Are you new to the invention process? If so, register today for the fifth event in the Successful Inventing series, presented by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Licensing Executives Society - Silicon Valley Chapter (LES-SVC). This event will be hybrid, so you can attend virtually or in person at the USPTO's Silicon Valley Regional Office in San Jose, California.
During the fifth session focused on product development we will address the following topics:
- The job of product development is to obsolete the competition
- Product design versus product engineering
- Most companies simply design products. Good companies manage product development, leading to a complete product. Better companies sell it before they make it. The best companies develop products that supplant the competition.
The panelists for this event include:
- Jeremy Losaw, Director of Engineering, Enventys Partners
- Kerry Mellin, Founder and Co-owner, EazyHold
- William Seidel, Principal, America Invents LLC
- Nitin Shah, Principal Innovator, MITRE Engenuity
- Ken Tarlow, President, Tarlow Design
- Larry Udell, Founder and Chair Emeritus, LES-SVC
The Successful Inventing series covers various aspects of the invention process. Each monthly session is held virtually. Participants will hear experts discuss topics that include intellectual property (IP), creating a prototype, licensing, funding, and more.
A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation. Please send your questions in advance or during the event to western@uspto.gov.
For more information, please email western@uspto.gov.
Speaker bios
Jeremy Losaw, Director of Engineering, Enventys Partners
Jeremy Losaw is the Director of Engineering at Enventys Partners, a full service product development and launch agency in Charlotte, NC. He has 20 years of experience in engineering and guides product development programs for inventors, startups, and established firms from napkin sketch to production in diverse market sectors like IoT, connected home, consumer goods, and sports protective. He holds more than 10 patents and his products have launched at CES, successfully funded on Kickstarter, and appeared on Shark Tank. He is the co-founder of Sak Labs which developed a novel infant carrier and was runner up at Startup Bus 2018.
Jeremy is an established writer and speaker and contributed more than 200 articles for Inventors Digest magazine about prototyping techniques, new technology and IoT. He is a board member of International STEM League and has won numerous US Government grants to do Innovation and IoT trainings in the Dominican Republic, Namibia, Italy, and Thailand.
Before joining Enventys Partners, Jeremy served various roles in NASCAR. He served as race engineering for Robby Gordon Motorsports before helping Toyota Racing Development to build the first ever driver training simulator for NASCAR teams. He holds an M.S. Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University and a B.S. Mechanical Engineering from Union College (NY). He is a former Searles Middle School Geography Bee Champion and once hit 2 home runs in one game in Little League.
Kerry Mellin, Founder and Co-owner, EazyHold
After a 35-year career designing for the motion picture industry, Kerry Mellin discovered a lack of accessible aids to enable people to be active through physical adversity. She is the Founder and Co-Owner of EazyHold.com. This is a simple silicone handle that attaches to any object, enabling people with grip injuries, disabilities or limb differences to independently eat, drink, groom, play sports, music, hold toys & tech.
Kerry established 40 distributors worldwide and the products are used in over 15,000 care facilities, hospitals, and special education classrooms. As one of the top selling products, Kerry is recognized by Amazon 2019 Top 6 Women-owned Small Businesses, Amazon 2022 Opening Key Note Address, UNICEF Universal Design 2023, and EazyHold is included globally in university curricula as well as cited in academic textbooks on ‘Instructional Basic Assistive Technology Application and Procedure.
William Seidel, owner of America-Invents, LLC
Mr. Seidel is an authority on the marketing of innovation, an expert witness, and his company scouts for innovations to fill market gaps. He changed home monitoring by developing the first baby monitor, improved food storage with marketing the Food Saver, and revolutionizing the Las Vegas soil industry with soil inoculants. From toys and games, to environmental breakthroughs, and universally effective disinfectants, he has created millions of dollars, developed thousands of products, and executed hundreds of license agreements. On the education front, he is a Mentor at UC Davis, former Adjunct Faculty at UC Berkeley and lecturer at numerous universities and conferences. He has the experience of what sells in the retail aisles, what works in the corporation, the laboratory, and the classroom.
Nitin Shah, Principal Innovator, MITRE Engenuity
Nitin J. Shah is an inventor, innovator and strategist, with experience in technology development, corporate and product strategy, marketing, and business development.
Currently, Nitin is a Principal Innovator at MITRE Engenuity, a not-for-profit tech foundation for the public good, and is based in Silicon Valley. He was architect of a proposal for the National Semiconductor Technology Center, in support of the CHIPS Act for the semiconductor industry, working with corporations, start-ups, academia, and financial institutions. He was also the lead for a proposal to the DOD Microelectronics Commons for 6G mobile communications.
Nitin orchestrated a successful technology and business proposal to NASA’s Tipping Point program for an award to Nokia for deployment of the first ever 4G/LTE network on the lunar surface. Nitin’s career spans AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, Nokia Bell Labs, several start-ups, and providing consulting and decision services for clients such as DoCoMo, Ericsson and Intel. He has expertise in mobile networking, digital media, consumer privacy and semiconductors. Nitin has a Bachelor’s of Arts and Master of Arts in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Microelectronics from the University of Cambridge in England.
Fun fact: Nitin is the sole inventor on a family of patents for “Airplane Mode”.
Ken Tarlow, President, Tarlow Design
Ken has developed over 1000 products worth over one billion dollars in retail sales. Ken specializes in working with start-up entrepreneurs to help get their new product ideas developed from concept to store shelf. Tarlow is the author of “Mind To Money” available on Amazon.com.
Larry Udell, Founder and Chair Emeritus, LES-SVC
Larry is best known as founder and chairman of the California Invention Center, created in 1995 at California State University with federal funds. He has taught as a Professor of New Ventures & Entrepreneurship for over 40 years at universities throughout the United States and in foreign countries for WIPO (United Nations). A member of the Licensing Executives Society since 1982, he founded the Silicon Valley Chapter in 2000, which today is the #1 chapter in LESI 97 countries.
Founder of over 30 new ventures, Professor Udell provides consulting to both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies, and lectures frequently at inventor, corporate and government functions throughout the U.S. He provides educational courses for the USPTO, Vice President of American Innovators for Patent Reform besides serving as Senior Consultant to General Patent Corporation. He also serves as a corporate officer and board member of companies and in his illustrious long career has mentored thousands of inventors and new ventures. He recently sold one of his companies to Google. Over 50 published articles on inventing, IP and new ventures.
Accessibility accommodation
If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please submit your request to the contact information listed above.