Franklin Allison Cresee

“ CHAPTER IV HOW TO ARRIVE AT THE VALUE OF A PATENT
Most inventors are not concerned so much about the fame or honor their inventions will bring them, or how much their inventions will advance civilization, or build up a nation, or administer to the conveniences and pleasures of mankind generally, as they are about how much it will net them in dollars and cents; but the patentee should not lose sight of the fact that the profits are in the exact proportion to the actual usefulness of the invention, and its general adaptability. ”

“ The original conception and working out of an invention is usually a labor of love on the part of the inventor: having perfected his invention in every detail, he finds able and skilled counsel waiting to prepare and prosecute his application for patent before the Patent Office Examiner. When the patent is allowed or issued, the patentee's real work begins—that of turning the patent into money. This is the business end of the inventor's work, which is generally to his interest financially to undertake himself, or to have under his immediate supervision. ”

“ Every well-informed person knows that a monopoly is the desideratum of business men. The monopoly or protection of an industry afforded by the patent laws is, perhaps, the one monopoly that directly benefits the world. ”

“ That there is a demand for inventions of merit which can be readily disposed of at a reasonable profit to the inventor, there can be no doubt. There perhaps never was a time in the history of our country when the demand for meritorious inventions was so great as the present. The conveniences of mankind, in all his varied vocations and callings, require continual changes and improvements in the apparatuses and implements used in order to save time, labor, and expense, and to keep pace with the never-ceasing progress of civilization. ”

“ To make the merits and importance of an invention publicly known is, in many cases, one of the best ways of bringing about the introduction and sale of a patent. If the inventor has a patent on an invention that manufacturers or others want, and can make its merits and superior qualities known to them, negotiations will soon follow. There is no way for patentees to place themselves in communication with prospective investors quite equal to an advertisement in the proper medium. ”

“ Patentees should not, of course, undervalue their patents, or accept the first small offer made for fear of not receiving another; at the same time, they should not fall into the common error of asking a price that cannot be obtained, which too frequently precludes all chances of a sale. Many business men would rather lose the patent than waste their time constantly dickering about an unreasonable price. ”

“ The day for obtaining enormous sums or fortunes from the sale of a patent outright is past; at present to realize any considerable amount, the patentee generally has to share in the risks as well as the profits, unless the invention is very highly developed, and even then he cannot expect to get as much out of an outright assignment as he could by sharing in the success of the invention commercially. ”

“ If the patentee has a really good invention, often he cannot do better than to retain the patent and work it himself, in case he has the ability to do so. If he cannot conduct the manufacturing alone, he may be able to secure a partner with just sufficient funds, and equal common sense and business acumen, to add the necessary elements to the firm to achieve success. ”

“ It may be said, as a general thing, there is more money in small inventions than in larger ones, from the fact that they can be easily manufactured anywhere with but little outlay of capital; they usually fill a general need, and the profit derived from their manufacture is large, besides the patent is more readily disposed of; while with larger inventions it requires more money and ability in handling the patent, and the invention must be unusually promising to justify the erection of a plant costing thousands of dollars for its manufacture. ”

“ In conducting the sale of patents, the greatest difficulty is most frequently experienced in getting manufacturers or others sufficiently interested to look into the merits and possibilities of the invention. If the inventor can get the parties to actually consent in their own minds to the proposition of taking up the invention, the question of terms and conditions can soon be arranged. Until the parties solicited can see beyond a doubt that there is large profits in it for them, the price of the patent is out of the question ”

“ The early filing of an application may turn out to be important in securing to the inventor his right of priority. When the inventor comes to exhibit his invention, with the idea of bringing it to the attention of the public in general, there is no question that he should then have his invention in the best form he can, and in as attractive shape as possible. ”

“ There are thousands of patents, many having merit no doubt, which have never been sufficiently brought before the public to test their merits, effect their sale, or manufacture; this in many instances is owing to incompetency, or bad management on the part of the patentee or his agents. There are thousands of other patents that do not prove remunerative because they do not supply a real want, while still others are such slight improvements upon existing inventions that they necessitate such narrow claims, which render the patent of little or no value. ”

“ If the patentee is dealing with a manufacturer it is well to point out not only the possible advantage he may have by securing the control of the patent, but also the possible loss that his business may suffer by allowing one of his competitors to obtain its control. ”

“ Undoubtedly, the best and most practical method of ascertaining the value of any invention which is susceptible of being manufactured on a small scale is to have a limited quantity of the articles manufactured—say five hundred or a thousand—and try the experiment of introducing them in a small territory; that is, in a certain county, city, or town, taking great precaution in selecting a person who is capable of carrying forward the business in a business-like manner. ”

