Intellectual Property and Women 

Entrepreneurs

Qualitative Analysis

Conducted by the National Women’s Business Council

Date: 09.10.2012
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INTELLECTUAL 

PROPERTY AND 

WOMEN 

ENTREPRENEURS

QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

September 2012

CONTENTS

1 Executive Summary

2 Approach

2.1. Locations and Logistics

2.2. Recruitment

2.3. Questions/ Themes

3 Summary

3.1. Questions raised by the 

Quantitative Analysis

3.2. Questions of interest to the 

NWBC

3.2.1. Perceptions about the IP process

3.2.2. The Reality

3.2.3. What are the remedies?

3.2.4. Entrepreneurship and IP

Prepared by

Delixus, Inc.

A California Corporation specializing in Big 

Data Analytics, Web Applications and Market 

Research.

for

National Women’s Business Council

The National Women’s Business Council is a 

non-partisan federal government council 

created to serve as an independent source of 

advice and counsel to the President, Congress, 

and the U.S. Small Business Administration 

on economic issues of importance to women 

business owners. Members of the Council are 

prominent women business owners and 

representatives of women’s business 

organizations. The Council’s mission includes 

conducting and supporting research on issues 

of importance to women business owners and 

their organizations in order to promote bold 

initiatives, policies and programs designed to 

support women’s business enterprises at all 

stages of development in the public and 

private sector marketplaces.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In September 2011, the NWBC commissioned a broad study to analyze the relationship between 

women entrepreneurs and intellectual property. It consisted of two parts:

Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research

The quantitative research was completed in February 2012. A report, Intellectual Property and 

Women Entrepreneurs, Quantitative Analysis, was released by the NWBC on February 27, 2012 

and presented at a featured meeting on March 1, 2012 in Washington, DC. It is available at 

http://nwbc.gov/research/intelletual-property-women-entrepreneurs

The current report covers the qualitative research whose stated goal was to conduct focus groups 

with women entrepreneurs, businesswomen and professionals, probe the questions that were 

raised in the quantitative study as well as additional ones of interest to the NWBC. Six focus 

groups were conducted in different parts of the US. Two of these focus groups were with women 

who had successfully obtained a patent or trademark, two were with women who had applied for 

but did not receive a patent or trademark and two were with women who had never applied for a 

patent or trademark. In addition to specific issues raised by the quantitative analysis, the 

following questions were also addressed by the focus groups:

What are the perceived barriers facing women entrepreneurs surrounding protecting their 

IP?

What are the actual barriers?

How do we address these barriers?

What are the long term effects on businesses that receive patents and successfully market 

their IP?

Accordingly, six focus groups were held, four in northern California and two in the Washington, 

DC metropolitan area. These locations were chosen based on the concentration of women patent 

and trademark holders in these regions. Data from the USPTO was used to recruit a random 

sample of women entrepreneurs. The assistance of the local chambers of commerce was also 

solicited in recruiting women who had never applied for a patent or trademark. Appropriate 

incentives were offered to the participants to cover costs.

The focus groups were conducted in accordance with OMB Regulations. The OMB control 

number was 3245-0380. The Paper Reductions Act of 1995 requires that Federal agency 

information collections employ effective methodologies appropriate to the purpose for which the 

information is to be collected (5 CFR 1320). This study meets the OMB requirements.

The study yielded significant insights into the IP processes as they affect women and women 

entrepreneurs. While major strides have been made in facilitating access to patent and trademark 
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services, there remain significant opportunities for further improvement. The perceptions of the 

participants, the realities, the suggested fix as well as answers to questions raised in the 

quantitative study are summarized below.

QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

What factors motivate women entrepreneurs in their successful pursuit of a patent or 

trademark?

Perceptions of risk and reward, increasing the value of the company, adding credibility to one’s 

business, gaining recognition and increasing revenues are some of the principal factors that 

motivate women to successfully pursue their patent and trademark applications.

Why do women entrepreneurs abandon their patent or trademark application?

A host of factors, perceived and real, influence this issue. Some of the most important factors 

are: Fear and awe of the process, the absence of clear, easy to understand documentation, lack of 

financial resources to obtain professional help, discouragement from family, friends and 

advisors, and the demands of multiple roles as an entrepreneur, mother and caregiver.

Why do some women entrepreneurs never apply for a patent or trademark?

Perceptions of the patent and trademark process as complex, expensive and drawn out play a 

large part in the decisions of women entrepreneurs not to file for IP protection. Other reasons 

include: lack of a support system, websites that are not user friendly and mired in legal language, 

obscurity of the process and a perception that a cost-benefit analysis of IP protection does not 

justify the investment in time and money.

What are the barriers to reducing gender inequality?

Women entrepreneurs who strive in a business world dominated by men face an uphill battle in 

getting acceptance as intellectual peers. Women are still expected to be mothers and caregivers 

in the traditional sense while they struggle to build up their businesses. They perceive that they 

are not taken seriously in the work place. Lack of finance is a persistent opinion.

Is there a gender gap in financing?

There appear to be demographic differences between women who were successful in obtaining 

finance and those who did not. Women who were experienced and more business savvy took the 

time to prepare credible business plans as backup to their credit applications and were successful 

whereas less experienced women used an ad hoc approach to obtaining finance and were less 

successful.
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What accounts for the increasing participation of women in hi tech industries?

Changing perceptions of gender roles in American society, the entry of more women into science 

and engineering, increasing access to higher education, legislation and law suits have all 

contributed to the successful entry of women into hi tech sectors.

Why is there a gender gap in the assignment of patents and trademarks?

Most women tend to be small businesspersons as compared to men who may have jobs with 

large corporations. Employees of large corporations assign their patents and trademarks to their 

employers while self employed entrepreneurs do not.

How has the recession impacted women entrepreneurs?

The prolonged recession since 2007 has had a profound impact in the workplace. Women 

entrepreneurs, by and large, look upon the recession as a challenge and an opportunity. The 

recession appears to have increased entrepreneurship among women. This aspect needs further 

study.

There is ambivalence about the benefits of holding a patent

Women entrepreneurs were more positive about the benefits of a trademark than of a patent. The 

expense, perceived complexity and the long wait for a patent has created ambivalence about the 

value of owning a patent.

QUESTIONS OF INTEREST TO THE NWBC

Perceptions

The patent and trademark processes are too complex, drawn out and expensive.

Intellectual property can be stolen easily. It costs a great deal of money to defend IP.

The patent and trademark processes are not well known or well understood by women 

entrepreneurs.

The USPTO website is not user friendly.

Women are discouraged from going into science and technology.

Women prefer to hear a female voice at the other end of the phone when they call the 

USPTO.

The current patent and trademark processes are archaic and hearken back to a bygone era.

Women are harassed by salesmen and attorneys once a patent or trademark application is 

made public.

There is scant assistance and guidance after the first rejection from the patent and 

trademark office.
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The patent and trademark processes are more focused on “legalese” than on fostering 

entrepreneurship.

The patent and trademark processes have not kept up with emerging technologies.

