During the first week of November, 2015, United Patent Research (UPR) attended the SEMA and AAPEX tradeshows in Las Vegas, Nevada. These tradeshows are the most significant automotive product presentation venues held in the United States each year. The President of UPR, Mr. Patrick Ralston, was fortunate to have several meetings with manufactures at these tradeshows. At these meetings Mr. Ralston presented information about inventions devised by UPR clients. If the manufacturer had signed a general non-disclosure agreement (GNDA) Mr. Ralston proceeded to supply details, including drawings, about relevant inventions. A general non-disclosure agreement is an agreement whereby a company promises in writing not to disclose or utilize any information presented to them by UPR unless authorized to do so by the inventor.

The advantage of a general non-disclosure agreement is that a company needs to sign only one agreement promising confidentiality. If a company chooses not to sign a general non-disclosure agreement, UPR first presents a brief written description of an invention’s advantages. A company must then sign a separate non-disclosure agreement for each invention they wish to review in detail. It is therefore much more efficient for a company to sign one general non-disclosure agreement. At the tradeshows Mr. Ralston encouraged the companies he met with to sign a general non-disclosure agreement as this greatly speeds up the process of presenting relevant information.

On November 26 Mr. Ralston spoke with the President of Trillium Worldwide Inc. As the company had previously signed a general non-disclosure agreement, Mr. Ralston was able to present relevant information about several inventions. The President of Trillium Worldwide promised to carefully review these inventions.

At the AAPEX show Mr. Ralston visited the booth of GreatNeck Tools, LLC and presented information concerning several inventions. One of the representatives said that 4-5 of the inventions caught his eye and he will be discussing these products with UPR after the show.

At the Allied International booth, Mr. Ralston met with a Vice President of Sales who said his company was looking for impulse products. He then proceeded to review the products Mr. Ralston presented to him. He will contact UPR if he makes a decision to license any of these inventions.
When visiting the AmPro North America booth Mr. Ralston met with a husband and wife representative team who reviewed a list of relevant inventions. Five to six inventions were selected as being especially interesting. UPR will be providing additional information to AmPro regarding these inventions.

Off to the Rock Tamers booth, Mr. Ralston was surprised to see that this company actually employed a representative to guide people into their comprehensive booth. In the company’s booth, Mr. Ralston met with the National Sales Manager whom he had met at a previous tradeshow. Although this company apparently has a successful, but relatively narrow market niche, the Sales Manager signed non-disclosure agreements for four inventions! United Patent Research will be following-up on this initial corporate interest.

Another promising manufacturer contact occurred at the Wall Lenk Corporation booth. Mr. Ralston made contact with this company at a previous AAPEX show and was glad to meet with them again. This time the company’s representatives indicated interest in a novel soldering gun.

At the Orion Safety Products booth Mr. Ralston rekindled his relationship with this company. Although this company’s area of concentration is safety flares, the company’s representatives said they might be interesting in new inventions related to hunting. UPR will follow-up by sending a list of appropriate inventions to Orion.

At the Tiger Accessory Group booth the company’s representative explained to Mr. Ralston the reason why they are proud of their car cleaning products. Mr. Ralston mentioned that UPR clients have devised inventions in this area and he will be sharing this information with them.

At the K Tool International booth Mr. Ralston received information on who is the appropriate contact person to receive information about new products. UPR will follow-up by sending information to this individual.

One of the advantages of attending a tradeshow is that UPR can make personal contact with foreign companies. Mr. Ralston was pleased to make contact with Who-Rae Australia, LLC. This company expressed interest in items related to car interiors, such as seat covers. Winplus North America Inc. likewise expressed interest in items for the interiors of cars.

Mr. Ralston’s visit to the booth of SP Tools Asia Ltd. was truly productive. The CEO of this company was in attendance and he selected four tool related inventions for further review and consideration. As this company previously signed a general non-disclosure agreement with UPR, they will be provided with details regarding the four inventions conceived by inventors working with UPR.

The visit to the booth of SE Tools likewise proved to be productive. This company has developed many tools for the government and is always searching for new, practical tool concepts. The President of SE Tools was in attendance at the booth and signed a general non-disclosure agreement with UPR thereby allowing UPR to send invention details to them.

