If you want to build a business, then do so by being better than your competitors, not by using a "big" stick.
My interests lie in developing new products, methods and ideas. That is what I do best and I have been doing it successfully for many years. Companies paid me good money to be on their R&D team. They also benefited significantly from my innovations and patented ideas.
Building a better business than the competition requires skills I am not very proficient at. i.e. marketing, leadership, business savvy and of course good people skills, like you pointed out. People tend to gravitate towards their strong skills and things they enjoy doing.
Me using a "big stick" are your words and interpretation. I do not use a "big stick" but offer others a reasonable arrangement to use my patents. Kind of like someone wanting to buy a car. You negotiate with the car dealer, agree on a price, make the payment and drive the car away. If someone simply came to the lot, picked a car and drove it away without paying that is not right and it is called stealing. Same goes for intellectual property (patents). You seem to have a hard time understanding that. A patent is intellectual property whether you agree with the validity of the patent of not. You can challenge the validity or how you use it in court but until the patent is determined invalid by the USPTO, it is valid and you are obliged to license it to use it. If you don't, the consequences can be as severe or more than the person stealing a car.
The hardship I was referring to is the same kind of hardship the car dealer would have in the example above. The car dealer has vested his time and money in selling cars. When someone comes and steals his cars, the owner will have hardships. Same with me. I invested much time and money in my intellectual property and when others use it without some agreed on compensation, I loose out. There is no ROI.
I hope this makes sense and clarifies things. I do appreciate your sincere comments.
LOL - Yes maybe we should have a talk with those Red Light camera operators. They certainly meet the requirement of "informing" the participant - with a ticket and a fine. Good one.
Hi Anonymous, I, the US Patent Office and hundreds of photographers have searched high and low for the past 15 years to find some prior art. There isn't any.
Most of my friends thought in 1999 my ideas would never be successful. It was a gutsy move on my part and my wife thought I was "crazy" to start a new business where people would actually search for their own pictures (hence "PhotoCrazy" for the company name). I learned HTML programming and some machine code on an RV vacation trip to Canada with the family that year. I composed most of my PhotoCrazy website on the way back while the wife was driving the RV.
We had four little kids to feed and it took all of my savings and a lot of hope to launch PhotoCrazy. I operated in the black from the get-go. Sweet.
One of the patents even covers advertising on a photo, like no one even thought of that before 2010...
That idea was conceived around 2004 and again I applied for patents at that time. I saw the handwriting on the wall with all the digital cameras and cell-phone cameras that selling photos online would quickly fade away. As of 2014 all of our photos are free on our website - check it out (www.photocrazy.com). We are slowly building a list of sponsors who pay us to advertise on the photos. We hope that advertisers will pay enough to significantly cut or even eliminate the registration fees for the sporting events as well. It will be a win-win scenario for everyone.
Yes, you are right, advertising on amateur sporting event photos was novel and unique in 2004 (you got the year wrong).
We are currently negotiating license agreements for these newer patents with several very large companies. These companies recognize the value of intellectual property. Battling things out in court is an absolute last resort where typically no one wins.
BTW, I have other innovative methods and products for the event photography industry right around the corner. I hope to be selling those new products in the next few months and several major companies are anxious to see demonstrations. Yes, of course, a key product is already patented by me and I am sure someone will come along and belittle it.
If you want to build a business, then do so by being better than your competitors, not by using a "big" stick.
I wish I had the know-how of building a big business. I don't but I love to innovate and come up with new ideas. Been doing that all my life. Most of my past innovations/patents (see LinkedIn bio) landed me a lunch with the company president and a $500 bonus.
It wasn't until I started out on my own in 1985 that I found the joy of running my own company. In 1999 I came up with some novel event photography ideas. I applied for a patent because they were so unique and changed the event photography industry overnight.
My licensing expectations are reasonable with anyone and most of our licensees continue doing business as usual. I have no interest in stopping anyone from doing what they love (event photography is a work of passion more than financial gain).
When I do finally finish my design and development (including testing), the entirety of the work will being going into the public domain...
Hey, great for you. However, I had four little children, a wife and my in-laws to consider. Event photography was my sole income and the reality dictated that when I lost business there was less food on the table. I was and still am a one man show. I developed some automated camera equipment (http://www.photocrazy.com/RCS/RCS.html) that gave me an edge over competitors like Capstone with 400 photographers on their team. When Capstone and others who were using my patented ideas started taking contracts from me I became a bit more aggressive to enforce my patents. Capstone send photographers 4000 miles into my backyard and took business from me.
Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. My strengths are innovations and I am the first to recognize that I am not so good at marketing and business development. Does that mean I should develop ideas for others to be successful with and no reward for me? Of course not, they can share some of their success with me by licensing my ideas. I would expect nothing less if I were to use someone else's ideas to make some money or built up a business. Intellectual property is just as real as real property.
That may be your perspective but we have found that the large companies (Brightroom, MarathonFoto, etc.) usually focus on wanting to do the right thing. The right thing is to obey the law and negotiate a reasonable license agreement. Legal battles are the last resort and generally no one wins.
Being told to pay up 'or else'....
Not so, I haven't and don't anticipate threaten anyone. Generally I want to negotiate a reasonable license agreement that makes sense for their business. With Capstone, I spoke with Michael Skelps (President of Capstone) in 2008, sent him a non-threatening email to explain my situation and contacted him again in 2011. He snubbed his nose at me, didn't respond to my email or phone calls and continued to infringe. In 2010 I was issued another patent and within months he infringed on that as well.
Legally speaking I cannot threaten anyone but I did decide to file a claim against him after carefully reviewing his none-response and blatant actions.
Patents are suppose to be used to protect unique ideas/inventions and reward those that come up with them. If several people, when presented with a given problem/situation, come up with identical or similar solutions, that sounds a lot less like 'unique' and more like 'common sense'.
Interesting you should mention this. As soon as I published my website on the Internet in 1999 many others did come up with similar websites. I noticed that most of them had copied my webpages (often not even changing the name PhotoCrazy in various sections) and duplicated my efforts but of course claiming it was their idea. Back in 1999 many of my friends never thought my approach would be successful.
At the time what I did was novel and unique. I believe I sparked the idea and the rest of the world ran with it. Kind of like the "Post-It" craze. Putting glue and paper together and changing the world. Why didn't I think of that?
When you look at my LinkedIn (see my bio) you will see that I have been an inventor most of my life. There is nothing sweeter than to develop something that you can make a living with. That's what America is all about. I learned early on, that patents can protect your innovations. That's part of America too.
I have been for the past 15 years and continue to actively make my living by taking event photographs just like Capstone Photography. I developed some techniques in 1999 that streamlined the event photography process over the methods used since the 1970’s. These techniques were patented and the USPTO issued those patents to me in 2006.
These patents have stood up against all efforts to show prior art or invalidate them. Many event photography companies including the largest in the industry have licensed with us.
We made attempts to contact Michael Skelps, the President of Capstone Photography several years ago. He never returned our calls and continued to infringe on our patents. Capstone Photography contracted with events in our county here in CA and took business away from us. It caused us hardship while Capstone Photography boasted in being the largest event photography company in the country.
Capstone Photography may assert their process is obvious or different and outside the scope of our patents but our attorneys have determined that Capstone Photography infringes on my patents and Capstone’s Attorney has so far not demonstrated to us how their processes are different and outside the scope of the patents.
I was issued additional patents in 2010 and once again Capstone Photography blatantly infringed on those patents and caused us hardship. The details are described in our claims against Capstone Photography.
I find it interesting that many photographers like Mr. Skelps vigorously defend the copyright laws that protect their pictures from being used for commercial gain by anyone else. However, Mr. Skelps does not seem to recognize patent laws that protect intellectual property like the patents he is blatantly infringing on.
We are reasonable in our licensing expectations and settle for fees that have virtually no effect on our licensees doing business as usual. Generally the infringers have to overcome an emotional or pride issue of accepting that someone invented and patented “their” idea. Usually the amount of attorney fees reaches a pain threshold that forces the infringer to settle. Frequently the infringer will then face maximum, even treble damages and the plaintiff’s attorney fees.
The problem comes in when someone tries to avoid licensing with us and we have to file a lawsuit. According to the latest AIPLA survey, litigating a patent case with damages under $1 million by a 1-3 person firm averages $255,000 just to get through the end of discovery, and $623,000 dollars to take the case through trial. (2013 AIPLA Econ. Survey, p. I-133). Mr. Skelps from Capstone Photography has retained a major law firm (http://onellp.com/ ) in Los Angeles with at least 20 attorneys.
Generally infringers are unaware that the inventor has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and many man-hours developing the patented idea. Marketing research, software and hardware development plus the cost of patent applications and executing the patent through the USPTO are all very costly.
I am very sorry to see Mr. Skelps head down the path he has chosen.
I immigrated to the United States after narrowly escaping from Communist East Germany in 1960. I am a law abiding citizen trying to build a business and raise a family. I expect others to obey the laws of this land as well. Mr. Skelps has caused me hardship by infringing on my patents. I would also expect a bit more respect from forums members. It is far too easy to ridicule and make disparaging remarks about a person before you get to know them and understand them.
