So it's my pleasure to introduce Kyle Snowburger he actually is an aerospace
design engineer and he actually did use the pro bono program for seeking out his
intellectual property and also through the philadelphia the pro bono program
first off at Wichita State University and then also through the Philadelphia
volunteer lawyer for the arts program he has actually participated on Shark
Tank a shark oh I'm sorry not the Shark Tank a shark tank and he is actually the
CEO of intercept Nexus LLC which is working on commercializing high-altitude
air launch techniques and now he's going to talk about his journey here
you
all right now I'm life all right well first I apologize for my transit issues
and I guess this is a justifiable punishment where if I can't make the
panel I'm supposed to be albums were forced to speak for a little bit longer
so just to open dialogue my story is very similar to Ruth's as you heard
about earlier and I was an engineer employed at a fortune 500 company in
Wichita Kansas during a period of time I like some engineers in the world will
experience a layoff and during that period I want to keep my engineering
skills sharp and so I just wanted to work on personal projects and ideas that
naturally came to my mind were the more audacious space travel kind of concepts
and I just sat down my computer continued working and thought what is a
concept that could really promote continued progression in space including
human habitation in space and I'd have thought that the best way to get there
would be a air-launched method that can deliver deliver large cargo and I'll
spare you all the details I could talk about that all day
but when I came up with a concept I recognized that it should probably be
patented and so a local University of Wichita State University as Robert
mentioned had a resource center there where there was actually a seminar the
Denver patent office gave where they brought Dameron and I went to that
seminar and they had patent attorneys present and I was able to get a little
bit of a feel for how the process would go I learned the importance of not
disclosing any information prior to seeking patent litigation and I
ultimately learned about the pro bono program and while I was still in Wichita
I applied to Gateway which as the name suggests is in st. Louis so at this time
pro bono is a wonderful program but some states are better represented than
others and I was living in one of the Midwestern states that unfortunately
wasn't so what we represented and then I moved back
to my home state of Pennsylvania and from there once I was back home and
trying to seek new career options I applied to Philadelphia volunteer
lawyers for the Arts which is the pro bono Resource Center for the state of
Pennsylvania and quit ironically actually I was in Harrisburg I just had
finished touring the State Capitol walking down the street towards
Susquehanna River when I got an email saying I was matched with a law firm
called Ballard spar LLP and the name sounded rather formal and so I googled
what it was and it was on the 51st and 52nd floor of the BNY Mellon building in
Philadelphia so I realized this was big and I wasn't prepared for this he was
just saying I'm not speaking on a stage all right and Alexandria so things have
changed the process to happen next is where I had reached back out to P V LA
which is part of the Philadelphia arts and Business Council and I got to have
some phone calls with my patent attorney so his name is John key Onkyo he's a
fine gentleman a very passionate person from the aviation community and we got a
little bit of a feel for who each other were like our experiences we also get to
learn about my invention and detail on it felt really wonderful to really
communicate it and just close it and learn about how it can grow um and he
sat me down he said you have three real inventions here we think one of them can
be patented and so we we began and that was through
the summer and fall of 2017 and then finally after a real amount of life
change occurred we filed a patent application in the US on December 26
2017 and it was a pretty cool Christmas gift I thought and then one year later
we filed the PCT
so during that time I learned more about the application process I learned about
of course nationalizing over in Europe and I more or less they'll let my patent
attorneys now I'm another gentleman named Tom Brady join John back about as
far and once the patent applications filed I felt more freedom to pursue
commercial interests of the intellectual property and I set out by starting at a
small shark tank at my alma mater Penn State they're playing Pitt in a few
hours by the way so if you don't see me between like noon and 3:00 that's why
and um so I went to the shark tank thinking I'm not gonna win I was kind of
unsure while I was putting this guy this outlandish aviation concept and I want I
won second place I recieved a micro grant it was the first time that Penn
State ever paid me anything so and I you know what just texting my friends
continued just to tell my story a little bit like I can't believe this happened
and being in the aerospace community I have friends that work for the FAA
friends that work for Northrop Grumman Lockheed Martin names you all know here
and a particular friend of mine who worked at ball they build satellites in
Bordeaux Colorado he told me about this other shark tank
being hosted at the National Space symposium I would say it is the CES show
or invention con for aviation and the space industry AM ball happened to go on
the sponsors so I'm like what the heck I'll just throw in a midnight
application because I worked on it the two nights before the deadline and I
told my friend I wasn't very happy with him because he told me about it you know
two days before the deadline and somehow I was put in contention all ten other
startups some of whom had been operating for years and also the Air Force was a
contestant they were building a probe to go to Neptune
so I had no idea what I was doing there and through that experience I was able
to meet Buzz Aldrin I was able to meet several other space executives and that
was the first time I recognized that my invention might actually have some
credence and people were interested in it and that never would have happened
that were not for the pro bono program so I would never be able to stop giving
praises to that or you know that organization that happened to the
America Invents Act and because it really is a unique perspective we have
in this country because today no other country in the world not even in Western
the Western world has such a program
to me to be freely speaking about the pro bono program is to say that
independent inventors not just giant corporations can change their lives and
change the lives of others and many facets of many technologies such as that
um that bathtub dream we just learned about I can tell you I'm gonna buy one
for my girlfriend when I ever I get back home so that's my story and now I'm
commercializing that that technology and I guess I'm ready for some questions
Robert okay um so I was important we have about ten minutes for questions so
we have some we were here hello actually I have a question about the pro bono
program so when you were in the program what kind of engagement letter do you
have with your lawyer and I guess once all the terms were fulfill how do you
manage to push the time when the engagement we're done and then when you
start having money to manage your pattern and maintain it I'm so the
