by Bob DeMatteis, 1999, 288 pages, $29.95, ISBN 0-89529-879-1. Published by Avery Publishing Group.

Since 1987 this author has received 14 patents and has achieved a 100% success rate in developing and marketing them. This is particularly impressive when you consider only about 3% of patents earn any money at all for their inventors. In this handbook he shares his hard acquired knowledge concerning creation, patenting, licensing, manufacturing and marketing.

The author, Bob DeMatteis, offers several opinions that differ from what other writers in the field currently offer. For example, he puts down the need for a business plan if you go the licensing route. He never wrote one and feels that the company licensing your inventions should and will do their own plan. However, getting an honest, unbiased evaluation is good even though potential licensees will want to gather their own facts.

In his chapter on invention strategy, he calls attention to the fact that inventors often fail to grasp that marketing and manufacturing can take 68% to 93% of your time.

In America, he points out, we have a fascination with thinking big. But the key to success is often in thinking small. That is filling a small (niche) market. He notes that it is often the fourth or fifth improvement patent that results in a commercial breakthrough. He notes how the Japanese have applied this principle with great success.

He stresses the importance of customer-driven innovations (CDIs). He lists a dozen areas where the right invention can turn customers on. For example, the environment area is now a hot button area and if you can double the life of a product you also reduce trash by one half.

In the past, a basic design guide was "form follows function". Today he suggests that "form follows emotion". He writes, "Don't kid yourself. People usually buy because the purchase raises a positive emotion". He discusses 14 ways to arouse emotions.

He observes that today's inventors are living at the right time because "in the world of patents, it is well known that patent values have increased 20-50 fold in just the past several years". He explains how the "Doctrine of Equivalence" and the 1997 Hilton-Davis case justify this observation.

Bob disagrees (and explains why he does) with some patent attorneys that feel a provisional patent application should include claims. He is strong on inventors using provisional patent applications, but cites several precautions to observe when doing so. He notes that while many worry about possible interference proceedings, it comes up only about once in 1500 patents filed.

He strongly recommends doing a preliminary patent search. It can save you a great deal of time and money. He stresses not overlooking similar words when searching. As an example, he lists 14 words that may be used in place of an ordinary word like "glue", such as "binder", "conjoining compound" and "adherent".

He takes note of how often inventors endure negative comments from pessimists. Many of his patents deal with plastic grocery bags and their racks and dispensers. Yet people will say, "You can't patent a hole in a plastic bag". They see only the hole and not the function it serves.

The author suggests, like many do, that approaching very large corporations with your invention is very often a waste of time. Their billion dollar research labs haven't come up with it, therefore they can't believe anyone can.

He reminds us that trademarks can grow and grow in value and in time may exceed the value of the patent that inspired them.

He is often asked, in his seminars, as to what is the first thing an inventor should do. He replies that as soon as you can get a marketing expert on your team.

He points out, at least six times in his book, how scam companies, "invention assistance companies", defraud U.S. inventors of 200 million dollars each year. Their ads run on radio and television and appear even in reputable magazines and newspapers. Donald Grant Kelly, a director at the U.S. Patent office, is quoted as describing them as "ruthless highwaymen", "scoundrels", and as a "national disgrace". Their success rate is typically about 1 in 10,000! Avoid them as you would the bubonic plague. Heeding just this one bit of advice may save you between 20 and 300 times the price of this book.