International protection is absent.

The patent and trademark processes favor large business.

There persists a gender gap in IP generation and protection.

The Reality

There are no support systems for women, especially working single mothers.

The patent and trademark processes are indeed too complex, drawn out and expensive.

The USPTO website can be made more user friendly.

Funding for marketing and business development is scarce.

The current IP processes favor big business.

Protecting a patent or a trademark can be very expensive. Most women cannot afford it.

The Remedies

Simplify the process.

Improve the website.

Hold regional seminars and webinars.

Increase visibility of existing federal programs.

Consider a two-tier process to help micro-business and entrepreneurs.

Use emerging technologies to improve service to small business.

Add a “hot line” to help entrepreneurs.

Use customer satisfaction surveys and other feedback to provide two-way training to 

service providers and consumers.

Advice to entrepreneurs: “Read and follow the instructions”.

Does IP protection help entrepreneurship?

More research is required to determine if there is a correlation between IP protection and 

entrepreneurship. The complexity and cost of obtaining a patent or trademark, and the difficulty 

of protecting the IP from infringement, act as deterrents to many a small businesswoman. On the 

other hand, there are also cases where a patent or trademark has clearly helped a business grow 

and become a success story.

Each major finding is addressed in the body of the report with quotes from the participants. 

Wherever possible, the contrast between perception and reality is brought out. Suggested 

improvements to the IP protection processes are highlighted.

Although the focus groups included only women, many of the insights gathered herein have 

general applicability and would be of benefit to businesses owned by men as well.
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The information in these focus groups must be taken as a point source reflecting the opinions of 

a small, albeit a select and influential group of women entrepreneurs who live in different parts 

of the United States. There is no attempt here to generalize these findings to a national audience 

or to draw statistical inference from them. Despite these limitations, the opinions offered and the 

insights gathered serve as useful guidelines for further research.

LOCATIONS AND LOGISTICS

Two regions were identified for the focus group studies:

Northern California/San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley

Washington DC Metropolitan Area

These regions were selected based on an evaluation of USPTO data on patents and trademarks to 

ensure that an adequate number of participants were available for the focus groups. For each 

region, a centralized location was chosen for the proposed focus group considering the 

availability of transportation, parking, facilities, cost and convenience of the participants. A 

cluster of towns and cities within a commuting radius of the proposed location was identified for 

the recruitment. The names of the selected towns and cities for each selected region are provided 

below:

Region 1: Northern California/Silicon Valley

Walnut Creek, CA

Pleasant Hill, CA

Lafayette, CA

Moraga, CA

Oakland, CA

Berkeley, CA

Concord, CA

Clayton, CA

Orinda, CA

Martinez, CA

Pittsburg, CA

Alamo, CA

Danville, CA

Pleasanton, CA

Fremont, CA

Dublin, CA

Region 2: Washington DC

Washington, DC

Arlington, VA
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Falls Church, VA

Bethesda, MD

RECRUITMENT

THE USPTO DATABASE AS WELL AS CONTACTS WITH LOCAL CHAMBERS 

OF COMERCE WERE USED TO RECRUIT THE PARTICIPANTS

Recruitment Process

Women entrepreneurs who have applied for a patent or trademark represent a special and select 

group in the US population. As such, the recruitment of a random sample of qualified women 

entrepreneurs and women professionals within a commuting radius of a specific location 

presented a challenge. The following process was used for the recruitment:

For each region, select the towns that are within a commuting distance from a preferred 

location for a focus group meeting.

Start with the USPTO database for patents and trademarks for the selected towns and 

cities.

Apply successive filters to the USPTO database:

o Filter 1: Sort by first name to locate only patents and trademarks filed by women.

o Filter 2: Identify and tag patents and trademarks as abandoned/dead or alive.

o Filter 3: Locate women with their addresses or by the names of companies.

Note: This was a challenge as companies were not always willing to provide

information about their employees. Furthermore, a significant number of women 

had moved from the documented address.

o Filter 4: Locate the telephone numbers of women innovators from commercial 

sources.

o Filter 5: Since a large number of addresses did not match the telephone numbers, 

the Realquest software supplied by CoreLogic was procured and used to trace 

addresses. 

Realquest is the website for standardized nationwide real estate data and 

information which includes more than 145 million properties. It is a property and 

ownership search engine. This search engine enabled us to track and confirm the 

addresses of patent and trademark applicants and holders when phone numbers 

were not easily accessible.

Also, when a woman's maiden name was used, we were able to locate her by her 

address on the USPTO application. And then, using her husband's name at the 

same address, we were able to find phone numbers listed only in the husband's 

name.
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The support of local Chambers of Commerce was extremely helpful for recruitment. Social 

media using Facebook and Craig’s lists were also used.

These efforts and the successive filters yielded enough women entrepreneurs/ professionals to 

recruit a focus group of 8 to 12 persons for each region. The overall yield was 3 percent or less.

Telephone calls:

Telephone calls were made to the identified potential participants using a standardized script 

which explained the purpose of the call and the importance of the study. A trial run was made 

with 5 calls and the script was modified for maximum response. An average of three calls was 

required per telephone address to complete a yes/no response from a person.

OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH

The objectives

The goal of the focus groups is to probe in-depth the issues raised by the NWBC as well as throw 

additional light on insights gathered from the quantitative analysis in phase 1 of the study. 

Specifically, the focus groups probed the following issues:

What are the long term effects on businesses that receive patents and trademarks and 

successfully market their IP?

What are the perceived barriers facing women entrepreneurs surrounding the protection 

of their IP?

What are the actual barriers?

How do we address these barriers?

Is there a gender gap in the patent and trademark process?

Are women showing increasing leadership in innovation?

The Approach

To meet these objectives, Delixus adopted a comprehensive, detailed and responsive approach:

1. The focus groups were conducted in accordance with OMB guidelines 5 C.F.R. § 

1320.3(c): which were incorporated into the plan by reference. The OMB control number 

was 3245-0380.

2. Six focus groups were held:

Two with women who have obtained patent or trademark protection

Two with women who applied for but did not obtain a patent or a trademark

Two with women who never applied for a patent or a trademark.

3. Locations and dates: As outlined below.

4. Focus group participants were selected at random from a regional sample.
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5. Each focus group session started with introductions, a statement of purpose and assurance 

of confidentiality in accordance with OMB requirements. The disclosure form read and 

signed by each participant is shown in Appendix 1.

6. The proceedings of the focus groups were recorded, transcribed, analyzed and a narrative 

was developed to capture the perceptions, the realities, the suggested improvements as 

well as success stories and failures.

QUESTIONS AND THEMES

The questions to be asked and theses to be presented before the focus groups were grouped 

around the issues that were of interest to the NWBC and the ones highlighted by the quantitative 

study. A common set of questions, summarized in the protocols listed below, were used for all 

focus groups:

Protocols Section 1: Issues Raised by the Quantitative Study

Observations from the Quantitative 

Analysis

Lead-in Question Follow-on Questions

Our quantitative analysis shows that 

“there is no statistically measurable 

difference in the proportion of 

successful women Trademark 

applicants and successful men 

Trademark applicants. The analysis 

shows no bias in the processing of 

trademark applications.”

