8 THE CAMPUS PRESS FEBRUARY 21 - 27, 2006 FEBRUARY 21 - 27, 2006 THE CAMPUS PRESS 9

I N F OCUS »
The patent process is
not an easy one. According
to the 2005 Tech Transfer
Department performance
graph, faculty and grad stu-
dents sent in 180 invention
disclosures and 140 patent
applications in 2005. Five
or six of them will become
startup companies and 40 or
50 of them will be licensed
to companies that already
exist.
After an application
is submitted, Tallman said
it usually takes around two
years and $1,200 for the
product to be issued. After
a patent is chosen, patent
lawyers talk to the United
States Patent and Trademark
Office. The university has a
budget to pay them to do a
lot of the hard work.
According to Tallman,
CU is the perfect school for
inventors.
“In Boulder, there are Story by Patricia Kaowthumrong
a lot of start-up companies.
If someone has an idea, a Design by Debra Thiegs
really good idea, there are a
lot of people in Boulder that
could help them turn it into a
real company,” Tallman said.
“Students at CU Boulder are
very lucky.”

“American Idol” has successfully found four music sensations since it first aired in 2002. Now
smart-talking television icon Simon Cowell is looking for the next big star in “American Inventor,”
airing in March. In the show, entrepreneurs from across the country will compete to develop the best
new product concept in hopes of winning the $1 million prize to turn their idea into a business.
Photo Courtesy/Comedy Central
Known for its research and cutting-edge technology, it comes as no surprise that CU is full of successful
A CU invention that brings laughter and controversy to
and aspiring inventors. Unlike “American Inventor,” there may be no million-dollar prize, but many CU the world: The TV show “South Park” began at CU when
students and faculty have made an impact on millions of lives with their creations -- and some have acquired film students Tray Parker and Matt Stone made an animated
cash doing it. short called “Jesus vs. Frosty” in 1992. Parker and Stone
created the series that finally aired in 1997. The characters
in the short were later seen on the popular TV show.

According to Kate
Tallman, assistant director
of the Technology Transfer
Department at CU, the
inventing and patenting pro-
cess is long, and not always
cheap.
“Most graduate stu-
dents are supported by
federal research grants
or paid by the university
and their inventions are
owned by CU,” Tallman
said. “Most undergrads
arenʼt paid by the univer-
sity and most of the time
own their own inven-
tions.”
The Technology
Transfer Department
works with graduate stu-
dents and faculty to help
develop and patent inven-
tions. Department staff
decide which ideas are
patent-worthy, and help
students and faculty actu-
ally turn their ideas into
reality.
Photo Courtesy/Justus Ortega But if the student is
Justus Ortega stands with his team’s invention, “Re Leash,” at te 2005 Engineering Design Expo. “Re an undergraduate stu-
Leash” is a product in which the leash retracts into the dog’s collar, rather than a unit in the owner’s hand. dent who thinks he or
Ortega pursued creative invention in the “Invention and Innovation” class. The class, available to any stu-
dent, is said to teach students the ropes of the creating, patenting and marketing process.
she has a great idea, the
Tech Transfer office is
not the place to go. For
a student on their own,
Tallman suggests they
go to the United States
Patent Web site and do
some searches to see if
anyone has already taken
the idea.
“In the United States,
once you publish or talk
publicly about your idea,
nobody can claim it and
patent it for themselves
for a year,” Tallman said.
“However, to keep people
from further commercial-
izing your idea, you need
to patent it, or else keep it
a secret.”
CU even offers a class
on inventing and design-
ing marketable creations
that is open to all stu-
dents.
Lawrence Carlson,
a head of the Mechanical
Engineering Department
and professor of the
Invention & Innovation
class said, “We welcome
anyone into the class. All it
takes is creativity and hard
work.”
The class doesnʼt actu-
ally take students through
the process of patenting
their inventions, but if stu-
dents have some good ideas,
it can be done.
Integrative physiology
doctoral candidate Justus
Ortega took Carlsonʼs
class.
“You canʼt just invent
something; it has to be
unique and nothing like
anything already out there,”
Ortega said.
Ortega is part of a
team that created a prod-
uct called “Re leash.”
This retractable leash is
withdrawn in a petʼs col-
lar instead of in the own-
erʼs hands. According
to Ortega, the invention
releases the owner from
having to carry anything if
they want to take their dog
off the leash. It is small
enough to fit a mid- to
average-sized dog.
“The whole idea is that
youʼre releashing yourself,”
Ortega said.
The invention isnʼt pat-
ented yet, but the team said
they hope to continue with
the project.
“We want to definitely
take it to the next step, but
I also want to complete my
PhD,” Ortega said.
The convenience that
Ortega wants to convey to
the pet ownerʼs world is
the same kind that senior
mechanical engineering
student Adam Lewinter
hopes to bring to the Jeep
ownerʼs world. Lewinter,
who also took Carlsonʼs
class, acquired an UROP
(undergraduate research
funding) Grant for his idea
for a retractable replace-
ment top for the Jeep
Wrangler.
According to Lewinter,
it is a blend of the typical soft
and hard top seen on most
Jeeps. The three-paneled top
can be run electrically or
manually and retracts like a
projector screen into a case,
so it is out of the way. The
invention also saves time;
the invention does in min-
Alan Kay, a for-
mer CU student of
mathematics, molecu-
lar biology and elec-
trical engineering
in the late
1960s, devel-
oped the idea
of dynamic
object-ori-
ented pro-
gramming.
He recog-
nized that it
was possible
to represent
computer
objects and capabili-
ties as pictures. Then
Kay went on to create
Smalltalk, the first
graphical object-
based programming
language, and pitched
an idea for a portable
computer- known
today as the laptop.
utes what it might take typi-
The Gamov cal hard or soft tops an hour
Bag®, created by do.
CU alum and long- “Right now, we are get-
time professor Igmor ting a used top and modify-
Gamov, is lifesaving. ing it to show our idea,”
Lewinter said.
Lewinter began work-
ing on the project last spring
with Carlson, and is now
working with another stu-
dent and a faculty member
to create a full-sized version
that should be done in May.
“Eventually we do want
to get it patented, or if not,
just a letter of disclosure,”
Lewinter said. “My main
goal is to actually see it on
the street.”
Lewinterʼs invention,
This sleeping bag- along with many others, will
like device enables a be featured at the Integrated
person suffering from Teaching and Learning
Laboratory Design Expo at
potentially deadly the end of April.
low pressure at high The Tech Transfer
altitudes to recover in Department has also helped
its simulated air pres- patent inventions like soft-
sure. It is used both ware used by people with
cognitive disabilities and
by skiers and space programs to help students
shuttle astronauts.
learn how to read.
Software developed by
the Engineering Center for
Lifelong Living and Design
for people with cognitive
disabilities, called Lifeline,
runs on a wireless hand-
held computer that is car-
ried around and activated
by a caregiver. The program
developed by CU researcher
Andy Gorman and assis-
tive technology expert Anja
Kintsch is able to keep track
of where they are and what
they are doing and remind
them when and how to do
daily tasks.
Professor Donna
Caccamise, associative
director of the Cognitive
Science Institute, helps head
the Colorado Literary Tutor
project for The Center for
Spoken Language Research
at CU. One of the proj-
ectʼs interactive programs,
Foundations to Literacy,
consists of a lifelike animat-
ed person who can listen and
respond to childrenʼs read-
ing, helping them develop
reading and language skills
early.