The solution to the bitter war between environmentalists and the logging industry might have finally been realized with a creative innovation from Canada-based Triton Logging Inc. Their new underwater saw capitalizes on the 45,000 forgotten forests that have been drowned through the damming of reservoirs to produce hydroelectric power all over the world.The saw, aptly named the Sawfish, is the first fully submersible saw that can dive up to 1,000 feet underwater, making it a valuable resource in the harvest of about 300 million trees that were previously unreachable. According to a feature on the Sawfish on NBC’s “Today” show, the device provides a ‘green’ alternative for Triton Logging to avoid the many common problems that come along with deforestation in conventional logging. These problems include acceleration of soil erosion, disruption of animal habitats and clear cutting of trees that absorb the carbon dioxide fueling global warming.

Not only does the Sawfish provide an environmentally friendly alternative to on-land clear cutting and deforestation, it does not harm the lake in which it is used. It never touches the bottom of the lake or disturbs the soil. Additionally, according to a “Fox News” report, water readings taken before and after a harvesting project have shown no elevated levels of toxins. This is vital in proving the environmental integrity of the product and its true contributions to the industry.

While the Sawfish’s environmental merits are extremely important, its creative operational elements also deserve discussion. Triton uses maps to determine the location of underwater forests to which they will bring the unmanned Sawfish. The Sawfish is then tethered to a barge from which an operator maneuvers the device. The saw is equipped with eight cameras and SONAR technology that allow the operator to effectively locate target trees.

The actual process of collecting the trees is relatively straightforward. “The remote-controlled Sawfish clamps onto a tree with its five-foot-long pincers, attaches inflatable airbags, and chews through the trunk in seconds with a 54-inch blade,” said Popular Science magazine. The attached airbags pull the logs to the surface for easy retrieval.

A legitimate concern for many interested in purchasing and using this new timber is the quality of the wood itself. Many of these trees have been underwater for decades and one would assume that there must be some amount of damage or decay in this timber. The truth is, said the “Today” show, that the combination of cold water and little oxygen exposure actually acts as a preservative. Aside from increased drying time before cutting, there is little difference between this wood and conventional wood.

Because of the obvious environmental advantages of using this timber, there looks to be a significant market for it. Despite its higher cost, the benefits outweigh the price for many people. Many “green” builders will undoubtedly want to incorporate it into their building plans; ecologically aware consumers will definitely appreciate the use of salvaged wood in homes they purchase. According to The Wall Street Journal, the wood will also be marketed as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional wood at home-improvement stores for those wishing to use it on an individual basis. Concerned consumers will without doubt feel more comfortable using wood they know came from a “green” source.

The market for these 300 million sunken trees will certainly be a significant one, with early profit estimates at around $50 billion. This is a remarkable number considering that these trees were almost unrecoverable and lost forever.

The ideals of lumber companies and environmental groups have begun to mesh with this new innovation from Triton Logging. With the days upon us of increased interest and concern with global warming and the way we treat our planet, a compromise has to be made. We need to realize what is in the true best interests of society as a whole and think more seriously about where we can make compromises that are agreeable to everyone. The introduction of environmentally friendly technology like the Sawfish is critical in these compromises.

John Gerbich is the Staff Writer for IdeaBuyer.com, a marketplace for new technology and products that allows inventors to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. Visit the site by clicking here > Patents for Sale.

When it comes to product marketing, everyone thinks they are an expert, but few can produce results. Why is this so? Most of the problem comes from marketing books, seminars, and courses that detract from the heart of marketing: translating features into benefits. Much of today’s marketing is based on product hype . However, the simple truth of the matter is that people buy things to gain pleasure or avoid some sort of pain. It is critical to understand this as it is the supporting motivation for every purchase no matter how little or large it may be. Think about the last two items you purchased. Why did you buy them? You can boil every purchase down to gaining pleasure or avoiding pain.

