Morgan And Associates Book Reviews

This is not an exhaustive list of pertinent reading material. It is not even the best list. However, it includes some of the books I found pertinent to the questions that keep reoccuring. Ask your local library to get you a copy. That way other people get to read it also.

• Stand Alone, Inventorby Robert G. Merrick, available fromThe Inventor's Bookstore, 37 Seneca Road, Danbury, CT. 06811-4422, Ph. # 1-800-214-2833, or viaemail. $19.95. This is very basic reading with guidlines for your invention if it is something intended for the mass market. Read this one first. Mr. Jack Landers, owner of the bookstore, is quite an inventors advocate.
• Marketing Your InventionBy Thomas E. Mosley, Jr., available fromThe Inventor's Bookstore, 37 Seneca Road, Danbury, CT. 06811-4433, Ph. # 1-800-214-2833, or viaemail. $22.95. Based on over 1,000 invention evaluations and negotiating countless licensing and joint venture agreements, Mr. Mosely clearly communicates what inventors need to know to successfully bring their inventions to market. From channeling the intial inspiration in a marketable direction to protecting the idea, from identifying the characteristics of a successful new product to positioning it, finding money, and licensing, this book dispels the myths and outlines invaluable tactics for launching your invention. My admin guy calls it "Very Readable", and it is useful to note that Jack Landers uses this book in his invention classes.
• The Inventor's Desktop Companion: The Guide to Sucessfully Marketing and Protecting Your Ideasby Richard C. Levy, Visible Ink Press. $24.95. Available fromAspen Books & Software, 908 S. Tracy Ave., Suite D-2, Bozeman, Mt, 59715. Ph. 800-319-2665. Mr. Levy has invented and commercialized a number of toys. Great resource appendix.
• From Patent to ProfitbyBob Dematteiswith Mark Antonucci. $29.95 Toll free (888) 53-Profit. Mr. DeMattais lays out a good strategy on how to profit from your invention. This is one of the best books I've read on the subject. The part on how to file your own patent has good information in it, but there is just enough information to get you in trouble. Follow the format very carefully and you are guaranteed a first office rejection that will be messy to straighten out. I suspect it was a plot by his attorneys to help snare the unsuspecting. However, his main thrust is on how to profit from your invention. Well worth reading.
• Will It Sell?How to Determine If Your Invention is Profitably Marketable (Before Wasting Money on a Patent)byJames E. White. Published by James E. White & Associates, Marketing Consultants, 4107 Breakwater Drive, Okemos, Michigan 48864. Copyright 1999. Price $19.95. I read the Prepublication draft. The book is a scream. It not only has some good information, the cover alone is worth the price. I was nearly helpless giggling at the prose on the front page: "An explosive little book that will have your patent attorney seeing red.....and will turn your view of the invention process upside down. Warning: This book may be banned in Texas! The Texas Supreme Court's Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee has been granted the right to ban books and/or software that might help you understand the law. The UPLC has met in secret to investigate other books providing information similar to that in this book." Unquote. The author has dilligently tried to eliminate any errors, and solicted my opinions on the matter. I found a few minor technicalities, but overall, the book is right up there with "From Patent To Profit". This is going to primarily be of interest to mass retail items for consumers, as I see it. It is not an easy read. lf I were paranoid, I would suspect it is a text written by a consultant trying to hustle up clients by making it seem overly complicated. But, I am not, so believe it is a worthwhile addition to your library. From the viewpoint of a patent practitioner, it contributes to the very desirable end of helping an inventive person to become an informed qualified inventor who knows what he is doing & has his act together before taking advantage of a free initial consultation from a local patent practitioner. Many patent practitioners do not want to work with individual inventors because they haven't done their homework before trying to engage their services. For the conscientious practitioner, that is not a win/win situation. For any sharks out there, it is an opportunity to wreak economic havoc. I recommend it to my clients. "Whether you agree or disagree with the emphasis of the book, you are bound to profit from the insights you get from reading the many stories it contains. Enjoy!" Winner of the 2000 Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards in the How-To category.
• Keyword Patent Searching Online - A WorkbookbyGerald R. Black. Price: $38. The author, a senior-level patent attorney, makes a compelling case that keywords are now the best way for conducting patentability searches online. The book breaks new ground. Keyword patent searching databases have improved dramatically in the past twenty years. Keywords are now the best way to search for patents online - and using the tedious Patent Classification Systems is unnecessary. The book features four inventions using basic technologies for the reader to search. Step-by-step search solutions are provided that are easy to follow. The search results show how each patent is located. The presentation and layouts are completely original (see http://www.keypatent.net/) .
