There is an interesting story behind CFLs. The brain child of American engineer Ed Hammer and other GE engineers in the 1970’s, the team recognized that significant energy savings could be obtained by developing a new light bulb that replaces the incandescent bulb, an energy hog in which only ten percent of the electricity supplied to the bulb is actually turned into light with the remainder of the energy lost mainly as heat.

Unfortunately GE elected to not invest in solving the cost challenges associated with manufacturing the spiral bulb. Approximately 20 years passed when along came Mr. Ellis Yan, a Chinese immigrant to the USA, who started in the 1990′s his own lighting business in China based on the CFL spiral bulb design. Mr. Yan’s business grew and grew becoming the supplier of approximately 50 percent of the CFLs sold in the United States.

In an ironic twist, to address the increasing labor cost in China, Mr. Yan is exploring building a CFL factory in the USA. For the time being it appears that CFL bulbs will be the “green solution” to energy wasteful incandescent lights. Maybe another green solution, measured in employment and dollars, would be to locate the factory in Winchester, VA.

Product packaging must be durable.  Whenever a product or its packaging is damaged, the manufacturer is responsible for its replacement and any profit made is quickly lost.  Plastic clamshell packaging is now commonly used because it’s extremely tough and will safely protect the product within.  Transparent clamshell packaging also allows for visual presentation of the product itself, which is important for communicating the nature and quality of the product to potential customers.  Clamshell packaging also helps prevent in-store theft due to the fact that it’s extremely difficult to open.  This however can be a detriment once the product is purchased – sometimes it’s nearly impossible to extract the product without damaging it or yourself.  Clamshell packaging can also be more expensive then cardboard packaging and leaves little room for marketing information unless it’s made significantly larger than the product. 

Product packaging should in most cases be kept as small as possible.  While it’s extremely important to capture the eye of your buying audience, retail shelf space is at a premium.  Therefore, the message that needs to be delivered on the packaging must be captured in the smallest possible size.  This will reduce the cardboard and plastic used in the packaging, which will in turn reduce the cost to make it and will minimize landfill waste.  An added advantage to reducing the size of product packaging is that it will reduce the size of the master carton shipping container, which again will save money.  

Product packaging is without a doubt a challenge – several requirements must be considered and difficult trade-offs must be made.  The product packaging for NightStar flashlights has undergone over 15 different design changes.  The very first package was a simple triangular cardboard box with a viewing window on one side, but it was crude looking and too large for most retail stores.  At one point a transparent tube was used.  The tube was eye catching and space efficient but was expensive and extremely fragile.  The tube was eventually abandoned for clamshell packaging which worked quite well, however there was a demand for smaller, easier to open, and more environmentally friendly packaging.  Now, NightStar and LightStorm flashlights are packaged in high gloss cardboard boxes and the artwork is printed using bio-degradable ink.  The wall thickness is only .02” and each box is only slightly larger than the lights themselves. After nearly 13 years NightStar flashlights are now contained in a durable, compact, attractive, theft resistant, environmentally friendly and inexpensive package that’s lightweight and easy to ship…and hopefully the only changes that will be made in the future are updates to the artwork announcing unique product advancements and capabilities!

Trademarks have several other distinct advantages over patents.  Perhaps most importantly, trademarks are easy to defend.  If another product uses a name that’s pronounced the same as your product – regardless of spelling, and it has the same classification as your product (for example both products are lighting products) then your trademark has been infringed and the other product will have to change its name.  Another advantage trademarks have over patents is that they’re easier to obtain. Once a trademark has been submitted to the PTO (Patent and Trademark Office), it will probably take a year or less to receive a response.  If a professional trademark search was conducted prior to submitting the trademark, it’s highly likely that the response from the PTO will be favorable and your trademark will be granted. On the other hand, it may take years for the PTO to review and analyze a patent and to ultimately render a determination regarding its validity.  Trademarks are also far less expensive then patents.  The cost of a trademark is around $1400, which consists of an $800 fee for a professional trademark search plus $400 for an attorney to properly complete the appropriate forms and a PTO filing fee of $100 and $200.  By comparison, the cost of a thorough patent search combined with the cost of a professionally written patent document can easily exceed $15,000.  

Trademarks unlike patents however, must be used or they will be forfeited.  A trademark must appear on your product and / or on the product packaging and the trademark must be used within 1 year after receiving the mark.  Trademark extensions can be filed but the limit is typically 6 months to a year.

Trademarks should be considered early in the development of any product because a trademark will impact marketing and manufacturing.  A product’s trademarked name should be easy to remember and it should match an available website domain name – this will greatly enhance all future marketing efforts.  In the world of manufacturing, injection molds and product packaging artwork can only be completed once an available name is found. Jump on it fast and remember that a trademark is one of the most valuable assets your company can own!

Business success is a relative term and each company has its own idea of what it means. The story of Applied Innovative Technologies (AIT) is a classic tale of a few entrepreneurial spirits struggling to sell their paradigm shifting products to the world.  In the end, business success will be reached when their no battery LED flashlights are commonly used in homes, businesses and by military personnel around the planet.  After 13 years AIT continues to strive for this goal, so as you can see business success is elusive!

On the path to business success, AIT has faced and survived numerous challenges.  Perhaps the most severe was technology theft from China.  Few people realize that patents afford little or no protection from technology theft abroad.  The unfortunate truth is that if a product is marketable, it will be copied and unless a company has substantial financial resources, a patent alone won’t stop knockoff products from flowing across the border.   Another unfortunate truth is that the U.S. government has no laws in place to prevent knockout products from entering the country.  Currently, product ideas can be stolen and sold with impunity – ultimately undermining U.S. innovation. In many cases, knockoff products – because of their inferior quality – damage the market’s perception of the product.  This is most certainly true with shake and crank flashlight technology

AIT’s technology was copied in 2003, and since then they’ve been powerless to stop Chinese companies from selling their flashlights in the U.S. In fact, AIT spent a tremendous amount of money battling patent infringement. In hindsight, if this money had been spent on marketing and product development and enhancement, it’s quite possible that business success might have been achieved at this point.  The lesson then is simple; focus on brand recognition and product superiority; don’t even try to battle them legally. 

One might wonder then, why bother getting a patent at all?  The answer to this is three fold.  First, owning a patent identifies you as the innovator and puts you on the high moral ground – you might be infringed but you will not be the infringer!  Second, it adds power to your marketing effort – a patent number or a “Patent Pending” placed on your product, its packaging, and any other marketing material conveys quality to your buying audience. Finally, a patent adds value to your business and can always be licensed to reputable companies who are interested in replicating your product or need the technology as part of some other product they’re developing.

Given the challenges that AIT has faced and continues to face, it’s not uncommon for people to ask “How have you been able to survive?” Often, the founders of AIT wonder this very question.  In the end it comes down to perseverance and a commitment to quality and exceptional customer service.  They also realize that they will only loose if they give up.  As Walt Disney was famous for saying, “Keep moving forward”.