I've Got A Great Idea; Inventing, Patenting And Profiting

Way back in 1873, 15-year-old Chester Greenwood was faced with a dilemma: he loved to ice skate, but the biting wind gave him severe earaches. After four years of prototypes and refinements, a 19-year-old Chester patented his "earmufflers," which we today call earmuffs. Chester joined the great ranks of men and women who, throughout history, have used their imagination to create something new and useful (and, in Chester's case, unlike the inventor of the Edsel, his invention is still in use today). Aimed at budding inventors, two new programs take viewers through the many steps of completing, patenting, and marketing a new product.The better of the pair is I've Got a Great Idea. Hostess Janice Hamilton, and a wide variety of interviewees (including inventors, a patent searcher, a patent attorney, and a creative marketing executive) offer inside tips and techniques on the importance of documentation, things to remember when creating a prototype, the three types of patents and how to do a patent search, the patent application procedure, options available for starting a company, getting a good manufacturing deal, the importance of packaging, routes of distribution, getting publicity, licensing options, and quite a bit more. At 121 minutes, the tape offers little in the way of fat or repetition (although attorneys have a way of talking at length in a legal monotone that does force the ear to work a bit harder). Some visual examples of inventions, as well as some on-location shooting, add variety to this mostly talking head program with top-notch production values and an attractive price. The booklet includes a few samples of relevant forms for viewers to copy, and a list of contacts and resources.More expensive and less accomplished is Inventing, Patenting and Profiting, which covers much of the same ground as I've Got a Great Idea but lacks the polish and organization of the latter. Here, host Barry Silverman introduces (while the video cameraperson continually makes adjustments to the shot) several guest speakers from Florida-based businesses whose commentary often sounds more like personal advertisements for their companies than general instruction on a given topic. Some of the interviewees ramble in front of the camera, and the filmmakers appear to be unable to distinguish between good interview footage and poor (not to mention occasionally nonsensical) interview footage. While there is a lot of information included in Inventing, Patenting and Profiting (and, in some areas, it's even more in-depth than similar segments on I've Got a Great Idea), the presentation is weak. Too, during the second half of the tape, Silverman begins to aggressively hawk "Michael's packet," a $24 set of commonly used forms which viewers can order.Neither program offers the guerrilla marketing approach of the much more expensive Don Debelak's Eight Proven Ideas for Taking an Idea to Market (reviewed in our May-June 1993 issue), but I've Got a Great Idea is a better general introduction to the subject with a lot of useful ideas and suggestions, and is highly recommended. (See ANIMATED MUSICAL STORIES & SONGS 4 KIDS IN 3 DIMENSIONS for availability.) Inventing, Patenting and Profiting has good information but a poor presentation, and is therefore not recommended. (Available from: Valentine Video, P.O. Box 545, Mary Esther, FL 32569-0545.)