• Protecting Your Ideas: The Inventor's Guide To Patentsby Joy L. Bryant, President, National Association of Patent Practitioners. Published & marketed byAcademic Press, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887. Toll Free 1-800-321-5068, Fax 1-800-874-6418. "More useful information per square inch than any other book I have seen on this subject" writes Sheila Marsh, Principal Attorney, The In-House Advantage. "Rarely does one find a book that has so much important information on a subject so vital to the creative or inventive mind" writes Joe Easst, President, PAR technologies. This text covers technical details a serious inventor needs to know to protecting ideas.Protecting Your Ideasis currently available fromBarnesandnoble.comat $17.50. I have no reservations in recommending it to my clients. I have not found any hidden traps for the unwary as I have in many other texts.
• Patent It Yourself, by David PressmanNolo Press, Berkely, California. Should be in your local library. This book is very popular with attorneys and agents for the detailed cookbook information contained within the text. There is very good information within the book. However, it is akin to "Build Your Own Computer" or "Do Your Own Brain Surgery". There are some traps in there, that, as in "From Patent to Profit", if you follow the format very carefully on your formal filing, you are guaranteed a first office action rejection that can be messy to straighten it out. I suspect the intent was to ensare more fish. I strongly recommend it to my industrial clients so they have a better handle on the process.
• The Patent Drawing Bookby Patent Agent Jack Lo & David Pressman,Nolo Press, Berkely, California. Again, should be in your local library, or you can order it from Nolo, Ph. 800-992-6656. The most helpful book on doing patent drawings I have seen. I recommend it to my patent draftsmen. Fair Warning: Watch for and observe the correct margins, which are given in one part of the book, which are different from the actual drawing samples shown.
• Patent Searching Made Easyby David Hitchcock,Nolo Press, Berkely California. ($24.95) ISBN 0-87337-476-2 Published 3/19/98. The book makes patent searching look harder than it really is. I recommend inventors try to do preliminary searching because it is educational and fun for most creative people (i.e. the kind I enjoy working with..i.e. "Birds of a feather, flock together!). If you aren't set up on the internet, in many places you can go down to your local library and use their internet setup. If you aren't particularly computer literate, you can always go down to the library, pull up this web site, punch in on the Inventors Resource page, and find the link to the USPTO & the IBM site and start searching. Of course, if you have memorized this text you can search more effectively, but even without the text you can still learn by doing. Some good tips in the text. Also has good info on your nearest patent depository library, as there is usually at least one in every state in the U.S. If you find something "same as" what you had in mind, you have been successful in determining you are not the first to invent. If you don't find anything, you still don't know whether or not something is out there. You can search very dilligently, not find anything, and then during a patent application, find out, after the patent examiner does his search, that someone somewhere had already done it. Of course, the same thing happens to expert professional searchers also. Following the instructions in this book, as far as you are able, will help you reduce the risk inherent in developing your inventions.
• The Toy and Game Inventor's Guideby Gregory J. Battersby and Charles W. Grimes, Kent Press, Stamford, Ct. Dry reading, but good info. I bought mine fromAspen Books.
• An Overview of Copyright and Trademark LawSAE Technical Paper Series, #972700, Anne M. Morgan, JD, Attorney at Law. This was presented at the 1997 International off-Highway & Powerplant Congess & Exposition, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It also was published in the SAE Transactions, which should be available in your local library. It is available, for approx. $12.00 via special order from theSociety of Automotive Engineers. It includes a list of some excellent books which would permit you to file your own copyright registrations.
• Patent, Copyright & Trademarkby Attorney Stephen Elias,Nolo Press, Berkely, California ($24.95) 3rd Edition, January, 1999. A good basic general text on the subject of intellectual property. As manufacturing companies in general, expecially small to medium size companies, in the U.S., tend to be sloppy about protecting their intellectual property, this should be must reading for whoever is the corporate head bean counter (i.e. Controller, owner's wife, or whoever.)
• Copyright Your Softwareby Attorney Stephen Fishman,Nolo Press, Berkely, California 2nd Edition, $24.95, trade paperback, 304 pages, ISBN 0-87337-494-4 Pub. 11/5/98. Written for software developers, programmers, publisher and authors, it shows you step-by-step what you need to know to register a copyright. It explains:
• Who owns a copyright
• How to sell a copyright to publishers and clients