At the Schiey Products Inc. booth, in the SEMA tradeshow, Mr. Ralston met with the Vice President of Schiey and presented him with a list of inventions to review. The Vice President said he will carefully review the inventions on our list. Mr. Ralston also had a very productive meeting at the H&S Auto Shot booth in the SEMA show. In this meeting Mr. Ralston presented a list of recent inventions. As H&S Auto Shot previously signed a general non-disclosure agreement, UPR will be able to provide detailed invention information to them.

At the Apex Tool Group booth Mr. Ralston was able to determine that this company is interested in finding new specialty tools with mass market appeal. UPR will make sure that Apex is provided with information regarding this category of tools. When visiting the Astro Pneumatic Tool Company Mr. Ralston was pleased to note that this company showed some initial interest in a unique ratchet. As soon as this company signs an appropriate non-disclosure agreement detailed information about the ratchet will be sent to them. When visiting the Malco Products Inc. booth, the company’s representative told Mr. Ralston that he did not have time to discuss new inventions at the show but would like Mr. Ralston to email him after the show.

Moving on to the SAS Safety Group booth Mr. Ralston was able to get the name of the contact person in charge of reviewing new inventions. At the Ken-Tool booth Mr. Ralston showed the Product Line Specialist in attendance a video regarding a tractor maintenance invention. As Ken-Tool had previously signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding this invention, Mr. Ralston was able to show the detailed video demonstrating how the invention looks and works.

When visiting the Durofix Inc. booth, Mr. Ralston met the National Sales Manager for the first time and presented him with a list of inventions which UPR believes are relevant to Durofix’s product line.
The National Sales Director promised to review the inventions provided by UPR. At the ITW Global Brands booth Mr. Ralston discussed a novel car windshield wiper with the representative as this company sells car windshield wipers. As soon as soon as ITW Global Brands signs an appropriate non-disclosure agreement, they will be provided with detailed information about the new windshield wiper.

In summary, it can readily be seen from the above discussion of United Patent Research’s activities at the SEMA/AAPEX tradeshows this November that there is quite a bit work involved in contacting manufacturers on behalf UPR clients. This activity not only involves concentrated “leg-work” at the tradeshow itself but also considerable follow-up work after the tradeshow. United Patent Research does, however, believe that this tradeshow activity is extremely valuable for the successful licensing of inventions.

The Starla Home Food Canning Lid, invented by United Patent Research (UPR) client Karla B., has received initial manufacturer interest from Progressive International Corporation. Following suggestions from United Patent Research and Universal Licensing, the licensing affiliate of United Patent Research, the inventor mailed an information package to Progressive International Corporation. This company then proceeded to send the inventor their non-disclosure agreement. In order to insure that she was not signing away any intellectual property rights, the inventor sent Progressive International’s non-disclosure agreement to Universal Licensing for review. After review by Universal Licensing’s licensing attorney, the client was advised that the non-disclosure agreement was acceptable to sign. The inventor will be keeping in close contact with Universal Licensing regarding ongoing contacts with Progressive International Corporation. Starla Home Food Canning Lid is a unique jar lid especially designed to safely seal home canned foods such as jams. This lid provides easy and accurate visual confirmation that a canning jar is effectively sealed.

Recently, Mr. Patrick Ralston, President of United Patent Research (UPR), attended the AAPEX and SEMA tradeshows in Las Vegas on behalf of inventors working with UPR.  The AAPEX and SEMA tradeshows are the largest and most significant automotive product tradeshows held in the United States.  By introducing UPR and the products it represents to many new companies in attendance, Mr. Ralston expanded UPR’s already extensive repertoire corporate contacts.  Additionally, Mr. Ralston met with several companies which had agreed to meet with him at the tradeshows.  These meetings were very fruitful has several companies agreed to seriously consider several of the inventions conceived by UPR clients.  Altogether, the tradeshows were a significant success as new manufacturer contacts were established and the pre-arranged corporate meetings resulted in promising manufacturer interest in inventions represented by United Patent Research.

Next Tradeshow: HOMEBUILDER & RENOVATOR EXPO 2015