That being said, there are four key tips to better connect with your customers:

1) Use terms your customer can relate to, not industry jargon.

This point is illustrated eloquently by Jay Cross of the popular online marketing blog PronetAdvertising.com. In his article “Speak Your Customer’s Language”, he stresses that marketers often become so entrenched in their fields that they believe everyone else knows as much as they do.

“As businesspeople we develop tunnel vision regarding our products. The better parts of our days are spent actively working in our fields. We are more experienced and well-read than most ever care to theorize about. This leads us to use super-specialized language that doesn’t always click with customers. I was as guilty of this as anyone. When I did anti-spyware I was guilty of calling my product a “data-driven Internet security solution” or “gateway threat prevention.” And while these terms do apply in a certain context of knowledge (say, a rival CEO’s), they are outside of the realm of a typical customer’s knowledge base. Now that I’m out of that market I can see it with fresh eyes, including the much simpler terms the common man describes it with.”

The solution to this problem is to discuss your products with people outside your company and outside your market. This is the only true way to learn the outsider’s perspective. Once you get an idea of what this is, you can apply it to the packaging and marketing of whatever product you have to offer.

2) Focus on benefits, not features.

This is one of the most oft-made mistakes in all of marketing. To an extent, this is understandable. When you have spent months or years toiling to create a new product, you are naturally excited about all the little things that make it tick and want to describe them to your customers. The problem, as with the last tip, is that the customers do not share this context of knowledge or enthusiasm. So what is the difference, precisely, between features and benefits?

A feature is what something IS. For example, a 50 number speed dial, or a 6 CD changer.

A benefit is why someone CARES. For example, fewer keystrokes and less hassle changing CDs.

Sadly, Entrepreneur.com notes that “not one in ten companies understands the difference” between features and benefits when it comes to preparing marketing campaigns or materials. For this reason, many well-intentioned marketers stress features over benefits and the bottom line suffers as a result. If you want put your marketing efforts into hyper drive, go over everything you put out with a fine-toothed comb and make sure benefits are top, front, and center. You will be amazed at how much of a difference this makes.

3) Write at a fifth-grade level. Really.

This might sound like we are demeaning your customers, but rest assured that this is not the case. It is simply a fact that most buyers respond better to simple language than complex language. In his book “Meaningful Marketing”, Eureka! Ranch founder Doug Hall notes a study proving this to be so. “Whether it’s the lack of reading done by most adults after high school, the immense information overload people experience, or a little of both, consumers simply shut down when confronted with lengthy tomes. The solution? Read your marketing material to a child in late elementary or middle school. Do they understand your product? If not, what did you need to tell them before they did? Incorporate what you learn into your marketing and you will be astounded at the results.”

4) Know whether your customers are right-brained or left-brained

Most of us are familiar with the idea of diving people into categories of right-brained or left-brained. Right-brained people are supposedly more emotional and impulsive while left-brained people are apparently more logical and deliberate in their decisions. In most cases your customer base will be a mixture of both, but one group tends to outweigh the other. You should make it a point of determining whether most of your customers are right-brained or left, as this can significantly amplify your marketing efforts. For example, left-brained customers will expect fliers and copy with lots of facts, product comparisons, and a clear demonstration of value for the money spent. While this is important to right-brainers too, you are more likely to win their business with enthusiasm and energy.

Running a product marketing campaign with these items in mind will help increase conversion rates on most marketing.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of IdeaBuyer.com, a marketplace for new technology and products that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com. You can visit the site by clicking here > New Technology and Products, Patents for Sale.

Developing a product is when the rubber meets the road, when theory meets practice, when ideas become real. While it would be impossible for any one article to give a blow-by-blow list of specific steps for making every kind of product imaginable, there are some definite principles that can and should be followed. Doing so ensures that your product development efforts result in something far more likely to succeed on the open marketplace.

With that being said, let’s dive in!

Do not get overly attached to your original conception.