“ Experience teaches that it is usually advisable to accept any reasonable offer made for a small right, even if it does not come up to the patentee's estimate of its value, as he has plenty of other territory left, and may lose much time and money in finding another in the same territory willing to pay more; besides, the purchaser of such a right may, by his energy and good judgment, advertise the invention in such a way as to greatly benefit the patentee in making further sales.
Some patentees employ good and reliable special agents to travel and dispose of the patent rights ”

“ There is no way of so easily creating a favorable impression and gaining the interest in an invention as by a neat and perfect working model of the invention. Man never loses the child-love for toys, andp. 53 a perfect miniature machine of any description will attract more attention than one of full size. With a model the inventor has the full and immediate attention of his prospective purchasers at once. If the patentee, or his agent, intends visiting manufacturers, or to sell the patent by territorial rights, he will find a model of his invention almost indispensable. ”

“ Unless there are a great many manufacturers in the line of industry to which the patent relates, and unless the invention has real merit so that it will be readily adapted by the manufacturers, the patentee cannot hope to realize any considerable amount from selling shop-rights alone. As a general thing, patents for mechanical inventions can be disposed of to better advantage by other means, or by selling shop-rights in connection with other methods; for example, if the patentee was selling his patent by territorial grants, he might grant shop-rights in such territory as he has not sold ”

“ Generally speaking, it will not be hard to find a party willing to advance sufficient means to promote an invention which is protected by a patent for a certain percentage of the net receipts arising from its manufacture, sale, or territorial grants, and the patentee will probably find a person among his own acquaintances who will not only be glad to furnish the means necessary, but also be of value to the patentee in realizing from his invention. ”

“ The best and safest way for the patentee to guard against having his patent tied up is to bind the parties to do certain things in the way of pushing the sales, making the necessary tools at their own expense, and commencing its manufacture within a reasonable time, paying an advance royalty, or annexing some such condition to the agreement by which they will be the loser should they fail to push the inventor's interests. ”

“ Value of Record of Invention.
Inventors, while working on a complicated machine, should not overlook the value and importance of keeping a record of the progress of the development, illustrating it with sketches, signing and dating them with each new addition, and, when practical, having it witnessed by one or more persons. ”

“ An inventor who has ample means can secure his patent and proceed to turn it into money without the necessity of being compelled to solicit financial aid from anyone. This, unfortunately, is not generally the case with inventors; indeed, many are often barely able to stand the expense incident to taking out the patent. Patentees laboring under this disadvantage are frequently tempted to part with a small interest in their patents for the sake of securing sufficient funds to carry on the promotion of their inventions and sale of the patent ”

“ Should an inventor defer the filing of his application until his invention is fully developed as regards the detail construction and arrangement of the parts? The best opinion seems to be in favor of the prompt filing of the application. The final form of the details can best be determined by the manufacturer and expert machinists and designers, who appreciate the matter of economical manufacture, which is quite as essential as the efficiency of the device or machine. ”

“ The safest course for an inventor is to file his application for a patent as soon as his invention is complete in its principal features, so as to conform to the requirement of the Patent Law that an invention be sufficiently complete to be theoretically operative. ”

“ Business men, it may be said as a rule, do not think very much of an invention which the inventor has abandoned to others to negotiate, moreover the personal push of the inventor is, in nearly all cases, essential to the successful termination of a sale. ”

“ It is immaterial whether the inventor himself intends to deal with the public, or to deal with a man or set of men who are afterward to deal with the public, the conditions are the same, and the profits must ultimately come from the sale of the manufactured article. ”

“ The public is not wholly to blame for this, as in recent years there has been a class of men who have canvassed the country with patent rights, not caring what representations they made so long as they were able to effect a sale; consequently, many people have been lured into purchasing patent rights for a small territory which in many instances were worthless or not as represented, causing them to be more or less skeptical of all patents, as well as to bring this manner of selling patents generally into ill repute. ”

“ Were it not for the protection and monopoly offered inventors by governments, for a certain number of years, to disclose their inventions, inventors would simply keep them secret, or if used at all, would do so only in such a manner as would prevent the world at large from learning of or utilizing them, thus debarring the public as a whole from their benefits. This monopoly in patents has had much to do with the material progress of the world during the century just ended. ”

“ Invention is sometimes called the "genius of the poor," and it is a singular fact that there are a greater number of inventions made by men and women of limited means than by those whose wealth, education, and other advantages would seem to have especially fitted them for success in a field dominated so completely by "brains." ”

“ Scientific American The Weekly Journal of Practical Information THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, founded over sixty-seven years ago (1845) , has become to-day the official organ of those people who really do things, and want to know what others are doing; it is for the one whose whole business success depends upon these great mechanical, chemical, electrical and engineering achievements, which are rapidly and surely making this nation. ”