9,957,909 Things to be Grateful For

Today is the day I can share some very exciting news with all of you.  I never expected to be able to say this in my life, until the day I ran to Lowe’s to try to build an idea that was in my head.  

I have a U.S. patent for the Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented (MISTI)!  It issued three weeks ago. I am overwhelmed and humbled and a 9,957,909  other things I can't even describe.

It has been a long, educational process to get here, and has taken a lot of people many, many hours of work to protect my design, and I took unfathomable financial risks with my family's future to get here, so to say I feel joy and relief would be an understatement. 

Patents like copyrights, exist to protect artists and inventors like me.

Getting a patent is complicated and takes quite a bit of time.  You have to prove the uniqueness of every conceivable part of your product, and it's excruciatingly detailed, and the language used is mind-numbing.  Listening to the patent jargon was like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher.  My eyes have glazed over numerous times over the past two years.

During a lot of the patent pending process, companies gamble that the patent won't be issued, and they make hay while the sun shines by copying your concept. This almost instantly puts a rain cloud over the joy you feel when you introduce a product that everyone loves, and you want to celebrate.  I've been under that cloud for a long time, but I had faith that God had a plan for me.

However, the patent issued, and when it did, I was thankful that two companies accepted my design as unique and graciously withdrew copies from the market.  

We found out during this time that many crafters and consumers don't know the process of how a patent comes together and the meaning behind it. Before all of this, I didn’t either.

We have seen comments like "just change one thing and you can get around a patent." Aside from the fact that things like this are not correct, it's heartbreaking. 

We live in a country that has a process for protecting intellectual property, and I would think that in the creative community, that value would be at its highest, as artists are the most frequent target of copyright violations. Some are even driven out of the art world they love by it - Claudine Hellmuth's story is a sad one.  And this is another sad story of innovative people with a dream not even getting a shot. 

As cardmakers, we've all seen people be upset when someone copies a card design, so imagine how upsetting it is when it's a product you've invested money, blood, sweat and tears in to bring to life.  How would you feel?

I am grateful for the patent.  I'm thrilled, and also a little drained. I will work to educate people on what these things actually mean, and I will help other inventors in this industry protect their rights where I can, as so many wonderful people in the industry helped me over the past two years. I'm so grateful for their support, as well as the support of my retailers. 

I hope, as a community, we can have a shared respect for the incredibly creative people that surround us - and for the investment people make in the products they produce. I hope we can seek and reward the little guys. And I hope we can show each other love and kindness in the process. 

We appreciate the support of all of you and of our retailers since we opened the doors, and to celebrate the patent on the MISTI, we are having a sale.