Is this conclusion in 

synch with your 

perception? If it is not, 

why is that so?

Are there differences in 

the employment patterns 

of men and women?

Are there differences 

between men and 

women in R&D 

opportunities?

Are there differences in 

the way men and women 

perceive risk and 

reward?

“U.S. based women demonstrate 

increasing leadership in patent and 

trademark activities.”

Do you agree with this 

observation? Why?

What accounts for this 

trend?

Do women have more 

opportunities to take the 

lead in research and 

development?

“There is a surge of innovation by 

women in some of the emerging 

high-tech industries.”

Do you agree with this 

statement? If not, why? 

What accounts for the 

greater participation by 

women in the high-tech 

sector?

“The number of patents granted to

women is increasing at an 

accelerating pace.”

Why is there a 

noticeable jump in 

patent activity in the 

midst of a continuing, 

prolonged recession?

Is it a reflection of more 

women becoming 

entrepreneurs?

Does it reflect increasing 

investment by U.S. 

companies in R&D?
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Does it reflect an 

increasing awareness by 

women of the benefits of 

patent protection?

Does it show increasing 

participation in patent 

activity by recent 

immigrants?

Are the standards for 

granting of patents more 

lenient now as compared 

to those thirty years 

ago?

Our quantitative analysis shows that 

“19.77% of all patents by men were 

unassigned as compared to 29.41% 

for women.”

Why do you think this 

is so?

Is there a difference 

between men and 

women in independent 

entrepreneurship?

Are women more likely 

to be independent 

entrepreneurs and keep 

their patents unassigned 

while men are more 

likely to be leading the 

research in businesses 

and corporations?

“The ratio of successful women 

patent applicants to successful men 

patent applicants varies from a low 

of 73.36% in 1986 to a high of 

93.57% in 2002.”

What factors influence 

this trend?

Opportunity?

Education?

Social factors?

Legislation?

Protocols Section 2: Questions of interest to the NWBC

Questions raised in the 

RFQ

Lead-in Question Follow-on Questions

Introductions

What are the perceived 

barriers facing women 

entrepreneurs 

surrounding protecting 

their IP?

Have you ever 

applied for a patent or 

trademark? If so, 

what are your 

perceptions of the 

process?

How complex was the process?

How drawn out was the process? 

How expensive was it?

Were you concerned that your ideas 

would get stolen once they were 

disclosed?

What is your perception of the 

USPTO web site? Is it user friendly?

Were you familiar with the patent 
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and trademark process before you 

applied for IP protection?

How responsive are the current 

patent and trademark processes to 

modern technological needs?

Do you perceive that there is a 

gender gap in patents and 

trademarks? Why do you think so? 

What specific difficulties did you 

face in pursuing IP protection as a 

woman entrepreneur?

If your first application was rejected, 

what did you do? Where did you get 

help from? Do you perceive that as a 

woman entrepreneur you 

experienced specific hurdles in 

getting follow-on help?

Do you perceive that the 

participation of women in patent and 

trademark activity is increasing? 

Why do you think so? What do you 

think accounts for this 

increase/decrease? Are there 

economic or cultural factors at work 

here?

What is your perception about IP 

protection in the international 

marketplace? What is your 

experience in this matter? Do you 

perceive a gender bias in the 

international marketplace? Why do 

you think so? 

What are the actual 

barriers?

Please describe your 

actual experience 

with the IP process. 

Are there specific difficulties that 

you experienced as a small business?

Are there specific difficulties that 

women owned business experience?

Are there specific difficulties that 

single mothers (entrepreneurs) 

experience?

Is financing available to women 

entrepreneurs? Is there a gender bias 

in obtaining finance for business?

Are there cultural barriers that 

women entrepreneurs face?

How familiar are you with the help 

that is available from the USPTO?
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How familiar are you with the 

assistance offered by SBA programs 

to women entrepreneurs?

How do we address these 

barriers?

What suggestions 

would you offer to 

improve the process 

for women 

entrepreneurs?

How would you make the process 

simpler?

Do you have specific 

recommendations that would help 

small business?

Do you have specific 

recommendations that would help 

women owned businesses?

What can the SBA do to help women 

entrepreneurs?

What can the USPTO do to help 

women entrepreneurs?

How can technology help? 

What are the long term 

effects on businesses that 

receive patents and 

successfully market their 

IP?

Do you know of 

specific case histories 

of women 

entrepreneurs who 

received a patent or 

trademark and built a 

business upon it? 

What accounted for their 

success/failure?

Closing comments

TRANSCRIPTIONS AND NARRATIVE

The focus groups were conducted as planned, in Northern California and the Washington, DC 

metro area in the time period August 25, 2012 to August 30, 2012. Audio recordings were made 

and transcribed and a narrative was developed from the transcripts.

There was convergence on several issues among the disparate focus groups. These issues were

captured and highlighted in each of the major areas of interest, namely, perceptions, reality, fix 

and the benefits of IP protection. These are stated in the participant’s own words.

1. Focus group 1 in Walnut Creek, CA, Women who successfully applied for and received 

IP protection.

2. Focus group 2 in Walnut Creek, CA, Women who applied for but did not receive a patent 

or trademark.

3. Focus Group 3 in Walnut Creek, CA, Women who have never applied for a patent or 

trademark.

4. Focus group 4 in Walnut Creek, CA. Women who have never applied for a patent or 

trademark.
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5. Focus group 5 in Arlington, VA. Women who successfully applied for and received IP 

protection.

6. Focus group 6 in Arlington, VA. Women who applied for but did not receive a patent or 

trademark.

QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT MOTIVATE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN 

THEIR SUCCESSFUL PURSUIT OF A PATENT OR TRADEMARK>

As with other questions in this study, the motivations for applying for and successfully pursuing 

a patent or trademark are complex. Perceptions of risk and reward, increasing the value of the 

company, adding credibility to one’s business, gaining recognition and increasing revenues all 

enter into the equation. Financial ability to hire professional help in pursuing IP protection 

appears to be a major differentiator between those 

who successfully pursue a patent or trademark 

application and those who abandon the pursuit. We 

reproduce below some of the comments from the 

participants in the focus groups to illustrate this 

observation.

“I applied for patents to increase the value of my 

company. Down the line I wanted to sell it as an 

entity. I had no trouble getting a patent but I did go 

through a patent attorney. It cost me a little money. But it made it a little easier. I thought it was 

worth it.”

“I have a positive experience with trademarks. I know someone who works in the patent office 

(who helped me). I found different groups in the USPTO system. I read up on everything. I tried 

every group. But then I have three years’ experience in the health field. I applied in the fall. I 

heard next May.”

“We have an expression in nursing that if it’s not documented, then it didn’t happen. That’s the 

advantage of a patent or a trademark because it forces you to document and this country runs on 

documentation.”

