Our Story
In 2005, I was handwriting a long fax for my boss at work and made a mistake, so I went to the supply cabinet to get a bottle of Correction Fluid. Since we were out of Correction Fluid, I ended up writing the entire fax over again. While re-writing the fax, an idea came to me to have Correction Fluid attached to the top of the pen, so I wouldn't need to go on a scavenger hunt for a bottle of White Out.
A couple of days later, I purchased some supplies to make a prototype of my invention to see if this would work. I was ecstatic when I realized this idea did work and would benefit everyone who uses a pen. Before pursuing a patent or getting public opinion, I performed a search on the internet to see if this type of pen had been manufactured. I was unable to locate anything similar to my idea, so I chose to pursue a provisional patent and promote my invention at the 2006 INPEX Convention in Pittsburgh, PA.
Once in Pittsburgh, the public loved my pen!!! Several people tried to walk away with my prototype. A lot of people had asked "When will this be manufactured?" and "Where's Bic?" After auditioning to be on "The Tonight Show," and doing a radio interview, I returned to Michigan where I was contacted by our local paper.
Evidently, INPEX had sent our paper a press release informing them of my invention. The reporter and photographer thought it was a cool idea as well as many other people throughout the county that knew me and saw my pen in the paper.
Since I had a high positive response with the public, I decided to pursue a non-provisional patent and start submitting my idea to manufacturers. In addition, I tried to get publicity for my pen by submitting the article written about me to talk show hosts such as Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres, and Barbara Walters.
As contacting manufacturers became more difficult and getting publicity for my pen wasn't getting any easier, I came up with an idea to advertise my pen on the Internet. At this point, Invention Park was born.
As the website progressed and I posted my invention along with a few others, I became very excited that this free advertising site would work for not only me but other inventors who had experienced what I was going through.
A few days after posting the pen, I met my attorney at his office to hear the bad news regarding the patent... My patent had been denied. The pen I had developed was already patented in ...1984!!! I was completely speechless... I had spent so much time, effort, and money trying to get this pen off the ground and patented. However, I was informed there was some good news. Luckily, I'm not going to be sued for infringement as the patent expired!! I was rather relieved on that note. I was informed that since the patent expired, I could continue to market the pen but I could not claim it as my own.
After the meeting, I decided I still wanted to continue with Invention Park regardless of the Write and Correct situation. As I experienced over the past two years, patenting, promoting, and maintaining an invention is not a cheap nor easy task.
In addition, I decided to include Kid Inventions and Robotics Teams so they could get the proper recognition they deserve.
I wish all my inventors the best of luck and success by posting your invention with me. I want to help you do well and I certainly hope I can accomplish that for you.
Enjoy the site!
P.S. The best advice I can share with you is to thoroughly research all patents before deciding to put any type of investment into your idea. I learned my lesson in a very expensive way, and I hope this will prevent anyone else from making the same mistake I did. To check for patents, please click on the Links tab.