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
Re: Re: Re: Re: The other side of the story
My interests lie in developing new products, methods and ideas. That is what I do best and I have been doing it successfully for many years. Companies paid me good money to be on their R&D team. They also benefited significantly from my innovations and patented ideas.
Building a better business than the competition requires skills I am not very proficient at. i.e. marketing, leadership, business savvy and of course good people skills, like you pointed out. People tend to gravitate towards their strong skills and things they enjoy doing.
Me using a "big stick" are your words and interpretation. I do not use a "big stick" but offer others a reasonable arrangement to use my patents. Kind of like someone wanting to buy a car. You negotiate with the car dealer, agree on a price, make the payment and drive the car away. If someone simply came to the lot, picked a car and drove it away without paying that is not right and it is called stealing. Same goes for intellectual property (patents). You seem to have a hard time understanding that. A patent is intellectual property whether you agree with the validity of the patent of not. You can challenge the validity or how you use it in court but until the patent is determined invalid by the USPTO, it is valid and you are obliged to license it to use it. If you don't, the consequences can be as severe or more than the person stealing a car.
The hardship I was referring to is the same kind of hardship the car dealer would have in the example above. The car dealer has vested his time and money in selling cars. When someone comes and steals his cars, the owner will have hardships. Same with me. I invested much time and money in my intellectual property and when others use it without some agreed on compensation, I loose out. There is no ROI.
I hope this makes sense and clarifies things. I do appreciate your sincere comments.
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
Re: Running Red Lights as a Sporting Event
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
Re: There must be some prior art
Hi Anonymous, I, the US Patent Office and hundreds of photographers have searched high and low for the past 15 years to find some prior art. There isn't any.
Most of my friends thought in 1999 my ideas would never be successful. It was a gutsy move on my part and my wife thought I was "crazy" to start a new business where people would actually search for their own pictures (hence "PhotoCrazy" for the company name). I learned HTML programming and some machine code on an RV vacation trip to Canada with the family that year. I composed most of my PhotoCrazy website on the way back while the wife was driving the RV.
We had four little kids to feed and it took all of my savings and a lot of hope to launch PhotoCrazy. I operated in the black from the get-go. Sweet.
One of the patents even covers advertising on a photo, like no one even thought of that before 2010...
That idea was conceived around 2004 and again I applied for patents at that time. I saw the handwriting on the wall with all the digital cameras and cell-phone cameras that selling photos online would quickly fade away. As of 2014 all of our photos are free on our website - check it out (www.photocrazy.com). We are slowly building a list of sponsors who pay us to advertise on the photos. We hope that advertisers will pay enough to significantly cut or even eliminate the registration fees for the sporting events as well. It will be a win-win scenario for everyone.
Yes, you are right, advertising on amateur sporting event photos was novel and unique in 2004 (you got the year wrong).
We are currently negotiating license agreements for these newer patents with several very large companies. These companies recognize the value of intellectual property. Battling things out in court is an absolute last resort where typically no one wins.
BTW, I have other innovative methods and products for the event photography industry right around the corner. I hope to be selling those new products in the next few months and several major companies are anxious to see demonstrations. Yes, of course, a key product is already patented by me and I am sure someone will come along and belittle it.
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
Re: Re: The other side of the story
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
Re: Re: The other side of the story
I wish I had the know-how of building a big business. I don't but I love to innovate and come up with new ideas. Been doing that all my life. Most of my past innovations/patents (see LinkedIn bio) landed me a lunch with the company president and a $500 bonus.
It wasn't until I started out on my own in 1985 that I found the joy of running my own company. In 1999 I came up with some novel event photography ideas. I applied for a patent because they were so unique and changed the event photography industry overnight.
My licensing expectations are reasonable with anyone and most of our licensees continue doing business as usual. I have no interest in stopping anyone from doing what they love (event photography is a work of passion more than financial gain).
When I do finally finish my design and development (including testing), the entirety of the work will being going into the public domain...
Hey, great for you. However, I had four little children, a wife and my in-laws to consider. Event photography was my sole income and the reality dictated that when I lost business there was less food on the table. I was and still am a one man show. I developed some automated camera equipment (http://www.photocrazy.com/RCS/RCS.html) that gave me an edge over competitors like Capstone with 400 photographers on their team. When Capstone and others who were using my patented ideas started taking contracts from me I became a bit more aggressive to enforce my patents. Capstone send photographers 4000 miles into my backyard and took business from me.
Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. My strengths are innovations and I am the first to recognize that I am not so good at marketing and business development. Does that mean I should develop ideas for others to be successful with and no reward for me? Of course not, they can share some of their success with me by licensing my ideas. I would expect nothing less if I were to use someone else's ideas to make some money or built up a business. Intellectual property is just as real as real property.