“The reason I applied (for a trademark) is that it adds credibility and it adds value to a business. 

You get protection and in addition when people see these names...they take you seriously.”

“I thought it was important to get the name recognition.”

“It generates more revenue.”

“The reason I applied (for a 

trademark) is that it adds 

credibility and it adds value to a 

business. You get protection and 

in addition when people see these 

names...they take you seriously.”
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“I think it was definitely worth dealing with that company that specialized in handling trademark 

applications.”

WHY DO WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ABANDON THEIR PATENT OR 

TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS?

A host of perceived and real factors, influence this issue. Some of the most important factors are: 

Fear and awe of the process, the absence of clear, easy to understand documentation, lack of 

financial resources to obtain professional help, discouragement from family, friends and 

advisors, and the demands of multiple roles as an entrepreneur, mother and caregiver. Here are a 

few representative comments:

“The discouragement from society, from parents or 

friends rather than any rejection from the USPTO is 

what accounts for a patent or trademark application 

abandonment. People say...”Oh, girl! Why don’t you 

play with your dolls? Why do you want to do 

something in hi tech”.

“I came up with the idea. I made the drawings, and I 

got some of the people at CalPoly in the manufacturing 

business. So I started creating it. And then I just 

stopped because of the discouragement (from peers).”

“I was married once and I don’t think my husband would have supported me in what I am doing 

and I would not have realized what I have realized. For a man it is different. If a man is trying 

something, the woman would support him. If there are more patents and trademarks for men, that 

might be a reason.”

“Fear of the process, not knowing and understanding it. I delayed eight years from the time I 

knew I needed to do it (file for a trademark).”

“In most women’s situations, they are a little entity and that’s why they are abandoning them 

because they are footing the bill.”

“Not understanding the process because it is not laid out. So that you can print it off and say, step 

1 on January 1, step 2 on January 2 and so on.”

“It is a lot more work to do for a patent than it is for a trademark. It is a lot more involved.”

“Once you have a patent or once it is pending, you have deep enough pockets, if it is a good 

enough product to defend it.”

“Women have multiple roles.

“I still think there is some gender differentiation especially with the older generation. maybe not 

so much with the younger generation.”

“The discouragement from 

society, from parents or friends 

rather than any rejection from the 

USPTO is what accounts for a 

patent or trademark application 

abandonment.”
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“I had to reapply for my trademark. I did not know I had to renew it. Somehow I found it I 

couldn’t use it any more. A friend of mine works in the patent office. I had lunch with her. I 

asked her, “My trademark has expired. What do I do?” I had to reply for it all over again. Very 

irritating!”

WHY DO SOME WOMEN 

ENTREPRENEURS NEVER APPLY FOR A 

PATENT OR TRADEMARK

Perceptions of the patent and trademark process as 

complex, expensive and drawn out play a large part in

the decisions of women entrepreneurs not to file for IP protection. Other reasons include: lack of 

a support system, web sites that are not user friendly and mired in legal language, obscurity of 

the process and a perception that a cost-benefit analysis of IP protection does not justify the 

investment in time and money. A few comments from the participants are reproduced below:

“To me, the reason I did not apply for a patent or trademark is that I don’t understand how the 

process works. I don’t know how to go about it. I have asked different people. Not everyone has 

a patent or trademark for their product. I am not sure it will help me.”

“There is nobody out there to help me. The process is so obscure. I am getting along fine without 

a patent or trademark. I didn’t even know I could get one. It does not bother me one bit.”

“I am not familiar with the process. What does it take to get a trademark?”

“I looked up the internet once. It was all so complex, I just gave up.”

“I have heard it takes anywhere from two to seven years. By the time I get a patent, probably 

what I am doing will have changed, anyway.”

“Awe of the process...In my mind it was not something a little person would do.”

“It is very expensive. I am told it can cost up to ten thousand dollars to get a patent.”

“I am doing very well in business. I don’t see any advantage to getting a patent or trademark.”

BARRIERS TO REDUCING GENDER INEQUALITY

The question was asked: What barriers do women entrepreneurs face in reducing gender 

inequality in patents and trademarks?

Traditional cultural paradigms do not breakdown easily; they only wither away. Women 

entrepreneurs who strive in a business world dominated by men face an uphill battle in getting 

acceptance as intellectual peers. Women are still expected to be mothers and caregivers in the 

traditional sense. The pressures of modern life wherein a large number of women are single 

mothers struggling to support a family and at the same time pursuing entrepreneurship add to the 

stresses on women. Further research needs to be done to understand quantitatively and 

“There is nobody out there to help 

me. The process is so obscure. I am 

getting along fine without a patent 

or trademark.”
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qualitatively the influence of various social and business factors on the success or failure of 

women entrepreneurs. Some comments from the focus groups are offered below:

“As a woman, they do not listen to you. I am the CEO of a company. Once I answered a call 

from a customer. He said, “Could I speak to some man who knows the business?”

“I think it is societal values. People do not take a woman seriously as they do with a man. They 

ask you, “How do you know you are going to be 

successful?” Who asks a man that question?”

“A large number of women are single mothers. 

Women are single, with or without children. And 

they have to support themselves. They are pretty 

much on their own. They have to be pretty 

inventive.”

“They expect you to do things for free. I mean it’s constant. I was just asked to take on a 

production for a very, very major author. “Well, I can do all of this but I’m not going to do it for 

free.” Well, it was like everybody was flabbergasted. And I say, “Well, why don’t you give it 

to...” and I named some male colleagues. (laughter) I mean it’s really blatant. It’s not in my 

imagination at all. Male chauvinism? I lost a client over the same thing because they weren’t 

even paying as much as everybody else. And they tried to talk me down. They tried to do other 

things. They tried to take my intellectual property. And my contract they had signed for 6 years 

and turned it completely around. And this is a man’s world.”

“I was working at a university when they started promoting men in nursing, in the late 1990s. 

They (the men) jumped the gun and said, “I’m male. I’m good. I can lead.”

“Men’s workday ends at 5. Women’s ends when they go to bed. And that’s a fact.”

“Yes. Women have several jobs every day and only one of them is in the work place. The other 

jobs, well, they do not get paid for them---traditional roles that women perform. So, yes, it is 

exhausting.”

My own experience is...when I first started to apply for a patent I was told by an ex-patent 

examiner, “Get your husband on it and you will have a better chance.”

“I think that what is happening to women even in all of our evolution, is that we’re still expected 

to be June Cleavers (TV show character).

“Even with us doing what we do in the work force, is that when we come home we take off our 

cool Brooks Brothers/Ann Taylor suit and put on our June Cleaver dress and the apron: “Hi 

honey. Dinner’s ready... And she cooked in high heels.”

“I still think it is a man’s world. I think a woman has to struggle to get accepted especially when 

you present your product and you try to sell it. They are always all men. Everywhere there are 

men. There are very few women.”

“Women entrepreneurs who strive 

in a business world dominated by 

men face an uphill battle in getting 

acceptance as intellectual peers.”
17

“Yes, I think there is still some discrimination. It makes a difference if you are a man or a 

woman.”

