The US Patent Process – a Huge Roadblock to American Entrepreneurship and Small Business

CapsulePen (in which I am a major investor) is a brilliant breakthrough product in the pill case industry, but got hampered by the huge cost of the patent process.

CapsulePen (in which I am a major investor) is a brilliant breakthrough product in the pill case industry, but got hampered by the huge cost of the patent process.

I decided to designate January, 2016 as my “rant about something in my blog month,” but I will also offer solutions. I have a series of three such blogs planned for January, this one being my second. Do feel free to link back to my first blog in this series, “My Issues with Corporate Procurement and Supplier Diversity Professionals.”

In this blog I will complain about how the US Patent Process can easily kill and bankrupt a small business. Yes, there are many small business (like my consulting practice or opening a restaurant or boutique store) for which the patent process is irrelevant, but for start-up businesses around a totally new product or invention or process, the patent process can completely ruin them.

I do have some experience as a major investor in an innovative product in the pill case industry. I wrote about it a little in a blog back in September, 2012. By far the largest expense was going through the patent process. I am saddened that as an investor in an entrepreneurial pursuit, that a huge portion of my investment had to go to extremely highly paid patent attorneys making $750 per hour.

CapsulePen (link) received several rave reviews from the trade and business press; too bad the costly patent process hindered it from coming to market.

CapsulePen (link) received several rave reviews from the trade and business press; too bad the costly patent process hindered it from coming to market.

Any process that requires large amounts of high paid attorneys is broken! Yes, major corporations with multi-million or even billion dollar research and development budgets can easily foot $100,000 to push a patent though the process, but this could quickly bankrupt a start-up company. The US Small Business Administration provides support and tools for budding entrepreneurs, but in this area they fall far short. And I have heard members of President Obama’s administration speak eloquently about how small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, yet the US Administration burdens us with this arduous costly process.

So as large companies get bigger and lawyers get rich, small businesses die.

What do I recommend? The Small Business Administration should establish a simpler fast-path cost-effective process that does not require attorneys to complete. And perhaps the SBA can even provide some legal support at no charge to assist start up companies and small entrepreneurs. If small business are indeed the backbone of the US economic recovery, then remove this tremendous road block that only large companies now afford.

Four Quick Points around LGBT Ecomonic Development

Part 2 of a 2-part series around LGBT economic development – including lots of useful links!

In the first part of this series (link to it) I recounted the exciting privilege of participating in the historic first ever US Federal Government Procurement Fair for LGBT Businesses. Now I would like to follow that up with four quick lessons around LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Economic Development.

1) There is a direct tie to strong economic health and eliminating LGBT bullying in our schools. By allowing the demoralization of a segment of our society, instead of bullied children growing up into healthy society-contributing adults, they could be more prone to engage in destructive behavior, thus becoming a drain on our society and economies. (Link LGBT bullying blog) And unaddressed bullies in the schoolyard often grow up into future work place bullies and harassers, negatively impacting business productivity. (Link to blog on this.)

2) LGBT people and other oppressed minorities can build inner strength through fighting this oppression, making them more resilient (hence stronger employees) and more creative (hence becoming successful entrepreneurs.) As an example, in 2013, look for a new exciting and innovative product in the pill container industry to hit the market from the winner of the annual LGBT entrepreneur competition held at the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce conference. (Link here to read about LGBT-owned CapsulePen*)

3) As the world becomes an increasingly interconnected global economy due to electronic connectivity, LGBT equality is now on the forefront within the younger generation of almost every country. These business leaders of the future will be

US President Barack Obama delivers remarks to the Export-Import Bank’s annual conference in Washington DC on March 11, 2010, including discussing his new National Export Initiative. (Photo UPI/Kevin Dietsch)

looking for LGBT friendly products and diversity / LGBT equality training. This is a tremendous exporting opportunity for American Businesses. The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) has already realized this potential by leading global trading missions overseas with LGBT-owned businesses traveling to Argentina and Colombia. (Link to info on 2012 trade mission to Colombia). And these NGLCC-sponsored missions have been endorse by the White House as a key supporting activity of President Obama’s initiative to improve the US economy by increasing our exports. (Link to info on the National Export Initiative.)

4) These first 3 points are coupled with the more well-known strategic diversity initiatives within most major companies: the strong business case for executing LGBT-diversity initiatives. Employee engagement and productivity is improved among LGBT employees within a company, and increased sales revenue can be gained from the highly loyal LGBT purchasing constituency. Link to blog on the business case for LGBT Diversity.

Disclosure – Blog author Stan C. Kimer holds an equity position in CapsulePen.