Some inventors make the mistake of worshiping their original idea for what the product will look like when it is done. Many do this because they are afraid of becoming like entrepreneurs on the other extreme of the product development spectrum: those who never make any progress because they keep junking the product and starting from scratch. In fact, both of these approaches are wrong. The key to successful product development is to hold true to your idea without being so rigid that you refuse to make rational changes.

For example, let us say you are developing a new kind of water filtration system that is going to put the existing models to shame with its never-before-seen, super-accurate and top-secret filtration technology. In conceiving this new filter, you have decided to make it as an add-on to the sink faucet. That is, it will attach to the faucet and automatically filter water when someone turns it on. But let’s say you come across a questionnaire or focus group. It says that faucet filter sales have been in decline for two years. However, it shows consumers are quire enthusiastic about pitchers that will filter the water they pour into it.

If you are a smart product developer, you will strongly consider adapting your incredible new technology to this method. Refusing to acknowledge this trend and make anything other than what you originally thought of is the kind of stubbornness that kills otherwise great products. Do not let that become your story!

Set realistic deadlines for yourself and adhere to them.

Without deadlines, product development can devolve into endless “do-overs” and “back to the drawing board” sessions that become little more than a sinkhole of wasted time. Of course, a certain amount of mistake and retries are to be expected when developing a product. Trying to eliminate all of them would be impossible. Instead, the goal is to set reasonable deadlines for yourself.

If you are vexed by a particular problem, give yourself a set amount of time to solve it before moving on to the next issue. If you cannot resolve the problem in that amount of time, make a judgment call. Will a few more days suffice? Or is this something you should put on the back burner while you satisfy other pressing demands of developing the product? Prioritizing is key, and learning to do so will be an incalculable benefit to you. It will give your progress a sense of physical reality and keep you anchored to a plan.

Of course, your ultimate deadline should be one for completion: when do you hope to have the product developed by? Impose a deadline on yourself even if there isn’t one. The sooner your product is developed, the faster you can get it to market and begin reaping the fruits of your labor.

Get feedback from those outside your family and friends.

As you develop the product, show it to people at various stages. Collect feedback from them on what they like, what they do not like, and what they would like to see instead. Many inventors forgo this valuable feedback loop because they fear that sense of rejection. No one likes to hear that what they have worked on for months might not be so great after all.

So rather than seek the cleansing of truth, many inventors simply hypothesize to themselves about what people would think about the product. This is completely insufficient. Instead, your goal should be exposing your product to as much critical scrutiny as possible. This means to look outside your family and friends. While they are often concerned first and foremost with not hurting your feelings, outsiders will often be quite blunt about what you should do differently. Far from being a bad thing, this is actually invaluable.

If you show your product at various stages to say 20 people, and 14 of them make the same suggestion that you never thought of, that is an enormous help. You can be reasonably sure that this suggestion is something the people in your market would want as well.

To develop a product, you need to walk the tightrope of maintaining your vision while also respecting reality. By keeping an active mind, you will only strengthen your product and increase its chances for success.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of IdeaBuyer.com, a marketplace for new technology and products that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com.

It is no secret that unprotected, repeated overexposure to the sun will cause skin cancer. More than that, daily exposure to ultraviolet light will cause premature aging and wrinkles. Despite these undeniable facts, many people refuse to easily prevent these problems by following the simple routine of applying sunscreen when they go outdoors; people are constantly putting themselves at risk for serious health problems. With the introduction of an invention from Aquea Scientific, the daily application of sunscreen will be something that is already a part of your daily routine.

California-based research company Aquea Scientific’s flagship product, Aquea SPF, has taken off in the field of cosmeceuticals. This multi-patented creation blends, for the first time, the importance of applying sunscreen with the ease and necessity of taking a shower or washing your face. Through their ground-breaking product they have formulated a way to introduce their sunscreen formula into ordinary body wash, soap, shampoo and facial cleanser. According to the Aquea Web site, it is all-day protection ranging from SPF 2 to SPF 15+, depending on the formula.