“There’s another layer of complexity to your question. From my own experience, the first years 

that I made significant money, and by significant I mean I earned a six figure income, I really 

was very happy but inside myself I really looked at whether this impacts my femininity.

“Now I was doing a man’s role. I was supposed to be at home cooking dinner and taking care of 

kids. And I had a hard time because when I was working for (Fortune 100) corporation in my 

day, working with all men. Your personality changes; you become harder. You feminine side is 

gone because you have to make sure you’re staying up with the guys...you’re running with the 

bulls.”

INCREASING PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN HI TECH INDUSTRIES

The quantitative analysis showed that 12.95% of the 

patents in Photography and Optical Equipment had 

at least 1 U.S. woman inventor. For Optical 

Waveguides, 11.55% of the patents had at least 1 

woman inventor. Optics, Eye Examining, Vision 

Testing and Correcting came in third at 10.91%.

This is a noteworthy trend as hi tech industries tend to generate high paying jobs and have a 

substantial effect on the output of the nation’s goods and services. Several factors influence this 

trend. Changing perceptions of gender roles in American society, the entry of more women into

science and engineering, increasing access to higher education, legislation and law suits have all 

contributed to the successful entry of women into hi-tech sectors. However, there persists a wide 

gender gap that needs to be addressed. These observations are illustrated by a few selected 

comments from the focus group participants reproduced below:

“There are several other factors here. People do not talk about women’s lib any more. Back in 

the 1960s we were breaking through a lot of stereotypes ---of a women being a secretary to a 

man, being the support system at home and not going out in the work place. So, all of that has 

changed and that is what-- forty, fifty years or more. It is changing attitudes about what women 

can do. It is women getting into different fields of education and also getting more advanced 

degrees. “

“Society is more accepting of what women do. But there is still a lot of drag. They get pulled 

down.”

“It’s money.”

“And there are no barriers.”

“And it’s the future.”

“There’s more opportunity, more education.”

“Society is more accepting of what 

women do. But there is still a lot of 

drag.”
18

“I think more women are going into the sciences than in the past.”

“I think women are becoming more independent because their roles in the workplace are 

changing. Although the U.S. has achieved some equality between men and women, in the board 

rooms women are under-represented. There was a study done in a Fortune 500 company. It 

showed that 27.4 percent of Fortune 500 companies have no women executive officers. For that 

reason, women feel that they need to be more empowered.”

“Now, over the years, there has been an evolution so that there is more equality in the work 

place.

“There have been a lot of law suits too.”

WHY IS THERE A GENDER GAP IN THE ASSIGNMENT OF PATENTS AND 

TRADEMARKS?

The question was asked: The quantitative analysis 

showed that more men assign their patents and 

trademarks to companies as compared to women. 

Why do you think it is so?

This question relates to the relative participation of 

men and women in entrepreneurship. Most startups 

are small businesses headed up by individuals or a 

small group. The answers from the participants 

confirmed that indeed most women tend to be small businesspersons as compared to men who 

may have jobs with large corporations.

“More men work for large corporations than do women. Women tend to be small entrepreneurs. 

I think there are more resources when you work for large organizations so that they can go for 

their patents or the support that you would have within an organization. Small entrepreneurs do 

not have such resources.”

THE IMPACT OF RECESSION

The question was asked: “How has the recession 

impacted women entrepreneurs?”

The prolonged recession since 2007 has had a 

profound impact in the work place. While many 

women have lost their jobs, the perception is that the recession has hit men harder than women.

Women entrepreneurs, by and large, look upon the recession as a challenge and an opportunity. 

They show a remarkable resilience in not just sustaining their business but in innovation as well. 

This aspect of intellectual property protection, namely, the impact of recession on patents and 

trademarks needs to be investigated further.

“The gender gap in patent and 

trademark assignments relates to 

patterns of employment. More men 

work for large corporations as 

compared to women who tend to be 

entrepreneurs.”

“The recession has leveled the 

playing field...and everybody has 

had to step back and rethink”.
19

“What I find that in the recession, women’s jobs are safer than men’s jobs.”

“It has leveled the playing field for one thing. And everybody has had to step back and rethink.”

“The recession affected my pet sitting business because people were no longer traveling and my 

niche market was doing overnights. Two sides of the coin: really bad for pet sitting so I said, 

“Well, like she said there’s money out there...let me recreate myself.”

“The recession has caused me from licensing my patent to selling them outright. Because 

companies that had before saw an opportunity to licensing and making big bucks are very 

hesitant because of the market.”

“Recession has also forced us to work harder.”

“It’s just increased their game. Their hustle level just got more intense. They just started to draw 

on everything within them and it just made them up their game.”

THE ROLE OF FINANCE

The question was asked: How difficult is it for women entrepreneurs to pursue IP protection 

because they do not have access to financing? Is there a gender gap in financing?

There was unanimity on the importance of finance in business but there was a difference of 

opinion among the women entrepreneurs as to what factors influenced a successful loan 

application or a grant. There appear to be 

demographic differences in the success rate. Women 

who were experienced and more business savvy took 

the time to prepare credible business plans as backup 

to their credit applications and were successful. 

Younger and less experienced women were not as 

careful in their applications. They had less of a track record and were less successful in obtaining 

loans. The demographic aspect of finance for women entrepreneurs needs to be investigated 

further. Here are a few excerpts from the focus groups:

“I’ve had pretty good luck getting a loan.”

“I have too and I think it was a demographic. I was a woman. I was middle aged. I think I hit the 

nail.”

“I created a serious business plan but the bottom line was that I didn’t get any sales yet. At that 

point he had to bet on me. He (the investor) is betting on a demand, on sales. My feeling is that 

before you get to that point, you’re at a disadvantage if you’re a woman.”

“In terms of getting an answer to your question about whether there is a gender gap, I think that 

gender gap happens in the beginning when they’re just betting on you as a person.”

“I think gender gap (in financing) 

happens in the beginning when they 

are just betting on you as a person”
20

“Well you have to show what are yours returns, what are your distributions. What is the take 

away from this? How are you going to benefit as a patron? You have to have everything spelled 

out.”

“The basic driver in Silicon Valley is education. If you happen to have a PhD from Stanford or 

MIT or something like that, that makes a difference, whether or not you are a man or a woman. 

That’s number one. Number two, your team.”

“Then there are specific programs that are available to minorities, to women, etc. There was a 

very successful case that was pointed out to us using Cloud Funding in Oakland, California.”

“I think there is more than one track. I think there is intellectual property and there is product. A 

product may be easier to sell although you do not know if he is backing you or the product.”

“Everyone knows about the Shark Tank. There is a national group and the district group is based 

here in Georgetown University called the Dolphin Tank. I think to some extent they help you 

with investments but mostly they help you with your pitch.”

“If you already have a patent or trademark, does it make it easier to procure a loan, or it doesn’t 

matter? I think it doesn’t matter. The patent does not help you.”

“I would like to have a website which would tell me where the funds are, where women have an 

opportunity to start, hopefully (to obtain loans) at a discounted interest rate.”

THERE IS AMBIVALENCE AMONG 

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ABOUT THE 

BENEFITS OF HOLDING A PATENT

Most women entrepreneurs are ambivalent about the 

benefit of a patent. The expenses are high and the 

waiting period is long. Unless it is a product that has a 

large market potential, the perception is that a patent 

is not worth it. There are also concerns about patent 

encroachment, especially in the international market.

Women entrepreneurs are more positive about the benefits of a trademark. The process is easier, 

waiting periods are short and the benefits of name recognition are widely appreciated.

“If I had to do it over again, I would put the product in the marketplace. If it does well, it doesn’t 

take any time to do a provisional patent.”

“And I just think that you’ve spent so much money and energy for the patent but you don’t get 

much back. That’s my really big issue. Right now I should be starting to make money but then 

because of so much legal fees I can’t start making money. And I have so many legal bills. It’s 

just not worth it.”

“If I had to do it over again, I 

would put the product in the 

marketplace. If it does well, it 

doesn’t take any time to do a 

provisional patent.”
21

“I think we should differentiate between patents and trademarks. Trademarks are a good idea, 

even if you are a small business. You want to get your name out there and protect it with a 

trademark. You want people to remember your product so that you get business, whereas with a 

patent, unless you are a big corporation, they can walk all over you. You see that patents are 

being disregarded in other countries. How are you going to go to China to sue somebody? Or, a 

European patent that is infringing on yours?”

“If I had a friend who was going for a patent, I would say, good luck to you, it is going to cost 

you a lot of money and it may well be that a big corporation is going to steal your idea, tweak it a 

little bit. You are just not going to be able to sue a big corporation. You hear of some such stories 

but that is one in a million. Basically it is not going to be very successful.”

PERCEPTIONS

THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK 

PROCESSES ARE TOO COMPLEX, DRAWN

OUT AND EXPENSIVE

This is the most common perception of women 

entrepreneurs. Indeed, this perception is so 

widespread that it becomes a hard core belief. It cuts across industries, regions or the degree of 

success with the patent and trademark process. Those who have never applied for a patent or a 

trademark express this opinion most often. Those who did apply but were not successful in 

obtaining a patent or trademark did surmount the perceived difficulties of filing an application 

but were frustrated when they got their first rejection, objection or request for further 

explanations. Those who have successfully obtained IP protection seem to have used legal 

counsel or to have carefully and meticulously followed the instructions given by the USPTO.

As we explore this issue deeper, we find that it is a systemic issue that is tied in with a large 

number of issues - the paperwork, the legal requirements, the time it takes to understand the 

processes, the cost of obtaining IP protection and the long timelines, From the perspective of the 

entrepreneur, there is a disconnect between the business needs of entrepreneurs and the legal 

requirements of IP protection. Entrepreneurs who are often pressed to be the first on the market 

with their products or services are torn between spending their time pursuing patent and 

trademark protection and the demands of marketing and sales. Very often, technology or market 

conditions have changed so much in the time needed to obtain IP protection that the patent or 

trademark may have lost its relevance in the marketplace.

If perceptions are reality, they modulate business strategies and business decisions. Most women 

entrepreneurs approach the IP protection process with a combination of enthusiasm and 

bewilderment. Those who have not obtained a patent or trademark in the past are most likely to 

feel frustrated by the seemingly complex processes.

Perception: “I looked into patents 

but after looking into it I was so 

convoluted with nothing for me.”
22

Submitted below are some quotes from the focus group participants about this issue.

“I looked into patents but after looking into it, it was so convoluted with nothing for me. I 

couldn’t just grab anything. I couldn’t hold onto the information. Last week, I even looked into 

the internet and it was just too much of nothing.”

“...The reason why it never worked for me is the complexity of the process. In a legal system 

that I don’t want to have anything to do with, the legal system is not friendly to women.

“I think there is a perceived cost that doubles with the lack of information.”

“My own personal perception is it is expensive. The process time is lengthy to do it. And then 

once, even if it is done, the investment to acquire an attorney to pay for the initial cost, to even 

present it to the patent office, is almost like you wait X number of months and then somebody 

has already done it. You invested all this money and now there is no return.”

“What is the benefit of it all? As you were saying, I have come up with this idea, why bother?

And I told my friend I have this idea where you can button your pants (laughter) and I was 

excited. My friend said: “Excuse me honey but that is already out there”. So I felt good. I didn’t 

waste much time developing this thing to find out that it is already out there.”

“...So I ended up getting a patent attorney. It cost me a fortune. I wouldn’t change it. But it will 

take me years to pay to recover the funds. I am glad I got him because he wrote all the patents as 

one patent. I don’t think I could have done it on my own.”

“I want it to be very easy...1, 2, 3 steps - makes it very easy to apply. But when they give you an 

official rejection, then it’s go through the appeal process which is very-- you have to be an 

attorney. I have a master’s degree in finance. I started to do a joint JD. I started to read that and 

you know, you needed to have an attorney.”

“And he says, “Why didn’t you pursue this (patent)?” I said, “Well, I am a single parent with two 

kids. I work at (a Fortune 500 company) all day long. Where is my time?”

“When I did feel like I had all my market research done and I was ready to actually apply for it, 

oh my gosh, it was just doing the paperwork itself and the diagrams, and how it works, getting 

all that information where I thought that even one of my clients who has special needs could 

understand this. And sending it in and having them come back to me saying, “No, we do not 

understand this. You need to make this a little clearer. This looks like...this process looks similar 

to this one here, how is yours different?”

“I question, having the patent for a while now, whether it is really worth the effort. I think on 

future things that we will probably go ahead and do a provisional and just see if there is a market 

out there for it and go ahead and manufacture it, license it, whatever, and put it out there. If it 

looks like something that is going to take off and really needs the protection of a patent, then 

maybe go ahead and proceed with the patent process.”
23

“I think it (the process) is intentionally intimidating.... I think they don’t want to fix it because 

they don’t perceive it as broken.”

“If somebody infringes on your right, you have to go after them and I do think to myself 

sometimes that if somebody was infringing, to what extent would I go after them? I guess I could 

write them a nasty letter but would I go to court, probably not. It’s expensive.”

“So I said, “....What should I do? I have this idea, I even have a name.” He said, “Well, I would 

definitely trademark that.” So, I did go online. I didn’t find it difficult....Since I had applied in 

July of 2010, I got a letter in September saying that they were reviewing it. And by the following 

March, I had my certificate.”

“They have these multiple filing dates. You file one and then after two years you have to file 

again and after 10 years – I think I’m on the 12 year mark this year on one.”

“Mine expired and I didn’t even know it. On the back of the certificate it says, in the 7th year you 

have to reapply. And I don’t know about the 2 year thing. I never had -. But mine went out and I 

didn’t even realize it and I couldn’t reapply.”

