TY  - JOUR
AB  - A self-employed innovator developed and patented a novel combination pen and stylus device to complement the recently released Palm Pilot personal digital assistant. He presented his design to Palm, under a nondisclosure agreement to discuss the market response to the product, and his company, ttools, was subsequently allowed to advertise the device in a monthly e-mail to Palm customers. After ttools' release of the Throttle pen/stylus, Palm and the design firm IDEO introduced a similar pen/stylus device that appeared to infringe on ttools' patent. ttools, being a small, resource-constrained company, was in a precarious position. Its competitive advantage and rights as a patent holder were being threatened. It had few financial resources to draw upon, and thus its livelihood as a company was at stake. Investigates the available options ttools had to respond to Palm and IDEO's actions.To provide students with an understanding of how utility and design patents may be used by resource-poor entrepreneurs and inventors for building and maintaining a first-mover advantage.
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 2474-6568
DO  - 10.1108/case.kellogg.2016.000381
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/case.kellogg.2016.000381
AU  - Conley James G.
AU  - Qu Feng
AU  - Nudd Geoff
AU  - Marcus J. Cooper
PY  - 2017
Y1  - 2017/01/01
TI  - ttools (A): The Value of a Patent to the Entrepreneur
T2  - Kellogg School of Management Cases
PB  - Kellogg School of Management
SP  - 1
EP  - 15
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -