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