Patent program in Maine

There is discussion of a certain patent application within an article on a new program to foster patents in the state of Maine.

-->It's still possible for an individual to navigate the process, said Roger Hewson, who has an unusual patent pending for his idea that leadership qualities can be identified by looking at 12 functions of thinking. He's writing a book on the idea and found that because his theory is based on scientific principles, it requires a patent instead of a copyright.

Hewson, who started the Maine-based Sabre Yacht Corp., said he managed to prepare his 57-page patent application with the help of the patent program, a do-it-yourself patenting book, about eight trips to the Inventors Forum and a session or two with a patent attorney.

He said going the traditional route of turning it all over to an attorney would have cost him about $25,000.

Hewson said he hopes that his idea can be marketed as an executive development course for use in business schools and other programs, and that could benefit Maine.<--

Of the program itself:

-->The event where they can do that, the Maine Inventors Forum, is run by the Maine Patent Program, a small, state-funded office that sees inventiveness and creativity as economic development tools that can lead to business creation and greater employ- ment.

"The state is really getting on board the idea that research and development in science and technology is critical to economic growth," said Rita Heimes, director of the Technology Law Center at the University of Maine School of Law. The law center runs the Maine Patent Program.<--