Father of invention
By : Celia Barnes
Necessity is the mother of all invention, so when a good friend of Zygmunt Piotrowski's was complaining about how hard it is to eat popcorn at the movies when he's juggling a bucket of popcorn in one hand, and a cold drink in the other, he decided to help.
As a professional inventor, Piotrowski took 15 minutes to come up with a solution, and another five days to draw up the necessary application papers to lodge at the Polish Patent Office.
The result of all this creative energy is "The Bag": A stiff piece of cardboard that folds into a box with a special slot to sit a drink in, leaving one hand free to gobble those golden nuggets of popped corn.
It's a simple, but highly effective invention that Piotrowski is hoping he'll be able to sell for $10 million to someone like U.S. fast-food giant Amrest or Pepsico.
"I think this is the best invention of my life," said Pitrowski, 54, waving around the sturdy prototype made by his company, Heritage.
"It can be made into different shapes for different uses. You could have KFC nuggets in it, and use the slot for the sauce.
"You know, the most profitable patents are also the most simple the paperclip, the bottletop and Post It notes."
If Piotrkowski does sell "The Bag" he says it will be the first time he's generated any decent income from his 10-year inventing career.
"In Poland there are a lot of very good inventions, but they have no chance of entering the world market because there is no funding," he said.
Last year, the patent office received 7,298 patent applications for inventions (including applications from non-Polish companies and individuals): An increase over 1999's figure of 6,956.
For an amateur, it costs around zl. 420 to apply for a patent, plus additional costs to protect patent rights for up to 20 years.
"Most of the really significant inventions are claimed by companies that employ professionals, entire teams of researchers who can work for years on the same solution in a specialized branch of science," said Monika Wieckowska, director of the patent office's receiving department.
"It's quite obvious that an amateur who constructs devices in his own garage doesn't stand a chance (of receiving a patent) against a team of scientists from a car company."
Some of the more unusual applications Wieckowska has received include a balloon for people to get around town and a rescue plane that would evacuate passengers from another aircraft by attaching tunnels to the windows.
"But most individuals don't even present complete applications; only vague ideas or proposals," Wieckowska said.
Not so with Piotrowski who has an impressive array of patents and glossy brochures detailing some of the 40 inventions he has created. There's a 3-D wooden building block set; a range of cardboard furniture; miniature "foot" bikes; and a cardboard man named Buddy, which while sitting in a car's passenger seat becomes a "threat to intruders in the hours of darkness."
On four occasions Piotrowski's inventions have won gold medals at the annual Brussels Eureka World Fair for Inventions Research and New Technology, but his only invention to be manufactured is his impressive array of cardboard packaging for cans and bottles.
Piotrowski recently paid $15,000 for a 20-year patent in the U.S. for his packaging idea, and more money for a worldwide patent on the basic element of the invention.
He receives a small amount of income from local sales, but he found so much competition from Mead Packaging Poland the local operations of international packaging company Mead Corp. that two years ago Piotrowski initiated court proceedings against Mead through Poland's anti-monopoly institution, Urzad Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentow.
"I'm just one little inventor against a whole corporation," Piotrowski said.
Celia Barnes with additional reporting by Alicja Szymczak