Additionally, the introduction of Aquea SPF to soap, according to the Aquea Web site, does not reduce the lathering qualities or functionality of the original product. It does not leave the greasy or oily film that results from the use of many common sunscreens either. This makes the product not only more convenient, but more manageable than traditional sunscreens.

The secret to the functionality of this innovative technology lies in its creative formula and is as easy to understand as the attraction between negative and positive charges. According to a feature on the product in Popular Science Magazine, “Aquea Scientific encapsulates (Aquea SPF) in tiny silica shells and bombards them with protons, giving the silica a positive charge that helps it cling to negatively charged skin.” This positive/negative attraction allows the product to stay attached to the skin through washing and drying. The technology in this formula is referred to as “Wash-On” by Aquea. A visual representation of the science behind the formula’s function can be found on the Popular Science Web site.

Since Aquea does not manufacture soaps or shampoos, they must offer their product to a company that can use their Aquea SPF as an additive for efficient UV protection. The first company to do so was Freeze 24-7 for use in their Ice Shield facial cleanser, offering SPF 15 protection. Freeze has marketed their product highlighting the UVA anti-wrinkle and anti-aging properties of the Aquea technology.

Aquea SPF has been acknowledged as a significant development in the field of cosmeceuticals. With the initial introduction of the product in 2006, the company was recognized by Health and Beauty America and Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine with the Best New Technology award. That was a considerable achievement for a company if its size. “For Ventura’s Aquea Scientific, a private company with about 10 employees, taking the award was equivalent to a small independent film grabbing that Oscar,” said an article in the Ventura County Star newspaper. Further, Popular Science has included Aquea SPF in their Best of What’s New 2007 awards. They were recognized as the grand award winner in the personal health category.

The Wash-On technology used to attach sunscreen to the body through charged particles is not limited to the Aquea SPF sunscreen. It can be used for a variety of active ingredients that are inconvenient to apply regularly, including insect repellent, anti-aging products and anti-acne medications. According to the Wash-On technology Web site, plans are in the works to expand their offerings beyond sunscreen. The future of a Wash-On line of products is extremely promising.

Aquea SPF has been an exceptionally important advancement in cosmeceutical science. Aquea Scientific has employed creative innovation and science to produce a product that appeals to many people looking for quick, easy access to healthy living. The modern world’s obsession with convenience will undoubtedly drive the technology forward.

This article is provided for your personal use by http://www.IdeaBuyer.com. Idea Buyer is the online marketplace for intellectual property and gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and retailers who are looking for new products to bring to market.

Please do not redistribute or reproduce this article without written permission.

John Gerbich is the Staff Writer for IdeaBuyer.com, a marketplace for new technology and products that allows inventors to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. Visit the site by clicking here > Patents for Sale.

One big concern on inventors’ minds is the rampant spread of Chinese intellectual property developments. It seems that no matter where you turn, opportunistic Chinese companies are flat-out stealing intellectual property from American companies, be it in the form of designs, processes, algorithms, or even entire products! Clearly, the rising tide of violations from this part of the world is worthy of some further study.

One prime example of Chinese intellectual property theft is a device called the miniOne. To the naked eye, the miniOne looks identical to the popular new iPhone from Apple, right down to the smoothe buttonless interface. However, the miniOne offers some things the iPhone does not. It runs popular mobile software that the iPhone wont support, in addition to being compatible with every worldwide wireless provider and not just AT&T. As if that were not enough, the miniOne promises to cost half as much as the iPhone and be available to 10 times as many customers.

Now, the troubling aspect of all this is not the additional capabilities this Chinese company is seeking to add. On the contrary, these are all welcome additions to the sphere of wireless technology. The problematic element is simply the wholesale theft of the iPhone’s design and aesthetic properties, the “grifting” of its style, and applying it to a separate product as though it were their own.