• What the scope of copyright protection is regarding computer code and user interfaces
• What to do about copyright infringement
• How to recognize a derivative work
• How and when software licenses are used
• What the impact of GATT and NAFTA is on international copyright protection
• How to protect user interfaces, computer databases, multimedia projects, and more.
• You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?!, A Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorderby Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo, Scribner, 1995. I bought my copy fromHamilton Booksellerin Connecticut. There is a high correlation between creativity and dyslexia, and other symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, including forgetting names, mood swings (bi-polarism), etc. As attention deficit disorders run in my family, I noticed it in my most creative clients. So I started reading up on the subject & came to the conclusion I was exhibit A. It seems to be where the creative people often come from, including the writers, the artists, the musicians, and the inventors. If this applies to you, or one of your children, count your blessings & thank God, as you have a special gift. Life will not be dull!
• The Edison Trait, Saving the Spirit of Your Nonconforming Childby Lucy Jo Palladino, Ph.D. Copyright 1997. Published by Times Books Div. of Random House. $24. Supplementary reading to Kate Kelley's tome, a cookbook by a left brain dominated clinical psychologist advising how to raise a child with what she defines as the Edison Trait. She discusses divergent thinking, as a hallmark of the Edison Trait, as opposed to convergent thinking, which is the type of thinking encouraged by our education system. She discusses "dreamers" vs. "discoverers" vs. "dynamos". She differentiates the Edison Trait vs. the Attention Deficit Syndrome which is such a popular catch all diagnosis these days. Seems mostly useful for left brain mothers afflicted with right brain children. As men are from Mars, & women are from Venus, the typical male reader will find some useful ideas, but probably will be too lazy to try to master everything in it. Definitely worth reading. I bought mine for $3.95 fromEdward R. Hamilton, Bookseller, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000
• Drawing From the Right Side of the BrainDr. Betty Edwards, 1158 26th Street, Suite 530, Santa Monica, CA, 90403. This is an excellent book on developing creativity. Delves into left side of the brain vs. right side of the brain control. The right side of the brain is the creative imaginative side of the brain. The left brain effects the logical thought processes. About age seven, many people are forced into a left brain dominated existence. i.e. grow up, stop playing, follow the rules, etc., to where the right side of the brain is squelched. The book gets into ways to get the left side of the brain to "sit down & shut-up" and let the right side of the brain operate. Helps understand the conflict between our logical selves and our creative selves. Was originally recommended to me by a training official with the Peabody Coal Company. One of the best books I ever read.
• Ingenious Mechanisms For Designers And Inventors(4 volumes), available fromIndustrial Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York NY, 10016, Department 9810, telephone (888)528-7852, or viae-mail. This is "Hog Heaven" for those of us fascinated by mechanisms. Back in my inventive years, I enjoyed perusing the volumes while watching my young children play in the back yard. Strictly recreational reading for mechanically minded folks.
• Thomas Register-- available in your local library. An industrial list of United States manufacturers and their products. Good resources for sources and potential customers.
• The Quest For Capital -- A Financing Guide For Entrepreneursby Dee Powerand Brian Hill. Available throughProfit Dynamics, Inc., P. O. Box 18460, Fountain Hills Arizona, 85269. A very practical, readable book on the subject of raising capital.
• Your Natural Gifts -- How To Recognize And Develop Them For Success And Self-Fulfillmentby Margaret E. Broadley. Your natural gifts (or aptitudes) are as fixed and measurable -- and some are just as predictable -- as the color of your eyes. If, for example, your mother has a knack for designing or for repairing things, you will have it too if you are male. This gift for "structural visualization," as Mrs. Broadley calls the talent, passes to a son from his mother only and to a daughter from either parent. Mrs. Broadley's readers and many others have benefited from Mr. Johnson O'Connor's notable discoveries. Now you can too. With this book, you will be able to match your personality and aptitudes to specific jobs. You can learn under what conditions you would be wise to change jobs, what kind of school to attend, how to guide your children, and how to understand your mate.
• License Your Inventionby Attorney Richard Stim,Nolo Press, Berkely, California. License Your Invention gives detailed instructions on how to work with manufacturers, marketers and distributors who handle the details of merchandising an invention. It shows step-by-step how to draft a license that will be fair to all parties and addresses issues like ownerhip, applicable patent, necessary sample agreements and forms on a PC disk and as tear outs.