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
Re: Re: The other side of the story
That may be your perspective but we have found that the large companies (Brightroom, MarathonFoto, etc.) usually focus on wanting to do the right thing. The right thing is to obey the law and negotiate a reasonable license agreement. Legal battles are the last resort and generally no one wins.
Being told to pay up 'or else'....
Not so, I haven't and don't anticipate threaten anyone. Generally I want to negotiate a reasonable license agreement that makes sense for their business. With Capstone, I spoke with Michael Skelps (President of Capstone) in 2008, sent him a non-threatening email to explain my situation and contacted him again in 2011. He snubbed his nose at me, didn't respond to my email or phone calls and continued to infringe. In 2010 I was issued another patent and within months he infringed on that as well.
Legally speaking I cannot threaten anyone but I did decide to file a claim against him after carefully reviewing his none-response and blatant actions.
Patents are suppose to be used to protect unique ideas/inventions and reward those that come up with them. If several people, when presented with a given problem/situation, come up with identical or similar solutions, that sounds a lot less like 'unique' and more like 'common sense'.
Interesting you should mention this. As soon as I published my website on the Internet in 1999 many others did come up with similar websites. I noticed that most of them had copied my webpages (often not even changing the name PhotoCrazy in various sections) and duplicated my efforts but of course claiming it was their idea. Back in 1999 many of my friends never thought my approach would be successful.
At the time what I did was novel and unique. I believe I sparked the idea and the rest of the world ran with it. Kind of like the "Post-It" craze. Putting glue and paper together and changing the world. Why didn't I think of that?
When you look at my LinkedIn (see my bio) you will see that I have been an inventor most of my life. There is nothing sweeter than to develop something that you can make a living with. That's what America is all about. I learned early on, that patents can protect your innovations. That's part of America too.
On the post: Guy Claims Patent On Photographing People In Races And Then Selling Them Their Photos; Sues Photography Company
The other side of the story
These patents have stood up against all efforts to show prior art or invalidate them. Many event photography companies including the largest in the industry have licensed with us.
We made attempts to contact Michael Skelps, the President of Capstone Photography several years ago. He never returned our calls and continued to infringe on our patents. Capstone Photography contracted with events in our county here in CA and took business away from us. It caused us hardship while Capstone Photography boasted in being the largest event photography company in the country.
Capstone Photography may assert their process is obvious or different and outside the scope of our patents but our attorneys have determined that Capstone Photography infringes on my patents and Capstone’s Attorney has so far not demonstrated to us how their processes are different and outside the scope of the patents.
I was issued additional patents in 2010 and once again Capstone Photography blatantly infringed on those patents and caused us hardship. The details are described in our claims against Capstone Photography.
I find it interesting that many photographers like Mr. Skelps vigorously defend the copyright laws that protect their pictures from being used for commercial gain by anyone else. However, Mr. Skelps does not seem to recognize patent laws that protect intellectual property like the patents he is blatantly infringing on.
We are reasonable in our licensing expectations and settle for fees that have virtually no effect on our licensees doing business as usual. Generally the infringers have to overcome an emotional or pride issue of accepting that someone invented and patented “their” idea. Usually the amount of attorney fees reaches a pain threshold that forces the infringer to settle. Frequently the infringer will then face maximum, even treble damages and the plaintiff’s attorney fees.
The problem comes in when someone tries to avoid licensing with us and we have to file a lawsuit. According to the latest AIPLA survey, litigating a patent case with damages under $1 million by a 1-3 person firm averages $255,000 just to get through the end of discovery, and $623,000 dollars to take the case through trial. (2013 AIPLA Econ. Survey, p. I-133). Mr. Skelps from Capstone Photography has retained a major law firm (http://onellp.com/ ) in Los Angeles with at least 20 attorneys.
Generally infringers are unaware that the inventor has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and many man-hours developing the patented idea. Marketing research, software and hardware development plus the cost of patent applications and executing the patent through the USPTO are all very costly.
I am very sorry to see Mr. Skelps head down the path he has chosen.
I immigrated to the United States after narrowly escaping from Communist East Germany in 1960. I am a law abiding citizen trying to build a business and raise a family. I expect others to obey the laws of this land as well. Mr. Skelps has caused me hardship by infringing on my patents. I would also expect a bit more respect from forums members. It is far too easy to ridicule and make disparaging remarks about a person before you get to know them and understand them.
FYI:
http://youtu.be/2_tKbYysS8k
http://youtu.be/zvXVPctP2jQ
http://www.amazon.com/Because-I-Can-Paul-Coope r/dp/B0029J3Z2A
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