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Oprah Pay-it-forward IP style

Sub_image_oprahAs you may have heard, in October 2006, Oprah surprised her studio audience with the Pay-it-forward Challenge.  Audience members were given $1000 and had to come up with inspiring and creative ways to help others.  Strange that none of the over 300 audience members touched on one of the greatest gifts you can give another person…intellectual property.  Intellectual property is the gift that keeps on giving sometimes 20 years (e.g. patent) and in other cases more than 70 years (e.g. trademark).  So for those who still may be holding onto Oprah’s $1000 with no clue on how to give it away, I suggest the following:

  • Go ahead and give your best friend a couple of hours of “attorney time.”  This time could be used for patent drafting or maybe even a conference call.  With attorney time, the possibilities are endless.
  • So your brother enlisted the help of a patent attorney to draft a patent application, but ran out of money before filing.  He would really appreciate you paying the filing fee, search fee, and examination fee for a utility patent (attorney fees not included).  Maybe as a bonus, you can spring for a couple of drawings.
  • Your neighbor made it through one office action after another and just last week the Notice of Allowance came in the mail but uh-oh – there is no money to cover the issue fee.  Step right up and pay it for her.
  • We aren’t just talking patents people, why not grab the owner of your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant and offer to pay the filing fee for the federal trademark application for his service mark, “Joey’s Tiki Taco and Salad Stand.”
  • Your cousin has been working very hard on that rap album.  Go ahead and offer to pay the filing fee for copyright protection on his dope rhymes.

Many more examples can be found in the United States Patent and Trademark Office Fee Schedule where the only limits are your imagination and the $1000.

Okay, it may not be providing shoes for needy children or adopting a woman’s shelter, but as Oprah says, “I’ve given away cars and houses and my favorite things, and I can honestly say that every gift I’ve ever given has brought at least as much happiness to me as it has to the person I’ve given it to.”

So if by chance I’m lucky enough to be in Oprah’s audience on her next big Pay-it-forward Challenge, you know the happiness I will be providing….intellectual property.

You may be interested in reading the following related posts:

  1. MECHANIZED DEATH: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY STYLE
  2. AND PATENT DRAFTER AS COURT JESTER
  3. how to lower the cost of obtaining patent protection
  4. ashcroft on DOJ IP taskforce
  5. New Search Tool at FedCirc.us



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Posted by Douglas Sorocco, November 27, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Permalink: Oprah Pay-it-forward IP style
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