But the intellectual property violations do not stop at iPhone clones. Vehicles are another prime target for cloning and cheap resale by Chinese entrepreneurs. Take the Laibao, for example. It’s a small SUV that would pass to any casual observer for a Honda CR-V. Indeed, many in the automotive industry speculate that the engineers at Laibao simply copied the CR-V, virtually part for part, in creating their own car. Or take the Geely Meerie, a carbon copy of a Mercedes C-Class. All the style and sophistication of Mercedes for a fraction of the price: 120,000 yuan, or $15,000 US dollars to be exact.

However, the problem of cloned vehicles is made most clear by the “sweet spot” of the Chinese market; vehicles that sell for around $5,000, which is just a bit shy of the typical middle class Chinese family’s income. When it comes to this segment of the market, the Chery QQ is top, front, and center.

The QQ is a part-for-part clone of a car known either as the Daewoo Matiz or the Chevy Spark. (The actual car is a joint venture between General Motors and the Korean company Daewoo.) In fact, Sparks are sold worldwide. In the United States, an upgraded $10,500 version called the Aveo is cheaper than any other car available. This helps explain the astonishment of American officials when the rock-bottom priced $5,000 QQ first surfaced on the marketplace in 2003. The shock and awe of Congressman James Sensenbrenner (Wisconsin) after a 2004 jaunt to China sums it up:

“If you didn’t have name tags on the cars, you couldn’t tell them apart. It’s such a good knockoff that you can pull the door off the Spark and it fits on the QQ, so close that the doors match right up.”

Clearly, the complete and shameless cloning of other companies’ products for cheap resale is an alarming problem in the IP community. To understand all the developments that led up to the present state, it helps to analyze the history of IP theft in China. In fact, the problem evolved through several distinct stages on its path to today’s frightening condition.

Chinese industry did not become capable of piece-by-piece cloning overnight. Far from it. A report from consulting firm A.T. Kearney segments the growth of China’s clowning prowess into five separate periods. The first period was the 1980’s, marked by primitive, fragmented efforts to produce cheap textile knockoffs like t-shirts. Few were alarmed at this point because the violations in question were trivial. The second period ocured during the 1990’s. Clothing and accessories were the primary focus of this period as well, but with a twist: high-quality merchandise fakes from Reebok and Nike began to flood the market and gain acceptance by budget-minded westerners. By the mid-90’s, Chinese copycats had moved from simple trademark infringement to low-end tech wares: things like Duracell batteries and DVDs.

From this springboard, says the study, an era of “advanced technology piracy” was launched. Difficult-to-detect knockoffs of Callaway golf clubs, counterfeit auto safety class, and other products appeared beginning in 1998. And by the new millennium, Chinese piracy had become so adept at cloning that they successfully duplicated Intel computer chips, Viagra sex tablets and Bosch power tools.

One practical way that Chinese cloners go about their actions is using “ghost shifts.” That is, a factory contracted out to make authentic goods moves to a 24 hour operation, during which it pumps out copies. Some may be made with inferior materials, others are made properly, but all are destined for sale on the black market: from midnight until morning. The only problem with ghost shifts was that they could not run full time. To solve this problem, developers began in the mid 90’s to build shadow factories – entire plants identical in composition and function to the original, often created from the very same blueprints that actual manufacturers used to launch. Using these and other tactics, the Chinese are literally siphoning American brainpower and innovation into their own pockets by way of making cheap knockoffs.

Clearly, this is a serious problem that anyone involved in intellectual property would do well to be mindful of. Chinese IP violations could create a whole host of adverse incentives for inventors if the problem is not addressed.

Luckily, there are still reliable Chinese Manufacturer representatives out there that can help inventors and companies take advantage of the pricing benefits that Chinese manufacturing can offer. However, be sure to conduct due dilligence to protect yourself from predatory manufacturers. Request references from their current clients and ensure that all of your proper documentation is in place. Ideally, try to find an American manufacturing representative (US Citizenship) that is on site in China. This typically reduces much of the friction in doing business overseas.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of IdeaBuyer.com, a marketplace for new technology and products that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com. You can visit the site by clicking here > Patents for Sale.

