Identifying What Has Yet to Be Invented

• Author: Donald S. Rimai
• Profession: Recently retired from Eastman Kodak where he worked as a researcher and intellectual property manager in digital printing and adhesion science
• Pages: 63-75

63

Introduction

Identifying patentable inventions with solutions to problems in hand is suf-

ciently challenging under most circumstances. is becomes even more

challenging, as discussed in Chapter 4, when you have to integrate multiple

solutions to a plethora of problems so that you can develop a coherent pat-

ent strategy. You are now being asked to identify inventions that you do not

yet have, possibly solving problems that you do not yet know that you have.

Why is this necessary and how do you go about achieving this?

Looking forward is benecial for several reasons. First, it keeps you

focused on the problems that face you. e list of problems will change.

Some problems will be solved. Others that may have been anticipated will

not be the subject of R & D. Still others will seem to appear from nowhere.

More oen than not, the problems transition from fundamental tech-

nology building to solving the problems that enable the implementation

of that technology. e reader is, again, reminded not to confuse the terms

“fundamental technology” and “critical challenge”. While fundamental

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Identifying What Has Yet to Be

Invented