Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Previously frozen beer 10/2/04

Previously Frozen Beer isn't so bad, stumbled upon occasionally, snuck back into the fridge from the freezer by the offending party, who is never to be identified. It's flat beer, better than no beer, and less likely to cause heartburn. That's a good thing in this particular case, because I have that already, despite the acid-reducers. We had a conference call with the Great Big Company ("GBC") yesterday, and I'm hoping that by writing here, it might begin to all make some sense to me, although it's really clear that there is something big we don't know. Looking back, when the Crazy Consultant, pseudo-friend, first came to us (six months ago?) and said he had identified an opportunity at the GBC, we should have been suspicious of our ease of entry, of their seemingly specific direction to us, which all mimicked a viable deal, because, in fact, that probably meant that when they saw what we had, it so strikingly resembled something else they had already bought from someone else, that they teased us, simply to get enough information to be sure they either weren't infringing on our intellectual property or that they were already purchasing a version of the product that was protected by our intellectual property, via a different avenue. I suspect they have discovered that the latter seems to be the case, and have dismissed us, clearly indicating that, despite the fact that we acted under their specific direction for six months, there is no opportunity for us at this time. I'm watching for our product on packaging everywhere, soon. Where do we go now? Does our manufacturer know? I think they do. I believe that our competitor is purchasing our product for the GBC, from a former manufacturer of ours who is claiming to still have a license, a fact that we dispute, but no one will tell us anything. Now, as far as we're concerned, these are all great big companies, and there is no way we can out-litigate even the smallest of them, and this is just one way inventors are forced to give up their patents, because, when the product in question is truly valuable (most are not), this is what happens: a free for all of grubbing greed, with companies losing their heads and grabbing at whatever piece of the perceived windfall, daring the little guy to sue, knowing he can't. So the inventor, if he's lucky, will carefully choose among the players in his field (we have about five), the one that stands the most to gain by owning the portfolio and lets it go, because his family's pain threshold is finally met, and there's nothing else to be done. I've gone back to job-job hunting and sent out a resume last week for one that sounded genuinely interesting and in line with my skill set. Unfortunately, I've had no response, not even an acknowledgement of receipt of my resume, so I guess, that's that. Maybe they're just disorganized? In that case, I might fit right in. I've rejected the opportunity in the pottery studio. It's tempting, to be a studio assistant/teacher for six hours a week (two three-hours shifts) in exchange for my personal use of the studio free of charge, but I can't afford materials, and they're not really set up for heavy production, which would be the only way I could justify the commitment. I'd love to make pots, and it's actually my fastest path to cash, although not *much* cash, but with two kids in college, it doesn't work for me unless it's on a larger scale. I have a little Intellectual Property freelance job, cleaning up some Trademarks, which might buy some groceries in the next week or two, and I'm grateful for it, but it's not the solution, and it does nothing to address the mess that has built up around our patents, almost from the invention's inception. We're hardly speaking to each other, stunned and confused, in separate parts of the house. He's lost himself, dozing in front of a series of college football games, a perfectly noble and historically respected man-activity. I'm writing, and thinking and puttering, trying as hard as I can to see our next steps, but not being able to, finally resorting to looking through the bottom of a bottle of Previously Frozen Beer.

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