I have experienced firsthand the highs of success and the lows of participating in our country’s broken patent system. “The Great Equalizer,” a documentary I had the privilege to be a part of, directed by Pritchett Cotten and led by Luke Livingston, has just won an award for “Best Direction” from the Political Film Festival.
Celebrating and reflecting on my role as the victim of the US patent system in this recent film award
The 20-minute film highlights the final stage of my patent fight against my largest and most formidable infringer and revealed the unjust and devastating invalidation of my patents. This, alongside the hardships endured by another remarkable inventor, Ryshann Conaway. Together, we uncovered the grim realities of a patent system in the United States that has been working against small inventors like us since 2011.
The United States patent system is disturbingly favorable toward and encourages companies to steal ideas from inventors and invalidate their patents. With the passing of the 2011 Congressional bill, the America Invents Act (AIA), anyone in the world can now invalidate a US inventor’s patent for a small fee. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is the court set up by the AIA and continues to destroy the lives of thousands of American innovators to this day.
I am amongst the few 3%.
In 2022, the USPTO issued roughly 300,000 US patents to inventors. Of those patents, 11% were granted to women. Furthermore, just 5% of patents became viable or commercial successes. Statistically, that leaves several hundred women with viable patents. I was proud to be one of those women.
The film did not dive into the fact that I had over 150 other companies infringing on my patents. It’s practically guaranteed that commercially successful inventions like mine will be stolen. This is why patent protection exists; We need fair and just patent rights to protect our inventions.
From the day I was granted my patents to the day they were invalided, my patents proved strong. I licensed my patents to numerous companies and stopped multiple infringers with them. My patents were also recognized by the International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC protects US-made and manufacturing companies like mine by flagging and halting our patented imports and sending them back to the country of origin. It is a complicated process and a big deal to be recognized by the ITC.
I lived the American Dream until I evidently dared to dream too big. I asked my largest infringer to stop stealing from me⎼ using the same granted right I had already been using with all the other infringers.
The American Dream is gone and only goes as far as the government allows at any given time.
Our voices matter.
I am thrilled that “The Great Equalizer” was awarded “Best Direction” by the Political Film Festival because it gives inventors everywhere the necessary attention and education about this problem. I hope more and more people watch this film and become inspired to help fix the patent system. This movie only touches on a small portion of how this impacts our country. It’s crucial for innovators everywhere to know that there is an advocacy group walking the halls of Congress to change the law for inventors and to return to us our constitutional right to a jury trial. This organization educates and inspires me, daily, to make change happen so other inventors do not have to go through what I went trough.
Thank you, Luke Livingston and Pritchett Cotten, for making this movie. You met me at my most vulnerable and depressed time, and you lifted me back up. Thank you for allowing me to express my story, visiting me at my gym, and inspiring me to keep pushing forward.
Thanks for sharing your story Molly. And Congrats to Luke and Pritchett on winning this well-deserved award!
To see the invention on youtube.com enter: “power pull technology”
The patent # is 9,526,300
i have been reluctant to start small (which would have been advisable years ago), knowing that the big companies will steal it with impunity,
and have difficulty getting an audience with a big company. GO FIGURE!