My Patent Pending

I just saw the movie “Splice” and while it was a science fiction horror movie – I so could relate to the two main characters. Married scientists who were on the brink of something after years and years of hard work had the rug pulled out from them.

For years, these scientists worked on an experiment that with just a little more support from their sponsor could give them a medical science miracle. Possibly coming up with a medicine that could eradicate a number of deadly diseases.

The sponsor decides to shut down the project, just like that.

The couple can’t let go of their years of research and hard work. They refuse to set aside the fact they were so very close to a real breakthrough. As a result they make the wrong decisions and continue with their experiments. This leads to horrible consequences and cataclysmic disaster.

I have a patent pending. For years I had this idea that I really believed was a good idea. I even went on-line around 1999 and applied for a patent with the federal government and got a patent pending number. I applied for a provisional patent, which gives the applicant a year to formalize the idea and then complete the patent.

I tried to get the proper materials and make a prototype of my idea – even at one point having someone at Reynolds (as in Reynolds Wrap) send me free samples. They were very kind, but by the time the patent had to be finalized, I didn’t have anything to show by means of a prototype because I didn’t find the proper material. So I had to let the patent expire.

Then about a year and a half ago, I took my idea to a patent lawyer my daughter interned with when she went to college. Any patent lawyer could write up your patent for you, charge you some $10,000 and you’ll have yourself a patent. Yet if the lawyer isn’t scrupulous, they may neglect to tell you that your patent isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

That is why it is important to know, if you have an idea you wish to patent, you should find a reputable ethical lawyer. Don’t do this on-line or with one of those “patent-self-serve” websites. What I learned is, if you are not adept at writing a patent (most of us are not), your idea can and probably will be stolen. If you don’t know the back doors to stealing an idea legally, you’re toast. There are large corporations who have people trolling the federal patent website just to find ideas with weak patents. You need a very good patent lawyer who knows how to write a patent that will best protect your idea. Even then, there’s no guarantees, however, with a good lawyer, at least you’ll have a chance of getting satisfaction in a court of law should you decide to litigate because someone took your idea without permission.

My idea is called SaniSkin. One of the key most perplexing problems in our hospitals is how to sterilize the patient environment. One of the greatest modern problems is keyboards. There is no way to sterilize them and studies have shown they may be hotbeds for viruses and other contagions.

Let me give you a little glimpse into my “journey” with trying to get the patent prototype made.

In the past six months, I have called some 25-30 U.S. silicone manufactures. Interestingly, as a woman (no feminist am I) I will confess, I have a greater appreciation as to why feminists are an angry lot.

I do not exaggerate when I tell you I have had repeated conversations like the one I’m going to share with you below.

First of all out of ten factories, I would get a callback or email answer from about five contacts. Of the five a few might reconnect with me again. This would be after I have sent them photos of the patent pending product and after I feel they’ve come to a rudimentary understanding of what I wanted.

Let me walk you through a typical telephone conversation I would have with these people.

I would identify myself, tell them I have a patent pending, give them the information of my patent lawyer (who also became my partner much to my delight) – name, state, town. I would then begin to explain my idea. Always with the bottom line being, “Can this be done by your company?”

Me, “I need a sheet of silicone, a very thin membrane-like thickness but I also need the silicone to have an antimicrobial component of some kind in it or on it. This would be a universal keyboard skin that due to its properties will stay on the keyboard without the use of any glue or adhesive.”

“Listen Honey, it won’t stick.” [One guy from New Jersey called me, “Doll Face”.]

Me, “Well actually, I have a sheet of it right here, but it doesn’t have antimicrobial in it or on it. I was able to obtain it from a Chinese plant. That’s what I’m calling about, can you make something like this with an antimicrobial?”

“It won’t stick, you need adhesive.”

Me pulling the phone away from my mouth. Then after a sigh or some hair pulling, “As I told you, yes it will stick. I actually have one sitting on my keyboard as I’m speaking and I’ve used it on my laptop keyboard for quite sometime. It stays put quite nicely.”

“Nah, it won’t stay…”

“Excuse the interruption, for the sake of argument, even if you believe it won’t stay in place, can you make something like this? No adhesive needed.”

“Silicone and antimicrobial? I don’t know…how would you do that?”

Me, I’m not the expert in that matter, I thought you were… I say out loud, “Well, I know it can be done because the shoes called ‘Crocs’ have antimicrobial in their silicone material, so it can be done. Have you heard of them?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of them, but it’s never been done with a silicone sheet…”

Me, I KNOW YOU IDIOT THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED AN INVENTION. But I say out loud, “Exactly, that’s why I have a patent pending for it, the idea is new. So, getting back to my question, do you have the capabilities of making a sheet of silicone with antimicrobial in it or on it?”

I honestly am quoting almost exactly what these men would say to me and I was stunned by the amount of times I had to repeat that same scenario. It was like a bad play, reciting the same lines over and over…

Finally, I found a manufacture with a gentleman who not only treats me with respect, but has treated the idea with enthusiasm and we are almost there! I almost have the product in my hand, ready to take it to the world so I can sell the idea!

Not without a few bumps in the road though.

I’ve have given only a glimpse of the process of making this idea form into a product.

If something unforeseen happened to stop this from finally coming to fruition, I would be deeply upset to say the least.

So in a very real sense, I can relate to the two main characters in the movie “Splice”. I don’t think I would ever break any laws or end up acting in an unethical way, but I know after all the time and effort I have put into this, it would cross my mind if I came to a roadblock.

If that should occur though, I will remember the very disturbing movie “Splice” and remind myself, nothing is worth selling your soul over. Nothing.