Patent Attorney and Founder
Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. I’m J.D., here with my co-host Matt. Good to see you, man.
“Good to see you too,” Matt says. “Feels like we blinked and landed in Q2 of 2026.”
It really does. This year is moving.
What This Show Is About
If this is your first time tuning in, the show is built for inventors. We talk through patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, sometimes at a high level, sometimes deep in the weeds. Today’s episode leans somewhere in the middle. Some strategy, some real-world stories, and a few practical takeaways you can actually use.
We’ve got a great guest joining us shortly, Alex Neeb. He joked before the show that he’s “been in diapers his whole career,” which sounds funny at first, but once you hear his background, it turns into a really interesting look at how innovation actually works inside big industries.
Before we bring him on, we wanted to warm up with a couple of questions.
Life Lately
Matt, what’s new with you?
“Not too much,” he says. “Spring finally showed up, so we’ve just been outside more. Walks with the kids, the dog, nothing fancy, just enjoying the weather.”
Honestly, that’s the good stuff. Nothing complicated, just being outside again.
I got out a bit too. Played tennis for the first time this year, which felt great in the moment… and then not so great the next day. My forearm was shot. You forget how many small muscles you haven’t used in months.
But still worth it. I’m hoping to mix in some basketball soon. Ease back into it instead of going all in and regretting it the next morning.
Live Questions & Disclaimer
Quick note for anyone watching live or catching the replay, if you’ve got questions, feel free to drop them in. We’ll do our best to answer them as we go.
Just keep in mind, we won’t be giving specific legal advice here. This is a public forum. If you need real guidance tied to your situation, head over to the website and book a call so we can talk privately.
But if you’ve got a general question, a hypothetical, or something you’ve been stuck on, those are perfect for this format. We actually pull a lot of our topics from places like Reddit and Quora because those are the questions people are already asking.
Trademark Question: DIY or Hire Help?
Alright, let’s start with one from Reddit.
The question is: What are your thoughts on the trademark application process? Is it worth hiring a professional, or is that just a waste of money?
Matt jumped on this one first.
“It really comes down to your risk tolerance and what you’re trying to build,” he said.
And I think that’s exactly right.
If this is a smaller project, maybe a side hustle, something you’re testing out, and you’re okay learning through trial and error, you can absolutely try to file on your own. There are people who do it successfully, especially when things are straightforward.
But if the brand actually matters, if you’re investing real time and money into it, and you see it growing, then it’s at least worth talking to a trademark attorney before you file.
You don’t necessarily have to hand everything over and say, “You take it from here.” Even a short consult can help you avoid basic mistakes that can slow you down or block you entirely.
Because filing isn’t the hard part.
The hard part is:
- choosing the right class
- describing your goods correctly
- avoiding conflicts with existing marks
- and setting it up so it actually protects you later
That last part is the one most people don’t think about.
They assume, “If I get the registration, I’m good.”
But if your application is too narrow, or too vague, or filed incorrectly, you might not be as protected as you think when it actually matters.
Thoughts on the USPTO
I’ll also say this about the USPTO.
People tend to lump it in with other government agencies and assume it’s slow or outdated. But in reality, it’s a pretty strong institution. There’s a lot of experience there, and lately, it feels like there’s some real forward movement.
They’ve been introducing new tools and experimenting with AI to help with things like classifying goods and services. That might sound minor, but it solves a real pain point.
If you’ve ever tried to write a clean goods-and-services description from scratch, you know how tricky that can be. One small wording issue can trigger an office action.
Matt mentioned something interesting too, we might do an episode soon where we take an AI-generated answer to a legal question and break it down live.
Because right now, a lot of people are relying on AI for legal guidance.
Some answers are helpful.
Some are… not.
And the tricky part is they often sound equally confident.
So it could be useful to show where AI does well, and where you still need human judgment.
Patent Question: Making Money from an Idea
Let’s shift to another question, this one on the patent side.
How do you actually make money from an idea? Does it have to be something completely new and groundbreaking?
Short answer, no, it doesn’t.
Most inventions aren’t built from scratch. They’re improvements on something that already exists. A better version, a more efficient design, a smarter way of solving the same problem.
Think about everyday products. Water bottles, phone stands, kitchen tools. None of them were invented once and left alone. They’ve been improved again and again.
From a patent standpoint, your idea just needs to be:
- new
- not obvious
- and useful
That’s the legal side.
But then there’s the business side.
Will anyone actually buy it?
That’s a separate question, and it’s just as important.
We see people mix these up all the time. They focus entirely on getting the patent and only later start thinking about how to sell it.
At that point, they’re already behind.
Here’s a simple way to think about it.
A patent gives you the right to try to make money.
It doesn’t guarantee anything.
You still need:
- a market
- a clear problem
- and a product people want
We’ve seen inventors fall in love with their own idea.
It feels obvious to them. They’d use it every day.
But they never test it.
They never ask, “Would a stranger pay for this?”
That’s the real test.
Friends and family will say it’s great. They’re trying to be supportive.