License Your Invention also helps you:

• understand the licensing process
• determine ownership rights
• know what agents offer and how to work with them effectively
• find potential licensors
• show the invention without getting ripped off
• understand and negotiate fair terms for a licensing deal
• draft a comprehensive licensing agreement
• review and negotiate changes to a licensor's proposed agreement and more

Now, the above material is taken from the press release. I read the book, carefully, myself. I have no quarrel with their assessment. Now, I myself would never try to do my own license, if I could avoid it. The last time I negotiated my own licensing arrangements, 18 years ago, I was not happy with the results. If I had to do it again, I would suggest the licensee draw up an agreement he is comfortable with, and then the licensor should look it over to see what tips from the above book should be incorporated. Then I would have my own attorney look it over. I do believe reading this book is a very good defensive measure and highly recommend it. I am not an attorney, nor a "wannabe" attorney. I am a Patent Agent. I prosecute patent applications. But, I have a very high esteem for the legal profession and believe in getting them in the act for licensing arrangements. However, in self defense, if you are gtting into a licensing arragement, you need all the smarts you can get. So, I added this text to this book review page. Warning: It is work to read it.

• What Were They Thinking? Marketing Lessons I've Learned from over 80,000 New-Producxt Innovations and Idiociesby Robert M. McMath and Thom Forbes, Times Books, a division ofRandom House, Inc.1998 List Price $23 USA . ISBN 0-8129-2950-0 This book is primarily directed to new products and innovations in the food, beverage, pharmaceuticals, cleaning supplies, and sundry products. If you have an idea for a new product to supplement or compete with existing brands, please read this BEFORE consulting a patent, trademark, or copyright practitioner. It may save time for all concerned. It is a tough world out there. Most of the products offered by the folks in the business fail, usually for reasons that should have been quite predictable. Mr. McMath has quite a warehouse of examples of product failures he uses to reinforce his consulting activities out of his office in Ithica, New York. Instead of paying big buck consulting fees, read his book. He gives some good general rules on avoiding disasters. For example, the mistake of the tobacco industry with smokeless cigarettes, a product that appealed only to non-smokers. As a number of people call me with ideas for products for the convenience or health of non-smokers that they hope will be bought by smokers, that part of the book was quite interesting to me. I bought mine for $3.95 plus $3.00 fromEdward R. Hamilton, Bookseller, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000http://www.HamiltonBook.com
• Adventures of an Entrepreneur or War Stories From American Industry byLawrence Kamm, Published by Lawrence Kamm 1515 Chatsworth Blvd, San Diego, California 92107Mr. Kamm is a very inventive highly technical engineer who, from his experiences, draws basic conclusions to which every inventor should pay close attention. He basically learned from his mistakes. Although experience may be the best teacher, it is also the most expensive teacher. Buying this text, and reading it, is a much more economical approach. To quote one of his pearls: "If I have one primary piece of advice for prospective entrepreneurs, it is that marketing and finance are the chief problems for a new business." He gives some very good concrete examples of sales, marketing and advertising approaches that could be invaluable to an inventor trying to sell his invention. This is not a theoretical book. It is very concrete with down to earth examples. He details various mistakes as well as various crooks and deadbeats who cost him time, money, and at least one business. As he said in his conclusions: Many of these stories are about crooks and failures, not about successes: companies started, products developed, sales made and capital gains achieved. Those stories are less dramatic and interesting as literature, but they happen too, and I am here to prove it.... I highly recommend it as a very worthwhile, easy to read book for inventors and entrepreneurs.
• Co-opetition, by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff., New York: Doubleday,1996. Using the PARTS paradigm and the Value Net to analyze businesses and their relationships with one another, Brandenburger and Nalebuff offer a fresh approach to identifying and using business opportunities.
• The Worst Band In the Universe, by Graeme Base. (Review by Christopher Morgan, H&P Engineering) Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 100 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10011. On Planet Blipp, the world is ruled by music, however only the Traditional Songs are allowed; Innovation is a horrible crime. Sounds like one of my previous employers! I found this book at Thinker Toys in Akron around the middle of 1999 and was immediately enthralled. My wife thinks I bought it for Caitlin, my 2-year-old daughter and I still read it to her every chance I get to keep up the facade. This is the story of a young alien that just cannot stop Innovating. Like all Blippians, he loves to sing and play music but he constantly finds himself Improvising when he should not be. This book chronicles his escape from Blipp just ahead of the law and his adventures surrounding an underground band contest, “The Worst Band In The Universe” where the best and most Innovative --and illegal-- music would be rewarded. To me, this is a story of Innovation versus Status Quo and of course my blood boils as I am reminded how easy it is for Status Quo to beat down Innovation. Of course, this is a children’s book, so I dare not give away the ending. To Caitlin, this is a brightly illustrated poem that is incredibly fun to listen to. It opens up a whole new set of experiences; aliens, conflict, petty authority, adventure, and new words. The art work is truly astounding. Find a copy in the nearest library, if only to look at the art work (Read the book, too, while you are there.) Inside the back cover is a CD containing nine of the songs from contest. That CD now has a permanent home in my CD jukebox so my daughter and I can dance to it whenever we want. The music is surprisingly high quality and fun to listen to. Her favorite song is “Alpha 10” but I am hoping she will grow out of it. Why am I including this book as part of an inventors resource web page? The first reason is as follows: Even after reading this book over and over again, it still speaks to a fundamental conflict between “new ideas” and “the way things currently are”. This story chronicles that conflict from the innovator’s view which makes it a must-read for the other people in your life. But it also makes the reader understand the fear and uncertainty felt by the non-innovators and the innocent bystanders. This is a view point I often need to be reminded of. The other reason is... well, scan the rest of the entries on this page. This book is just so much more fun to read!

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