Re: [DIYbio] Counter Culture Labs + BioCurious do iGEM: Real Vegan Cheese!

On 07/04/2014 05:47 AM, Marc Juul wrote:
> should all strive to document what we do so we build a global commons containing the sum-total of human knowledge, or at least the
> more important parts, and I think this counts.

Hear hear! Yes, and the effort and expense to patent-application/abandon to public domain is well
worth it to protect the effort of all involved to reach your goal. About promotion as Cathal
mentioned -- it is essential, and can deliver the money for patent-application fees.


On 07/04/2014 06:24 AM, Cathal Garvey wrote:> Any investor with remaining grey matter will be far more impressed if
> you can relate how much of a community following and how much
> prospective customer loyalty you have accrued. Patents are the cheap
> calories of business success, and anyone who focuses exclusively on them
> is only interested in using them; probably not the kind of investor
> you'd want or benefit from.
>
> On 04/07/14 12:13, Ryan Pandya wrote:

>> >In short, we want to get on shelves. Meaning: large-scale production,
>> >distribution, and being taken seriously by chain stores. Since this will
>> >require funding, it also means being taken seriously by investors.
>> >
>> >Now, the main things I'm not sure about are: will investors require us to
>> >file patents? And, will we lose any investor appeal we may or may not have
>> >right now by sharing everything? What about sharing most things, but
>> >keeping a few innovations close to heart? (My guess is, that's a no-no from
>> >your perspective.)

+1 about Cathal's stressing community and popularity.

I say go ahead and keep some trade secrets. It's possible to do that and not conflict
about the slightly focus of The Real Vegan Cheese project -- maybe even join up. You can always
release more of your methods later to build a bigger community of international
collaborators that replicate your products and development methods, plus add new ones.
You don't want to try filing patents defensively on every little thing...just the
big broad concepts. Especially since you are aiming at a mainstream market, (Kraft Foods, etc.),
you need to not act naive or the competition's large sales forces, many marketers,
spin doctor hired guns, and few/little technical developments
will blast you off the grocery shelves.

I also like Marc Juul's writing about reasons to have such a goal, and investors
being "the easy and traditional way to go". Investors will never share your highest goal,
since all they want is money/power.

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