Inventioneers Patent Scholarship 2013

Check back in the next few months to hear how the Ready Set Patent Scholarship is evolving.  Some exciting new changes are in the works and more scholarships will be awarded!  We can't wait to see what new things you are inventing!

Inventioneers Quote of the Day

"Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail."

- Charles Kettering, American inventor, engineer, businessman, and holder of 186 patents

Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Winners Announced

Congratulations to the 2012 Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Winners. These six student innovators, team Holy Cow, are from Concord, NH. They are the inventors of the UltraFi - a unique UV disinfectant device. Check back to learn more about their product after they have filed their Provisional Patent Application with the pro bono assistance of scholarship sponsor Maine, Cernota, and Rardin.  (see Public Disclosure)

We thank our mentor and scholarship sponsor Vern Maine (in the red tie above!) for officiating with us at the Award Ceremony, which took place at FIRST Place in Manchester, NH as part of the New Hampshire High Technology Council's (NHHTC) Entrepreneur Forum.  Our thanks to the NHHTC, a longtime supporter of the Inventioneers, for providing such an inspiring venue for our award ceremony!

Our Scholarship on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/MyPoKos/status/208006648827092993/photo/1

The Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Award Ceremony

The Inventioneers and our scholarship sponsor, Maine, Cernota, and Rardin, have partnered with the New Hampshire High Technology Council (NHHTC) to hold the Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Award Ceremony at the NHHTC's Entrepreneur Forum on May 30, 2012.  

Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Winner

We are so excited to announce that the winner of our scholarship has been selected!  The Winner is . . . . stay tuned to find out!

Inventioneers Quote of the Day

"An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots."

- Charles Kettering, American inventor, engineer, businessman, and holder of 186 patents

Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Deadline -

The application deadline for the Inventioneers Patent Scholarship is one week from today- Tuesday, May 15th at 11:59 p.m.!   Thanks to all students who have already entered.  Click "Enter Now" tab above for the online application.

Inventioneers Quote of the Day

"We have come to know that our ability to survive and grow as a nation to a very large degree depends on our scientific progress.  Moreover, it is not enough simply to keep abreast of the rest of the world in scientific matters. We must maintain that leadership."

-President Harry S. Truman, on signing the law that 

founded the National Science Foundation. 

Download Our Poster!

Click image above to go to downloadable poster

Inventioneers Patent Tip: Priority Date

"Priority date" is a very important concept to learn if you are interested in patents. The priority date proves when you came up with your invention. It is like a place holder for your idea. It is important because if another inventor comes up with the same idea, the priority date will decide who had the idea first.

That's why we think filing a provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the way to go. It sets your priority date - it sets your official date of invention. If you publicly disclose your invention, that becomes your priority date.

Inventioneers Quote of the Day

“The focus of education is moving away from cramming our heads full of answers and toward a process of exploration and discovery, a way of thinking rather than a set of memorized formulas.”

-Eli Luberoff,, kid entrepreneur,  CEO and Founder of Desmos

Coming soon . . .

Trade Secrets - pros and cons.

Inventioneers Patent Tip: Public Disclosure

One area where kid inventors may put themselves at a disadvantage is in the case of public disclosure of their inventions.  Under United States law, a public disclosure occurs when an invention is:

1. Described in a printed publication anywhere in the world;
2. Placed in public use in the United States; or
3. Offered for sale in the United States.

Printed publication can be further defined as any communication that:

1. Appears in a fixed-media form (i.e., not necessarily “printed”);
2. Is considered to be available to the public (either because it was intended to be made public, as an article in a scientific journal, or because it was made without an obligation of confidentiality, as a casual letter to a friend); and
3. Describes an invention in such detail that one familiar with the field (“skilled in the art”) could duplicate it or put it into use.1

You can see that making an invention public on the internet falls under "public disclosure" and starts the one year clock ticking to obtain a utility patent.

Another issue that arises is that when kids

Inventioneers Quote of the Day

"America's technological and economic strength is the result of its tremendous ingenuity."

- Jon Dudas, President, FIRST; former Director of the USPTO

Inventioneers Get Support from NH Commissioner of Education

(click image above to read more)

We are excited about the support for our Patent Scholarship from the NH Department of Education (DOE).

Inventioneers Quote of the Day

"Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?' but the boy [or girl] asks, 'What can I do with it?'."

- Steve Jobs

Inventioneers Explain Patentability Test #3 - Practical Utility

Okay, if you're a kid, you are wondering, "What is practical utility?"  Before we learned all about patents, we wondered the same thing!

In the simplest terms it means "usefulness". Your invention must have "real-world use".   What's interesting is that the invention must be useful at the time of the patent application.  Even if some other technology comes

Inventioneers' Quote of the Day

"A patent, or invention, is any assemblage of technologies or ideas that you can put together that nobody put together that way before.  That's how the patent office defines it.  That's an invention."

- Dean Kamen

Overview of the Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Program

Click Image Above

The Inventioneers Patent Scholarship - How It Works

Click image above to go to document

Inventioneers' Quote of the Day

"People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things."

- R. Buckminster Fuller

How Can You Protect Your Inventions?

Inventioneers Expand "Obviousness" Tip

Who decides what ideas are "obvious"?  Well, it could be the USPTO and/or the courts.  This is an interesting sticking point.  One problem is what's called a "hindsight bias".  Wow, that sounds complicated.  Well, all it means is that after someone explains an idea to you, guess what, it seems obvious!  BUT, was it obvious before it was explained to you?  Which came first, the chicken or the egg.  Here this dilemma explained in a journal article:

Is Your Invention "Non-Obvious"?

The second patentability test requires that your invention must be "non-obvious".  This test requires a high degree of objectivity which is not always easy for an inventor. The official explanation for non-obviousness is that "a person having ordinary skill in the art"* would not be able to easily figure out the same solution your invention presents.

*a fictional person who is considered to have the normal skills and knowledge in a particular technical field, without being a genius (Wikipedia)

The following explanation might help you understand this test.  Check out this example of an invention that failed the "obviousness" test:

Inventioneers' Quote of the Day

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves." 

- Thomas Edison

Important Update: Deadline Extended

Some exciting developments are brewing with the Inventioneers Patent Scholarship program.  As a result, we have extended our deadline to May 15th 2012.

Those of you who have already submitted your applications will not be affected by any changes to the  ready, set, PATENT! Award process.  Stay tuned!!!

1888 Velocipede Patent Figure

Is Your Invention Novel?

As we mentioned before, it is important to research your idea to see if another inventor has had the same idea.  To be patentable, your idea must pass the first patent test:  it must be novel.

As you learn more about patents, you'll see the words "prior art" linked to patentability.  Prior art is any information made available publicly before you came up with the idea for your invention.  That's why researching your solution is a key step before you pursue a patent.  If you find parts of your idea already mentioned on the web, in magazines, papers, etc., that is prior art and those parts of your invention will not pass patentability test #1.

Next tip:
What is a priority date?

Inventioneers Patent Scholarship Sponsor Has New Name

While the values and focus of Attorney Vern Maine's firm have not changed, the organization has changed its name for the new year.  To read more about the company, click here.

Selection Process

How the Winner is Selected

The applications are reviewed by the intellectual property law firm and Scholarship Sponsors, Maine, Cernota, and Rardin and other local law firms.  They will use the Eligibility Criteria as part of their review of all applications.  Based on their evaluation, a winner will be selected based on the patentability of the invention.  Finalists will be notified by email.  

Enter to Win!

Our 2013 application period has opened!

How to Enter to Win the

Inventioneers Patent Scholarship 

1.     Click on any  ready, set, PATENT!  logo
     to go to the online application form

2.     Fill out your background information and answer the 
      9 questions as completely as you can.

3.     Click the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the online form. 

4.      Send any drawings or diagrams to:

TheInventioneers@yahoo.com

         Subject Line:  Patent Scholarship Drawings

Your STEM leader/teacher can help guide you through the application process.  Use the form to help you think through your invention – what is it made of, how does it work, etc.  Work out your answers in a word processor file and then cut and paste into the application form.  That way, you have all the details of your invention already documented for your records.

Criteria for the Inventioneers Patent Scholarship

Scholarship Criteria

To see if your invention qualifies for the scholarship, the answer to the following questions must be “YES”:

1.  Is your idea your original work and not that of adult mentors or guides?

2.  Have you conducted research to determine that your idea is “novel” or new?  (If you find an invention that is similar but your idea has novel features, you are still eligible.)

3.  Is your invention a unique device on its own? (combining others’ ideas or products in a new way does not qualify as “unique”)

4.  Is your device “useful”?

5.  Have you identified the end users or customers of your invention?

6.  Have you kept the details of your invention private? (prior public disclosure may limit patentability of your invention)

Eligibility for the Inventioneers Patent Scholarship

Please note that our 2013 application period has opened!

Scholarship Eligibility

·   The  ready, set, PATENT!  Program is open to all NH students ages 8-16. 

·   Traditional and home educated students are eligible.

·   Individual inventors or teams of inventors may apply.  In the case of a team entry, all named inventors must have contributed to the development of the invention.