engagement for pro bono litigation that was more or less they verified through
PVL a like income standards they managed like me what kind of savings account etc
were had and then that was when I was matched to patent attorneys and the
engagement letter as well as they were kind of continued to represent me pro
bono until the end of time until the world ends or until you know until the
patent is secured I'd have to look at that again it's been a while since I've
seen that and that's not you know something I keeping the top may I
apologize but essentially it's still pro bono at Ballard spar I also have
attorneys there that I I do pay on on retainer but that's more for marketing
and for business advice but the actual patent litigation
is still pro bono today there's not much revenue I can generate with a concept
that is being developed and is seven eight years away next question
I guess folks do you want to show by hands like you want to bring other
panelists backstage so we have a question so we can the question audience
whether you want to bring the other panelists back on the stage question
together but I think that's not a bad idea but there actually is going to be
an opportunity at the end of the program for any of the panelists and speakers to
come up that you can ask questions and I'm sure that they would be willing to
also answer your questions during the break question is for the gentlemen do
you think that your success is because you have a highly technological
invention because many of us do not have such advanced technologies developed so
my question to you is you think that your path is applied to common adventure
inventor that's a good question I would say like kind of rephrase your question
a little bit that based on my experiences are my education that it is
Ted it's technology that I could develop the I feel that any person any human
being could develop something that you really have low power to wellness that
they see a need and if they're driven they can fulfill that it's mad at matter
of willpower if you look at for example like Elon Musk he had no experience in
boring companies he had no experience in electric cars he was a computer
programmer and will have paid PayPal and actually before I was employed designing
video games and now he's the CEO of electric car company and several other
ventures so it's a measure of will experience and education definitely
helped my bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and a hands-on program at
Penn State I was part of helped me kind of formulate designs my head but more or
less that education gives a mind exposure
to technologies the mind itself is always capable
um okay okay I wanted to know it seems with pro-bono the middle class just
doesn't make out I'm not in an end probably to afford Ballard's bar I don't
know what they charge an hour but I'm sure it's more that I could afford but I
couldn't go pro bono so had you not lost your job and obviously you didn't own a
home and have other assets do you think you could have even gone forward with
this this is what my concern is because the money is huge I think you're a very
valid concern and I would agree to a point that the middle class is somewhat
left out of pro bono program I don't want to say that for certain I don't
represent the Patent Office I represent only myself and my company
and I loved when I lost my job I was seeking you know technology to keep my
skills you know sharp and from there I led to an invention it led to a startup
and even then after the invention you know I got reemployed as an engineer at
a company and then after that I actually there's no longer play with that company
as well so those type of life changes do affect how someone can be represented
pro bono and like like already stated this country is the only one that has
some program like this and we I think we should be thankful for at least the step
we have now if I may speak boldly I feel like every fit all 50 states should have
their own Resource Center and perhaps some of the more populous state Ohio
Illinois Florida California Texas Pennsylvania maybe we should have more
than one you know center around regional hubs because they help underrepresented
individuals different LGBT community it as different minorities it's really hard
to go to some other city that's hundreds of miles away so even in the middle
class it's difficult to pay for travel and such that it has to be continually
happening so dance your question simply yes perhaps there could be more that can
be done for the middle class
could you please elaborate on patent litigation and I was confused that pro
bono is doing that also I'm sorry what patent litigation that you mentioned you
said that pro bono is involved in patent litigation and what could you elaborate
on that yeah so my experience with it is that after the patent application is
filed John my patent attorney has just referred that we're in your corner we're
in your corner you know until we get our first action report from the US Patent
Office which it has not happened yet we have heard a first action from the PCT
your purse is very quick basically as soon as you pay the bill they come right
back to you and we're holding that first account reserved because that kind of
help once they persuade the opinion of the pet US Patent Office but it's more
like it's more data on file for this to help them review my patent application
here in the States so perhaps I misspoke but whenever I referred to like the pro
bono patent litigation that is pursuing the patent application in the future and
also to my understanding if there are other entities that infringe upon my
intellectual property there's a minder saying that balance bar would help
support me in defending oh wait which may be a contingency okay I just wanted
to go back to the previous question so hi Cal regarding the middle class if you
cannot avail yourself of a patent pro bono there is a law school certification
clinic which also does work pro bono and there is a patent pro se program here at
the US Patent Office and so for those who can't avail themselves of patent pro
bono there are other options that the PTO does offer
are there any other questions
ask one last question then so what would you say were the biggest challenge is I
know you you haven't received your patent yet but what were some of the
biggest challenges that you've faced at least getting to this point the biggest
challenge is either say it would be my own certainty my own confidence some
inventions have expanded scope and others and broad invention more equal in
the eyes of Patent Office I had the urge early on to seek validation which course
would require disclosure and that was you know a big no-no and so to come this
far to me is a great honor and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be
speaking in front of you because my story is not over yet and
it's also one that you know each day to day I sometimes contemplate just because
something can be done should it be done and so that's a challenge I face
recognizing implications of radical technology changes very rapidly like
look at the cell phones in our pockets you know even 15-20 years ago we never
would have imagined we'd be so electronically connected but there are
sometimes some you know miss advancements like it might alienate us a
little bit so I feel my invention I want to make sure I pursuit in a way that has
the best game for society and that's a challenge I face and it continually face
ok thank you very much thank you for sharing your story!