Selling Your Patent

Selling your patent outright is a quick and easy way to exit with cash in hand. It is a “take the money and run” strategy, something one would do in recognition of the fact that thousands of patents produce no wealth and it is prudent to take the early payoff if one can get it. This reality cannot be stated enough. Most patents produce nothing; in fact, some inventors toil for so long trying to find a market for their idea that the patent expires! By selling a patent outright, you avoid this outcome and ensure that you gain at least some reward for your efforts.

Selling a patent is also an attractive option for serial inventors; that is, those who intend on developing many more ideas to patent and pursue. Anyone who does this knows that it is an expensive business. Supplies, living expenses, legal costs, and other items make the creative process a rewarding but costly endeavor. By selling a patent, you can generate some quick capital to pay these expenses and/or fund the development of other ideas. This way, your operations become more self-supporting as you rely less and less on savings or income from your day job.

That said, there are some potential drawbacks to selling. After all, if your patent protects a new or unproven idea, the patent buyer probably wont want to spend a ton of money for it. It would simply be too big a gamble. Then again, what if it becomes a huge hit? More concretely, what if you sell your patent for $10,000 and it generates $10,000,000 in profits for the new owner? This is a very real possibility that you must reckon with before selling. For many people, this possibility is enough to scare them (irrationally) into rejecting perfectly good offers and holding onto their patent indefinitely.

However, you can and should make this decision intelligently. Think long and hard about your idea. Is it so innovative, so groundbreaking, so over-the-top revolutionary that it is going to redefine an industry? Or are there similar products out there for sale already? In the former case, you might want to hold on to your idea or hold out for a higher sum. In the latter case, however, you should reason that you might make money or you might not. You should take the sure thing: ie, sell the patent if someone makes an offer.

(It is worth noting a potentially lucrative alternative to selling: licensing. Licensing your patent grants exploitation rights to a licensee in exchange for royalties and performance options to ensure the licensee acts to make the patent a success for you. For a more in-depth explanation of patent licensing, see our article on the subject.)

How do you actually go about selling your patent? Several options exist, and you should choose the one that best matches your strengths and resources.

One way to sell your patent is through direct contact. Very simply, you would make a list of manufacturers and potential users of your product. A good place to start is the Thomas Register, which is available in most public libraries and on the Internet. It has contact information for thousands of companies across hundreds of sectors. The Yellow Pages are another solid resources in this regard.

When you do make contact with a firm, you want to present yourself as a Product Developer, not a mere inventor. This exudes an air of professionalism that established companies prefer. Then, request a face-to-face meeting with a Sales Manager or Product Manager within the company. Now, a word of caution is in order. You only want to schedule such a meeting if and when you have secured a patent for your idea. Otherwise, you have to ask the company to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements which they are unlikely to sign for standard business reasons. Therefore, a patent is your best (and often, only) means of selling your patent through direct contact methods.

Another option is to attend trade or invention shows. Here, you will encounter companies or people interested in your product and potentially buying it. Generally, it helps to have secured a patent here as well, if only because it would be easy for an interested party to run with your idea him/herself.

If neither of these options suit you, you can also advertise in trade journals or inventors’ magazines to scout out potential buyers for your patent.

In closing, selling your patent is a potentially lucrative way of capitalizing from your invention. If you have secured the patent already, you are in prime position to market it to interested parties and evaluate potential buyers in your quest to profit from your labor.

Eric Corl is the Founder and CEO of IdeaBuyer.com, a marketplace for new technology and products that gives inventors the opportunity to showcase their intellectual property to consumer product companies, entrepreneurs, retailers, and manufacturers. You can email him at EricCorl@IdeaBuyer.com. You can visit the site by clicking here > Patents for Sale.