Generating IP on behalf of clients
The business: The Vital Spark
Lu Papi, a mechanical engineer, specialises in evolving ideas into commercial reality. His business, The Vital Spark, offers this expertise to inventors and corporations:
'We fulfil an idea from the concept stage to the manufacturing stage for a variety of clients. A client comes to us with some preliminary ideas of what they'd like to do and we assess what they've already achieved and what they’d like to do in the long term. Our business is a little strange to describe because we work closely with so many different types of clients.'
By way of example, Lu mentions his company’s project for the US franchise Crime Stoppers: ‘Crime Stoppers needed to create a product to protect a person who was arrested from being recognised, so we worked with them to develop a hood.'
The range of products The Vital Spark has worked with is diverse; it includes chairs for Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, a urine sample jar with a collapsible funnel, batteries for electric cars, and bathroom accessories.
As well as refining designs and working on innovations for clients, Lu has developed some valuable innovations for himself, notably a new type of syringe and a wheelchair.
The strategy: IP is central
'All the work we do involves the protection of intellectual property. We work closely with our patent and trade mark attorneys (Griffith Hack) to ensure that we do the required checks and obtain the necessary protection for our clients', Lu says.
Confidentiality agreements and assignment of IP
'We want to make sure our clients gain the most benefit from the exercise, so we sign confidentiality agreements and assign the IP to them once the work is completed and all money has changed hands.'
Focus on patents from the start
'Before we start work on any new idea presented to us we have our patent attorneys perform a patent clearance search, most importantly to make sure that we don’t conflict with someone's prior rights. However, this also gives us a feel for the patentable features of any new design we come up with. Then, at a fairly early stage in the procedure, we recommend to our clients to have a provisional patent application professionally drafted and filed to establish an internationally recognised “priority date” for the new idea.’
Careful thought at each step in the patenting process
Lu Papi's expertise in the patenting process is demonstrated by his approach when he came up with the idea of a syringe within a syringe.
He described the process to Griffith Hack in order to gain an understanding of the needs of the patent, then he prepared sequential computer schedules to explain how the product would work, as well as a verbal description of the process to be patented.
'But before that we do a lot of research trying to understand what other people have done in the area. We use other people’s IP - not to copy it, but to find the gaps we can fill. People often don’t realise that to ensure their IP is strong you should see what’s already out there.'
The Vital Spark has provisional patents on both its own products, the syringe and the wheelchair. Lu says it probably wont take on the expense of worldwide patent coverage but will protect the IP in the US, Europe and Japan via a patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application.
Last Updated: 24/12/2012
