Palo Alto California – On May 26, 2009 the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued design patent US D592,907 S to William C. Leikam, president and founder of Leikam Enterprises, LLC. “It’s really very exciting for all of us here to have this patent in hand.”

 

When the final design was completed to Leikam’s satisfaction he was advised that he needed to hire a patent attorney to do the research and file the proper paperwork. However, he decided to do some of his own research first and then, if an attorney was essential he would contact one and move forward. Leikam said, “When I first began I didn’t even know that the generic name for this kitchen utensil was an oven rack puller. Without that, I couldn’t move ahead because I didn’t know what I was searching for. I asked friends and family what it was called but no one knew.” That led to complete frustration on his part. As it turned out, he was doing a search through the PTO’s database when he accidently stumbled across its name. That opened up everything. Online he found that there was a number of oven rack pullers on such websites as eBay, Crate and Barrel and in several other online stores but none of them looked anything like the Oven Claw Pro.

 

With this information and finding that his design was unique, Leikam contacted a patent attorney on a consulting basis, discussed the process, the costs, etc., and then went online to see whether or not he could apply for the patent himself. He didn’t have the estimated $15,000 – $20,000 that he was quoted. “I didn’t have that much money but from my consultation with the attorney, it seemed like a simple enough job. It would just take a lot of careful research to complete.” He went to work on it and did an in-depth search of the PTO’s database for oven rack pullers and anything that might be related. “The more I dug, the more confident I was that I could apply for a patent and be successful.”

 

Finally, Leikam contacted an online company that put together the information into an application at a minimal cost. Without going into all of the details, his application was transferred to a second company who finalized it and submitted it to the PTO. In the end his patent cost less than $2,000, a far cry from the original quote. When asked, what he learned from this, Leikam responded, “It was one of the best things I’ve done for the company thus far because now we own intellectual property (IP) and that means that we can license the Oven Claw Pro. In addition, by having it patented it has made all the difference in the world for attracting national distributors. Finally, I found that if one doesn’t give up even when completely frustrated – and believe me there were times when I wanted to give up – it’s possible to be awarded a patent without having to directly hire an attorney to do the hard work.”

 

About Leikam Enterprises, LLC
Leikam Enterprises, LLC was founded in 2008. We are launching the company by manufacturing and distributing the company’s first product, the patented Oven Claw Pro. Our mission is to deliver high quality, efficient and safe kitchen tools to the marketplace and to design products that make the gourmet’s kitchen a safer place.

We are constantly looking for green Earth friendly alternatives and when available use recycled and renewable resources in the manufacturing of our hardwood products. Our products are manufactured in the United States and we proudly display Made in the USA.

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