FEARS ABOUT IP THEFT ARE WIDESPREAD

Fear is a strong deterrent to innovation. To 

successfully patent or trademark an innovation one 

must not only meet legal requirements but must have 

the capability to defend the idea from poachers. Deep 

pockets are often a requirement for legal defense. This

fact acts as a filter on innovation ideas. Most 

vulnerable are small and micro-businesses that do not 

have the financial means to defend their IP in a competitive economy dominated by big 

businesses.

The widespread fear of theft was a surprise factor that popped up as we probed deeper into why 

women do or do not file for IP protection. Case after case of IP theft was narrated by the 

participants. While some of this perception may be attributed to the fact that the entrepreneur 

failed to do adequate research into the existing art, many of the cases were genuine and were an 

expression of the frustrations felt by women who had an original idea but as soon as they shared 

it with someone, it was stolen. The theft may come from colleagues, competitors, friends as well 

as bosses. What is surprising is that the fear of theft was rampant among those who had never

applied for a patent or trademark as well as with women who had applied for and either obtained 

IP protection or had abandoned the application after it was filed.

While the contributions made by large businesses in innovation are recognized, documented and 

protected, the contributions of small and micro businesses are underrepresented in the research 

because so much of it is lost before it surfaces at the reportable levels. Further research needs to 

be done to quantify the extent to which small and micro businesses contribute to innovation. 

Perception: “There is 

widespread fear that ideas get 

stolen once they are disclosed in a 

patent or trademark application.”
24

While the number of patents and trademarks are one measure of the innovative vibrancy of the 

economy, it does not adequately represent the innovative ideas that are abandoned because they 

were stolen or not pursued because the innovator felt that it did not make economic sense to 

invest time and energy pursuing an idea that would be stolen anyway.

“You know, I want to make enough money to enjoy life, to help my family, to do some things 

with the youth. And I wrote a poem and ...then I heard $$$$ (person) sing my poem on TV. And

even now my mind goes: ‘What?’ It was word for word. That’s what got me...”

“At a yoga teacher conference I shared my idea about the type of yoga that I was working on

with the owner. The next thing I knew he had it on his website: $$$$ (name of a product), which 

is what I had come up with.”

“Yes, he owns half of the patent now because the gentleman went behind my back, filed it, sold 

it to $$$$ (person) to get the funds because he had the money.”

“...it has been really frustrating. We did everything that we should have done. I followed 

everything that my patent attorney said to do. “Okay, file provisional first”. Then we also filed a 

utility (application) but we are still waiting for it to be approved. But while you are waiting for

your patent to be approved, it is a long process, and people are just taking advantage of that and 

they just come up with the (copied products)...”

“We’ve had a lot of copycats since we introduced our product. These big companies, they take 

our name - it is almost the same. And the next problem with trademarks is how do you defend 

them? And now we have stuff constantly coming from Asia. They are so bold. They will send 

you an email with a picture of your product.”

“..They cross engineered it and it’s still not as good. But they are a big company. They market in 

a totally different way.

“They are going to steal the idea. They are going to do everything they can so you really have no 

protection. So you have a piece of paper that says you have a patent.”

“I would like to have that patented, trademarked or copyrighted but after the experience that I 

had after a year...I don’t even know if it is worth going through it ....”

“What I know of it is that it is a very expensive process to patent. The concern is, you spend all 

that money, I mean thousands of dollars, and somebody can copy it anyway. All they have to do 

is change that one little thing. Sometimes you wonder if it is worth it. And you also need a big 

legal team behind it so that you can even fight it. So if they copy your product, unless you go 

after them with a huge amount of money at the cost of tens of thousands, it doesn’t make sense.”

“And I had my intellectual property stolen by one of the largest non-profits in the country.”

“There is a group in Europe using my domain name. When they started using it, they put a little 

letter before it.”
25

“I presented it at an international leadership conference in Prague and I am seeing things that are 

verbatim all over the place...close enough to home that I am suspicious. Good ideas can happen 

to different people at the same time but why it’s the exact same words, I am not sure.”

“And it is interesting to note that people in the business are sometimes the worst offenders for 

intellectual property.”

“...A lot of investors say, if you file for a patent, you have to publish it, all the details, publicly. 

Everybody can look at it and know what you are doing there.

Moderator: You mean copy it?

Participant: Learn something from it. Eventually, it doesn’t really protect your work.

Moderator: Do you all agree that you feel that if you were to get a patent it does not necessarily 

protect you?

Participants (in unison): Absolutely.

Moderator: There appears to be a consensus around the table, more or less?

Participants: (in unison) “Yes.”

THERE IS LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT 

THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK PROCESS

While the available information about the patent and 

trademark process is comprehensive and complete, it 

is not easily available to potential users or is not easily understood by them. To the first time 

user, the patent and trademark process is often a mystery. She approaches the process with a 

degree of awe, often with preconceived notions gathered from friends and colleagues. She is 

looking for a support system that would explain in simple, easy to understand terms the 

requirements, the process, the methodology and the steps that need to be followed in the 

application process. The issue is one of both simplicity and ease of use. Of particular concern is 

the need of a support system to sustain an innovator after that first rejection from the patent 

office. While considerable strides have been made in the direction of providing simple, easy to 

follow instructions, there remains considerable room for improvement, especially as the process 

applies to small and micro businesses.

“When you work for an employer, even though I worked for so long, I never knew that I could 

do a patent while you are working for an employer because you think that your ideas are a part of 

the project though I am the one who is researching - but I am researching on their time.”

“Over the years I came up with ideas all the time, and I thought, “Wow, I should go for a utility 

patent or a design patent. It is a great idea”. And then I let it fall through. So I am here because I 

know I am ignorant about the process and I think it is time for ideas to work for me.”

“The reasons many women do not apply for IP protection are: lack of knowledge.”

Perception: “I did not know I 

could patent or trademark that.”
26

“...It points back to the barriers that I was thinking of. I am not sure if they are real or perceived. 

Not understanding the value of the business and how having these things of IP will create value, 

not understanding the importance of creating a brand, not having a basic understanding of 

intellectual property.”

“For me, the actual barriers are the time lines. You’re not sure what you’re doing. Like what I 

said, is it a trademark or a service mark? By the time you probably figure out what you probably 

should have been doing, you’re already too late.”

“.....When you talk about lack of information, well, that is the very first barrier that they are 

preventing (you from patents and trademarks).”

THE USPTO WEBSITE IS NOT USER FRIENDLY

One of the themes that surfaces again and again in the focus group discussions is that the patent 

and trademark process is not sufficiently responsive to small and micro business or to individual 

entrepreneurs. The perception that the USPTO 

website is not user friendly should be understood in 

that context. Summarily, the existing website is 

comprehensive and user friendly but the perception is 

that it requires a great deal of patience and perspicacity to wade through it. It is not so much a 

question of a lack of information; the information is all there. It is rather a question of how it is 

presented and how user friendly it is for someone who is totally unfamiliar with the IP protection 

process. This reinforces our observation that a two step process for IP protection would go a long 

way towards addressing this issue and helping the individual entrepreneurs or micro businesses. 

