Patenting... I'm not unfamiliar with the patent process. As an engineer working for other companies, both as an employee and later as an independent, I've worked with a number of different patent attorneys and have had a number of patents granted. Although far from an expert, I feel I have a reasonable handle on patent claims, and "patentese" in general. So, when we looked at patenting our solar chime, I felt reasonably confident about giving it a try without the help and expense of an attorney.

I bought the book, Patent It Yourself (David Pressman, Nolo Press) and studied it. My brother and I did a patent search at the University of Michigan's Engineering library (734-764-5298). I made my own drawings, and carefully wrote the description and claims. Following all of the procedures as outlined in the book, we sent our application to the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in April 1991. I was pleased with my work and expected to have our patent granted.

In late September, I received my First Office Action -- which rejected all of my claims and told me in 7 pages that my application was no good and why it was no good. I was crushed. And I couldn't even understand some of what the examiner had written.

Back to the book. It seems that having all of your claims rejected is fairly common, and maybe I shouldn't feel so bad. I resolved to get it right when I filed the amendment.

The PTO had cited several patents in their rejection and included copies of them in their packet. I reviewed them and wrote arguments why they did not make our work obvious and how our device differed from everything they cited. I rewrote the description, eliminated some claims, and rewrote others.

The amendment included a request for help in writing one or more claims. The patent office is required to draft claims for a pro se (no attorney) case when the subject matter is patentable but the applicant has not written the claims correctly. After hours of agonizing and rewriting, I sent in my amendment in December 1991.

The following April, I received a Final Office Action from the PTO. Again the whole thing was rejected! Only this time the prior art arguments were dropped. I had successfully argued against the prior art. This time it was rejected because new material had been added and the invention still was not described properly. There was no mention of my request for help, nor was any help offered -- a clear disregard for the rulebook.

What to do? I called SCORE, who referred me to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Wayne State University. They, in turn, referred me to an attorney who consulted with me for an hour at the SBDC's expense. The meeting with the attorney was interesting and could be the subject of another complete column. The result was that I called a patent attorney with whom I had previously worked. He agreed to review my file as a favor and then suggest a course of action.

I felt vindicated when the attorney told me that I had been severely mistreated by the PTO and that he felt confident that, not only was the idea patentable, but that he could get the actions thrown out and get me back to square one with all my original claims.

And he did it. It seems there are two types of examiners. One type will go out of their way to help an independent inventor get through when they know the person is going it alone. The other type -- the type I got -- will go out of their way to get rid of applicants pro se. There had been enough poor work by our examiner that a couple of phone calls to the right people at the PTO put our application back to the beginning as far as office actions were concerned. A few minor tweaks by the patent attorney and our patent was allowed with 12 claims.

I'm glad that I tried to do it myself. I learned a lot, and felt especially good when I learned that the patent would issue virtually unchanged from the way I wrote it. I also saved money because the number of hours required by the patent attorney was considerably reduced by what I had done. However, I imagine the opposite can occur -- a poorly done application could result in increased attorney's fees.

If you decide to patent your invention yourself, be prepared to get involved with a system that is not geared to the independent inventor. Do all of your work carefully, follow all of the rules -- and pray for a friendly examiner!

Noteworthy day... Sun Chimes: That's right, folks. I'm talking about solar-powered chimes activated by natural or artificial light. This combination of art, engineering and musical sound could make Brighton's Technacraft Corp. world famous. Hey, they're already going to Disney World!

"We're going crazy around here," Sandy Tury said Monday after the company received its first order for Sun Chimes from the Florida tourist mecca. That's hitting the big time in the gift business.

I'm betting it's only a hint of big things ahead for Technacraft. Sandy's husband, Edd Tury, an electrical engineer for 24 years, and his brother, Jon Tury, a famous Ann Arbor potter, have created the most unique $50 gift idea I've seen in years.

Since Christmas, Sandy says Technacraft has opened up 83 new accounts, as dealer networks spread across the country. Orders from the first catalog to include the Sun Chimes -- Taylor Gifts -- are pouring in. Sun Chimes will be in the Wind & Weather spring catalog. Etc...

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