For us to be successful, we need to understand your needs and deliver technologies that meet your needs. This is the essence of co-creation or synergy. We both benefit from having an ongoing relationship. With this in mind, we want to emphasize our commitment to you, our customer. You are the reason we are in business. Lewis' original idea came from working with people like you — people with a desire to better understand how the IP landscape influences business strategy and decision making. our commitment to you. For us to be successful, we need to understand your needs and deliver technologies that meet your needs. This is the essence of co-creation or synergy. We both benefit from having an ongoing relationship. With this in mind, we want to emphasize our commitment to you, our customer. You are the reason we are in business. Lewis' original idea came from working with people like you — people with a desire to better understand how the IP landscape influences business strategy and decision making. Here at IP Street, we believe you belong on a pedestal. Rather than develop technologies and impose them upon you, we are interested in providing a different model. Listening to you, understanding what you need based on our subject matter expertise, and then providing tools that meet those needs. So far, we have heard that you want a simplification of complex patent documents. You want more than search results, you want visual results that have concrete, real-world significance. You want efficient patent search tools, better resources to patent duration and determining patent value. You want business intelligence from IP that is meaningful and actionable. Are we right? For many of you, based on what you have been telling us about what our product can do, we believe we are. However, we are still listening. So if you have further suggestions and wishes, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Peter Drucker said, "Business has only two functions - marketing and innovation." Here at IP Street, we provide the tools for you to succeed in both.

A utility patent application can be filed provisionally or unprovisionally. The non-provisional application establishes the filing date of your patent application and begins the examination process. Your patent application will be examined by the USPTO. A provisional application only establishes your filing date and expires automatically after one year. You may file a provisional application when you are not ready to enter your application into the regular examination process. A provisional application establishes a filing date at a lower cost for a first patent application filing in the United States. A provisional application allows the term "Patent Pending" to be applied to your invention.

If the complexities of legalities seems simple, you may want to consider becoming a patent agent or patent attorney. If you are a do-it-yourselfer (DIY), you may want to get David Pressman's book "Patent it Yourself" or David Hitchcock's book "Patent Searching Made Easy". If you are like the rest of us, this process does not seem simple. Sure it may cost some money to engage someone to guide you through this process, so you need to carefully consider your innovation in context of (1) is it patentable? and (2) is it a viable business opportunity? It may, however, be in your best interest to learn as much as you can about the system and then hire a competent patent attorney to get the job done. Just think what it would cost to great idea, poorly patented, which may ultimately cost you "like a bigillion dollars in lost royalties or something like that."

Have an idea for an invention or want to know how much your invention is worth? IPstreet.com is a great place to begin. Our tools and resources will help enable you to better understand the world of innovation and the possibilities available to you. IPStreet.com's search tools will help you better understand patent analytics, patent searches and patent duration, as well as much more.