But the market is honest.
If someone pulls out their wallet, that tells you more than any survey.
Guest Introduction: Alex Neeb
Alright, let’s bring Alex into the conversation.
Alex, welcome to the show.
“Thanks for having me,” he says.
We asked him to walk us through his background, and it turned out to be quite a journey.
He started with a physics degree and, like a lot of people, wasn’t exactly sure where it would lead. That path brought him to Kimberly-Clark, where he began working on diaper materials and manufacturing systems.
From there, things expanded.
He moved deeper into material science, focusing on nonwoven materials, the kind used in disposable products like diapers, medical gowns, and surgical drapes.
Over time, he worked across large corporations and smaller companies, even spending years overseas working on medical applications.
So while “diapers” is the headline, the real story is about materials, systems, and how products are built at scale.
Patents vs Trade Secrets
His exposure to patents started on joint development teams.
These teams brought together scientists and engineers from different companies to collaborate on new products, with the goal of securing shared patents.
That’s where things clicked for him.
Not just the invention, but the strategy.
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was the choice between patents and trade secrets.
Alex explained it in a really practical way.
Not everything should be patented.
Sometimes the smarter move is to keep it secret.
Here’s the key idea.
If someone can’t figure out how your product works, even if they take it apart, then filing a patent might actually hurt you.
Because a patent requires disclosure.
You’re explaining how it works.
In detail.
So now your competitor doesn’t have to guess anymore.
They just read.
Alex gave an example from his world.
Inside a diaper, there are layers, materials, and processes that affect performance. Some of those steps aren’t visible, even if you break the product down.
You can’t see how it was assembled. You can’t see the exact process.
That’s where trade secrets make sense.
He also pointed out another issue.
Even if you patent something, enforcement isn’t always easy.
If it’s a method of making, how something is produced, it can be very hard to prove that a competitor is using your exact process.
You might suspect it.
But proving it in court? That’s a different challenge.
So sometimes the better move is simple.
Keep it in-house.
Protect it internally.
And don’t teach the market how to copy you.
Real-World Enforcement Stories
We asked Alex about enforcement, what happens when patents are actually tested.
He didn’t hesitate.
“Oh yeah,” he said.
He’s been part of it.
Early in his career, he had to analyze a competitor’s product to see if it violated a patent.
That meant physically breaking it apart, testing the materials, and comparing the structure to the patented design.
It wasn’t theoretical.
It was hands-on.
And in that case, the competitor was found to be in violation.
He’s also seen the bigger picture.
Companies losing cases.
Factories shutting down.
Entire operations disappearing within a year.
That’s the side of patents people don’t always see.
It’s not just paperwork sitting in a file.
It’s leverage.
And when enforced, it can completely reshape a market.
Advice for Young Engineers
We asked him what he’d say to younger engineers who find patents frustrating.
He gets it.
The process can feel slow. Technical. Repetitive.
But his perspective was simple.
“An idea can be property.”
That one idea changes how you see the process.
If something you create can be owned, protected, and licensed, then the paperwork starts to make more sense.
He also mentioned teamwork.
He liked having multiple inventors on a patent. Bringing in younger engineers, letting them contribute, giving them ownership in the process.
That part mattered to him.
Because it turns patents from a chore into something collaborative.
AI in the Invention Process
We also talked about AI.
It’s starting to show up everywhere, in drafting, research, even idea generation.
Alex uses it, but carefully.
His approach is simple.
Trust it, but check it.
AI can help speed things up. It can analyze data, suggest alternatives, even help draft sections of a patent.
But it still makes mistakes.
And sometimes those mistakes are subtle.
There’s also the issue of confidentiality.
If you’re entering sensitive information into a tool, you need to know how that data is handled.
Some platforms are designed for secure use.
Others are not.
So you have to be thoughtful about what you share and where.
From our side, we use AI as a support tool.
It helps with efficiency.
It helps clean up drafts.
But the judgment, the strategy, that still comes from experience.
Final Question: Compostable Diapers
Before wrapping up, we got a question about compostable diapers.
Alex said it’s absolutely possible from a technical standpoint.
The real challenge is scale.
You can create a compostable version.
But can you produce it in large volumes?
Can it perform just as well?
And can you sell it at a price people will accept?
Right now, many eco-friendly options cost more and don’t perform as well.
That’s the tradeoff.
But progress is happening.
New materials are being developed. Some perform just as well as traditional ones and are more sustainable.
It’s just taking time to get there at scale.
Alex even said he expected this to be solved by now.
That says a lot.
Some problems take longer than we think.
Wrap-Up
We wrapped things up there.
Alex, really appreciate you joining us and sharing your experience. There’s a lot more we could dive into, especially around strategy and product development, so we’ll definitely have to bring you back.
And to everyone watching, if you’ve got an idea you’ve been sitting on, take a step forward with it.
Test it.
Get feedback.
Think about how you want to protect it.
And most importantly, figure out if people actually want it.
We’ll see you next time.