Help for inventors on the Internet

Most people, it's often said, have at least one book in them. And it's probably also true that many people think that if they put their minds to it, they could come up with at least one good invention, as well-a real money maker. Who hasn't marveled at some simple, popular device and thought, "I should have thought of that, it's so obvious." But, if profitable ideas were so easily realized, well, we'd all be Bill Gates.

Truth is, inventing may come easy to some, but commercializing those ideas is an arduous, usually unsuccessful venture. Each week, the U.S. Patent Office issues about 18,000 new patents. But only three to five percent of patents granted become commercial successes. That's because many inventors don't understand business and haven't a clue as to how to sell their brainstorms. That also makes them susceptible to rip-off artists- dubious brokers who charge stiff upfront fees and promise to successfully market ideas.

Now the Internet has come to the rescue. A number of Web sites are available to give inventors-from serious professionals to part-time, garage-shop tinkerers-good, sound advice and information. Topping the list is PatentCafe.com, the brainchild of Andy Gibbs, a successful inventor/entrepreneur He first went online with free information in 1996 as GibbsGroup Inventors' Resources, which was based on his own personal library of data. The site morphed into the commercial PatentCafe in February 1999. Gibbs' revenue streams are advertising and sales of PatentCafe Magazine and other products. It still offers, however, reams of free information. Gibbs brags that, "There is no other site out there with as much breadth and depth, not even the Patent Office's Entrepreneur Magazine, which called it the 'category killer."' The site ineludes patent, trademark, copyright, and intellectual property directories, as well as other information, advice, and community networking.

The Inventors Assistance League, www.inventions.org, is the online extension of a group that's been in business as a nonprofit organization since 1963. The IAL considers itself primarily a teaching organization, and sells a home-study course, but it makes available some online resources for free. And it soon plans to offer cyber courses for budding inventors. Yet another site is InventNet.com, which is also a nonprofit organization that charges an annual membership fee.

Inventors, however, should remember that scam artists also operate online, and they should stay away from brokers who want their fee upfront. As Gibbs says, success in inventing requires learning how business works. "It takes a lot of reading, a lot of research and a lot of hard work."