Envision is Patent Pending!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been somewhat in awe and fear of the whole idea of creating, submitting and holding a patent. Until about a year ago, the only interaction I had ever really had with patents is that I probably used a lot of products that were patented or, at least, were “patent pending…”
I most often get two comments when discussing the Envision idea, what we stand for and why we do what we do:
- You need to go on Shark Tank
- Do you have a patent?
I’m not sure about the first one, though it would certainly be enjoyable, but had given thought to #2 for the three months during which we launched our core functionality in late May, 2014. Can we patent a swim tattoo, what would it take, has anyone done it before, etc.? I did some VERY basic research, figured out how simple it was to do a basic patent search and re-learned a very important thing…it’s really really hard to come up with a truly original idea.
I spoke with a patent attorney who, along with his wife, operated the swim system at our summer league meets for about a decade (and, coincidentally had asked me if I had gotten a patent) and decided on a provisional. It’s important to understand what a patent it, what it protects and what it might mean if you don’t get one. After a really frank and refreshing discussion, I decided to hold off and, instead, file a provisional patent. In 2011, which became fully effective in 2013, President Obama signed the America Invents Act (AIA). Until then, contested patents were primarily awarded to the entity/individual who could ultimately provide the best proof regarding the “first to invent.” After the AIA, contested patents (and this is a bit of an over-simplification) are awarded to the first inventor to file. A provisional patent, though not a real patent, gives the submitter (us) one year from the filing of the provisional patent to file a full patent and, most importantly, gives the provisional patent submitter “first to file” status.
First and foremost, we’d never have a provisional or a pending patent if not for extraordinary efforts of our CTO, Corey Reil in turning a bunch of scratched out requirements into a real system AND the execution and diligence of our Legal Counsel and Innovation partner, John Humphrey at Humphrey Law in Washington, DC. As Corey codes the systems we use to produce our works, John and I spent hours pouring over existing patents, refining language, diagrams and dissecting the patent application process in order to file our first patent. Will we get it? We’ll see. It takes 6-8 months to go through the process, get an examiner, etc. We’ll keep everyone up to date we find out more. Until then, cross your fingers for us and, I guess we’ll see about Shark Tank…