. When you make your decision, remember that life is a lot like when you first learned to draw...you just have to stay between the lines. *
A Bit of Humor:
A lady walks into a drugstore and tolls thc pharmacist she needs some cyanide. The pharmacist said, "Why in the world do you need cyanide?"
The lady then explained she needed it to poison her husband. The pharmacist's eyes got big and he said, "Lord have mercy, I can't give you cyanide to kill your husband! That's against the law! I'll lose my license, they'll throw us both in jail and all kinds of bad things will happen! Absolutely not, you CANNOT have any cyanide! "
Then the lady reached in her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband in bed with the pharmacist's wife.
The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, "Well, you didn't tell me you had a prescription!"
Thank you -Don Costar
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