Saint-Gobain Crystals

Dear Bill,
I'm writing to update you on the impact BasicIP and your work has had on our business. Since you and I first talked in June, 2007 we have made tremendous progress. I was skeptical at first, but when you asked me "well, what is your IP strategy?" and I didn't have an answer, it was apparent that you would be able to help us. Our progress, based on your help, has been to generate several hundred invention disclosures through three invention workshops and to file patent applications on approximately 15% of those disclosures. We are more conservative than you advocate right now on how many applications we are filing (the bar is set high right now), so in other businesses the file/disclosure ratio could be much higher. This is a fantastic improvement over the average annual disclosure rate of 5-10 per year over the prior five years and 1-2 patent applications per year over the same time period. The current statistics exceed all expectations.

 

The workshops you facilitated allowed us to explore exciting ways to generate disclosures, like through gaming strategies and team discussions. We have been able to identify a decision process and have now started discussing IP as a business strategy. IP is now part of our business culture and will continue to grow in the coming years. With your advice, we have also developed monthly working sessions and have an active IP committee. Your coaching to us has been great, not too heavy but to the point and always spot on. This has created excitement for IP in our organization.

 

BasicIP's invention disclosure model has been fundamental in our progress. I hope that you will have the opportunity to ignite IP passion in other Saint-Gobain businesses going forward. It has been a lot of work as you foretold in 2007 but well worth the effort.

 

Les beaux esprits se rencontrent.

John Frank
Director of Engineering
Saint-Gobain Crystals

 

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HP LaserJet

Bill brought a fresh new, broad perspective to the litigation efforts in which I saw him participate. He effectively utilized his business background, data mining expertise and legal/technical skills to quickly identify effective new litigation strategies and tactics. Excellent teamwork skills allowed integration of his inputs/efforts with those of other litigation team members. His contribution was the major deciding factor in achieving a successful outcome in at least one litigation case that could have cost our company hundreds of millions of dollars.

Jim Hall HP 

LaserJet R&D Manager 

Boise, ID

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Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics

Dear Bill and Bob,

I first heard about BasicIP after seeing an internal report on intellectual property that listed the number of patent applications filed and invention disclosures recorded by several operating divisions. One division’s numbers really stood out, in fact, I fell out of my chair seeing their stats. I always thought that I paid close attention to IP, but clearly others were now doing something different and I wanted to know why and that’s when I learned about BasicIP.

I called the Engineering Manager of the division that cranked-out all of that IP and asked a lot of questions. I was obviously skeptical that cajoling people to submit invention disclosures could lead to more and better intellectual property protection. At the end of that phone call I was at least convinced to try the experiment in my division and with the division’s IP attorney we set-up two sessions with Bill and Bob.

First, Bill, you make it easy to set-up a session : no hassles, no fuss, a low energy process. You are clear with your instructions and everything lines-up with a little bit of work from a few people.

The day of the first session went without a hitch. From a group of approximately 40 people over 200 invention disclosures were received. The second session was even better when about 30 people recorded almost 250 inventions. In two days the division had more invention disclosures than had been submitted in the previous 10 years combined!

What about the quality of these disclosures? Historically the division was converting ~ 35% of invention disclosures into patent applications. After reviewing these 450 +/- disclosures, nearly 25% are considered strong enough for patent applications and business decisions are now being made to choose which should go forward. The numbers are incredible and impressive.

And if other businesses are like this division, how IP is handled will need to change. The volume requires new, streamlined decision making. We did not allow the old process to dictate the pace of decision making – new processes were created, a few on the fly, just as you suggested – thank you.

BasicIP’s process works. We’re working with the both of you to set-up a third session. I can’t give a better reference than telling others that our relationship continues because we are very satisfied with the results.

Frank J. Csillag
Director, R&D
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics


  • “It only takes a spark to start a forest fire. BasicIP is the spark for IP forest fires.”

    -John Frank
    Director of Engineering
    Saint-Gobain Crystals



“Our experience at HP was that Bill increased the number of patent applications submitted by our engineers by at least 20X while improving their quality and strategic alignment with our business."

-Jim Hall, LaserJet R&D Manager, Hewlett-Packard.


"When I was at IBM I thought I'd seen every brilliant intellectual property strategy possible. When I landed at HP I found Bill Meade's breakthrough 'inventshop' capture process, and brought it to Carly Fiorina's attention. Inventshop became the foundation of HP's intellectual property strategy and subsequent rise in US patent ranking. Don't let your patent attorney's telling you 'This is impossible!' stop you from taking advantage of BasicIP's breakthrough process."

-Lee Caldwell, former VP
and Chief Technology Officer Hewlett-Packard Corporation.

 

Results speak for themselves
Invention workshops helped HP's US patent ranking rise from 18 to 3.

 

“BasicIP helped me get my hands around the strategic IP my team needed to be creating. In one session, we brainstormed, identified
what was important and completed invention disclosures. To accomplish all of this in a day was truly amazing.”

-Shell Simpson, System Architect, Hewlett-Packard

 

 

 

 

 


It pays to listen…
BasicIP Invention Workshops
"This is a great way to get your IP clean—and venture capitalists want really clean IP. iCapture! workshops enable entrepreneurs to attack intellectual property capture without wasting time or money."

-Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director Garage Technology Ventures

 

"Bill and Bob from BasicIP were instrumental in materially re-invigorating our intellectual property approach. In one day, they led us through a process to refine our IP strategy and capture 66 inventions from 6 inventors. I can't say enough about how efficient and effective Basic IP's approach was for us. If anyone has questions about how BasicIP has been able to help us, I would gladly spend a few minutes and give you the details."

 

-John Fordemwalt, President & CEO Baseline Inc.