Worst of all, I've received calls at home from several of these companies. They lecture on moving swiftly, being aggressive, having faith in my idea-propaganda designed to loosen my grip on our savings account.

But that's all right. Maybe they received a call of their own. Michael Blommer, executive director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, advises us that the Federal Trade Commission is in the process of investigating several of these firms as our story goes to press.

THE PROCESS
Maybe you do have an idea that's going to revolutionize the way we fish. And we certainly don't want to squelch it. Before your idea can go anywhere in the marketplace, however, it has to be painstakingly researched. It's possible -- though extremely unlikely -- it hasn't been thought of before. Herb Reed, the inventor of the Slug-Go soft-plastic stickbait, said he once "invented" a new hook style only to discover it had been patented 50 years before.

Even before researching the idea, disclose it to a patent attorney before anyone steals it or "invents" it after the fact. Or just run with it.

John Peterson, owner of Northland Fishing Tackle, says no lures in the Northland lineup have patents. "Patents might be a good tool and nice to have, but they're costly and time consuming," he said. "Get a patent and you spend the rest of your life trying to enforce it. I'd rather trademark the name and spend my resources filling the demand for the product before other manufacturers can cut into the surplus."

Joe Hall, president of Blakemore Lure Company, Inc., has a trademark on the Road Runner jig because "a trademark is easier to defend. The McDonalds Golden Arches are trademarked. Other restaurants can use arches in their logo, but not if they're confusingly similar to McDonalds' arches," Hall states. "Others have tried to copy the Road Runner and we've stopped them because it's fairly easy to prove that a design is confusingly similar to ours by having any impartial witness compare them in court.

"To be honest," Hall continues, "1 see no need for a trademark or a patent, in most cases. In fact, most new lures are not patentable because they've appeared before or are too similar to other lures. If you have an idea for a new product, first make certain you're not infringing on someone else's patent or trademark. If you are infringing, you're throwing away money. You can be in business several years before discovering you're infringing on someone a half continent away."

To be certain you aren't guilty of infringement, you need a patent search and a trademark search. As illustrated, trusting invention-marketing firms alone to research the originality of your idea might be a mistake. Do some research yourself, like checking every available catalogue, warehouse, tackle shop, and tackle manufacturer to make certain your idea isn't already on the market.

If you phone these places, don't tell them you have an invention. Their eyes will glaze over. Describe the product and ask if they have anything like it in stock.

Don't worry about their stealing it. In this business, public relations people are a long way from research and development. And it takes R&D light years to get anything new past management.

Go through every catalogue available that might carry an item like yours. Scan the shelves of department stores and sporting goods outlets in areas where the idea would be most practical. (In other words, don't look for lobster traps in Iowa.) When you've gone at least that far without finding a similar product, it's time to go back to your attorney. Your troubles are just beginning.

Malewicki reiterates that, "It costs thousands of dollars to get a patent. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently raised its fees by 69 percent. And patent attorneys, even at the low end of the scale, cost thousands more." And because businesses are now flooding the same office with applications for trademarks, that process is becoming quite spendy as well.

Can you proceed without an attorney? Risky business. Laws, remember, are written by lawyers. They guarantee themselves a comfortable living by making it difficult to engage the bureaucracy without them. And the bureaucracy itself frowns on unassisted individuals applying for patents.

Continued - click on page link below.