Every week, The Competitive Insight lists the Utah patents and trademarks pursued by Utah businesses and individuals.  These filings are insight into the competitive landscape here in Utah.  They allow you to see what people are doing well, and what people are doing poorly.  Perhaps it will even give insight into an underserved niche.  I'll be giving recognition to the most interesting ones that come across my desk.  Here's my favorites from this week.

Patent of the Week

7,297,785

Unique chromosomal sequence of Bacillus anthracis and methods of making and using thereof including real-time PCR assays

Elizabeth Bode, Frederick, MD; David A. Norwood, Jr., Thurmont, MD; William J. Hurtle, Dugway, UT

United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC

The U.S. Army has developed a real-time assay to figure out if Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) is present.  Personally I wouldn't want to wait weeks for a test to come back to see if that dust was chalk or deadly Anthrax.  I also wouldn't be very happy with a test that would come back and tell me that there was a positive result for Anthrax or similar bacteria.  I'd want answers now!  Looks like the Army delivers.

Trademarks of the Week

TOTAL BLENDER	K-TEC, Inc.	Orem, UT
WILL IT BLEND?	K-TEC, Inc.	Orem, UT

This company isn't kidding when it says that its product is the "total blender."  They've put a lot of stuff in the blender that I have never ever considered:  an iPhone (o.k. - maybe with all the hype I had considered this one), bic lighters, a can of spam.  They've also done a great job in the guerilla marketing department.  Their "will it blend" videos have a viral sense to them.  Top it off with these trademarks that capitalize on this powerful blending idea and you've got yourself a competitive advantage.  Check them out at Will it Blend.

Bonus Trademark of the Week

THE MOST IMPORANT ASSET IS YOUR CREATIVITY

BATEMAN IP LAW GROUP, P.C.

Salt Lake City, UT

Granted, this is a trademark registered by my firm.  It stuck with us though because creativity is now the most valuable thing most companies have - and if you don't protect it, it is not an asset.  If you do not believe this, look at how many companies on the Fortune 500 were not there 20 years ago.  Also look at how many companies on the Fortune 500 20 years ago are either no longer around or are virtually unheard of.  It is all about creativity.  The Yellow Pages were once a must have for law firms to get new work - second only to referrals from clients.  Today, less than 10 percent of our cold calls found us in the Yellow Pages.  All of this is because a couple of college students found a way to made a better directory (online of course) - and make $ billions in the process.

Another good example - Friday I bought a SD card (about 0.5 sq. in.) with 2G of flash memory for $29.00.  That is about 100 times the capacity of the hard drive of the first laptop I got for about $1500 when I started practicing law 14+ years ago.  I can now take 500 pictures for about what it used to cost me to shoot and process two rolls of film.  Even better, I can simply delete the numerous shot I screw up and simply retake them until I get them right.

It is a great time to be an engineer, scientist or patent attorney.