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.
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.
