Patent Attorney and Founder
I am J.D. Houvener, an owner and managing partner here at Bold Patents Law Firm. I want to introduce our guest today. He is an employee here at Bold Patents, and it’s a real honor to have an employee be brave enough and creative enough to want to come on and do a show like this. He is Cody Mac, an advisor, and he is the first voice a lot of our inventors get to speak with. So, if you’re thinking about getting started, maybe you’ll get a chance to talk with Cody Mac. I am just blown away by how personable he is and how well he takes care of our clients. I want to give people a feel for who we are, and it’s important to showcase this in this age of virtual communication, especially during COVID.
Cody, I just want to bring you on to have you share what it is that you do. Do you mind walking us through what you do on a day-to-day basis?
On a day-to-day basis, I really have the pleasure of talking to anywhere between eight to sometimes 15 new people every single day. It’s really exciting because I get to hear the full spectrum of things. People are just getting started, maybe they were scrolling through Facebook, have an idea for an invention, and they’ve never explored this before. They don’t know anything about patents yet; they’re just getting started. They give us a call, and we get them set up with some basic resources, get them off on the right path. One of the most challenging things, especially for people in that part of the spectrum, is that there’s so much information out there. Our whole thing here is trying to make it easy for people who are just getting started. If I put myself in their shoes, maybe I’ve got a full-time job, and I’m nervous about getting started.
So, the people you talk to, would you say the first-time inventor types, do they have a prototype, or do they have a company started? How far along are they, or do they need to be to really get things rolling?
That’s one of the things that I find to be very broad as far as what people come to that session with. Some people are kind of in that old mentality where you need a patent, prototype, or a functioning device before talking to an attorney. We sometimes have to break the news to people that it might not be the most effective use of their time. They might want to talk to an attorney before spending countless hours and hundreds of dollars working on a prototype. They might talk with JD or Tom and find out that it might not qualify for a patent. Breaking this tough news sometimes ends up saving them a lot of time and money. People actually appreciate that when they come overprepared or they’re preparing in the wrong direction, and we’re able to steer them back. It all depends on their goals.
So, that’s where we start the conversation – with their goals. Some people just want a patent for internal satisfaction, to hang it on their wall. Others are trying to make a million bucks with a viable piece of technology, and they want the right guidance to maximize the return on their investment in getting a patent. It starts with establishing the goals for the inventor, and then I can understand what direction they really want to go. There are many ways to take this path, and I get to feel like I’m a part of helping people get what they need to achieve their visions, build their dreams, and get their product to the market with success, sometimes at a greater scale than they ever imagined. Getting to sign them up with qualified attorneys and being a part of that process has been the most amazing thing. It’s a fun and good job, but it’s really cool that I get to be a part of something too.
Thank you, Cody. It was really cool to have you share your experience with me and the community here. So, I just want to say thank you for coming on. Thanks, everybody, for watching. [Music]