Innovation by individual entrepreneurs and micro businesses is one fountainhead of creativity 

that is perhaps not tapped as efficiently as it can be. A first step may be taken in this direction by 

implementing a website geared specifically to small entrepreneurs. The institution of a two tier 

IP protection schema would require higher level authorization or perhaps even a legislative 

remedy.

Here are some quotes from the focus groups:

“I didn’t do the patent drawings although my office used to do that. We specialized in ..., and I 

had a very good firm for that and that was doable except that figuring out how to do it from the

government’s website is a chore. And there’s a fair amount of wrong information on it. When 

you call their little help desk and it seems you always get some old guys who “really want to 

help you honey” and they said, “No no. Don’t send in this form. Do this. Here’s the list of what 

you need” but it’s not described in plain terms on the government website. It’s awful.”

“I would say that my experience with the trademark back in the old days when you didn’t have 

the computer was much easier. Because things were on paper and they were much more 

simplified. Now that they use the computer everything is so wordy, so complicated and 

impossible to find. So it has gotten much more complicated.”

Perception: “The USPTO website is 

too complex and not user friendly.”
27

“Because right now, when I look at it... it’s just too much “legalese”. I don’t get it. And I’m an 

educated person.”

WOMEN ARE DISCOURAGED FROM GOING INTO SCIENCE AND 

TECHNOLOGY

As observed in the quantitative study that preceded the qualitative work, the contribution of 

women in the scientific and technical disciplines, as measured by the number of patents and 

trademarks granted, has shown a sustained and noteworthy increase over the last twenty years. 

Nonetheless the perception persists that women are discouraged from pursuing careers in science 

and technology. Cultural paradigms die hard. The 

American culture, like the culture of so much of the 

world, is a prisoner of long held notions about the 

role of women in society, the differences between 

men and women based on “the right side of the brain” 

versus “the left side of the brain”, childcare, family 

responsibilities and a host of other set ideas. 

Certainly, the gender gap, as measured by patents and 

trademarks filed and granted, is decreasing. But it is also true that the gap persists. Cultural 

norms in America are varied; one shoe does not fit all. Whether the gender gap relates to how 

boys and girls are brought up in families or if indeed the gap can be closed and how are subject 

matters for further research.

These observations are illustrated by a few select comments from the focus group participants:

“I think that we as women are often not encouraged to do science, not encouraged to think about 

technical things and that is where I want to excel.”

“When we are on our own, then there is so much cultural stigma, ancestral background of 

limitations and roles.”

“But there are women who would let the traditional barriers stop them. There are some of us who 

are saying: “With the support of my sisters I know we can do this together”. But some of us are 

saying: “I can’t wait. I could die where I live right now, not making it to eighteen. And so I got 

to step out now, hell or high water. So I got to do it right now. So there are two ideas running in 

parallel.”

“I always thought that mothers taught men or fathers taught men to be aggressive and positive 

about themselves. It is a natural thing for them to be positive about what they want and where 

they want to go and what they want to receive from it.”

“...Even with all the advancements that women have made - the female are still looked upon -

“well honey, well sweetie, why don’t you...”

“...My personal belief is just that men are different from the day they are born.”

Perception: “Women are 

discouraged from getting into 

science and technology...there is a 

gender bias here which is culture 

bound”
28

“I was the only African American female in this company and the thing in medical device sales 

is that it is male dominated. And I have always feared that I would bring up an idea, it would be 

taken from me because I was perceived to be young and maybe I did not know what I was 

doing.”

“I came here (to the US) thinking there is no gender (gap), no difference, discrimination. And I 

am shocked that there is really a lot here that I did not think it existed.”

“It is the subculture. I mean like the Indians. They want you to be more mathematical. So you 

head towards the engineering field or something related but there are other cultures that are, for 

instance the Filipino, I mean they are saturated in nursing.”

“I was raised bi-internationally... all of the males have been raised with the understanding that 

they will go into that career side (engineering) while the women are trained in education, 

academics, literature, the fine arts, dancing.”

“...It is different depending upon financially where you are growing up, sociologically who are 

the people that you are surrounded by, culturally, in the global perspective, do you believe you 

are one with people who are in India or do you believe that in China?”

“You know it is different. There are outside relationships. What women have with their superiors 

is just working, and have coffee talk conversations but there is always the sports talk, and that 

kind of leads to other things. They learn about patents and copyrights and that leads to other 

conversations.”

“The networking is so important. After work, I see that the guys go to the bar and talk. I was not 

a part of that group.”

A FEMALE VOICE AT THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE?

The USPTO has made enormous strides in hiring and training women patent examiners. A 

majority of patent examiners, perhaps as many as sixty 

percent, are women. Nonetheless, the perception persists 

among women entrepreneurs that there are an 

insufficient number of women patent examiners. The 

perception arises not so much from who answers a call 

for help but how it is handled. Most women who call the 

USPTO for help or visit their regional offices for help 

are entrepreneurs or individual innovators who do not 

have the financial means to hire an attorney. They 

require detailed answers and pointers towards information that may be available somewhere on 

the website. Sensitivity training for the USPTO help desk is perhaps the answer.

Here are a few quotes:

Perception: “Women prefer to talk 

to women patent examiners. The 

perception is that examiners are 

not sufficiently sensitive to the 

specific needs of women 

entrepreneurs.”
29

“My experience when I called or went to the office in San Francisco, I always spoke to men. I 

didn’t see women. I didn’t have the opportunity to talk to a woman.”

“I do remember when you were talking about the attorney that there was actually a woman who 

really helped me because I had some problems in terms of trying to get the service mark....We 

had to go back and forth. I was impressed with how she really was working hard to make sure 

that I got this.”

AN ARCHAIC PROCESS?

Calls for a strategic rethinking of the patent and trademark process were made by some of the 

participants. The current process labors under the burden of history, the rapidity of technological 

obsolescence and the pressures that it creates to bring 

a product or service rapidly to market. Progress has 

been made in accommodating these challenges but it 

is perceived to lag behind the needs of the times. The 

reference to an archaic patent and trademark process

comes up in multiple contexts while probing the issues of process complexity, inordinate 

timelines, costs and gender bias. The voice of small business and of women innovators who are 

suggesting a strategic rethinking and simplification of the IP protection process deserves to be 

heard. It could be one of the major benefits of this important study.

A few select quotes are reproduced below:

“I feel that the process itself is so archaic.”

“They have not made any changes in the process itself since inception. It is outdated. At one time 

all patents, copyrights and trademarks were done by men because women were raising kids. We 

were doing the woman thing. It (the process) was geared to what they were doing. I do not know, 

if it is (male) ego or something, it has not changed. And now that more and more women are 

offering their ideas, and they are coming into their own right of supplying good ideas and 

products - that verbiage is still the same. It has not changed.”

WOMEN ARE HARASSED BY SALESMEN AND ATTORNEYS ONCE THE 

APPLICATION FOR A PATENT OR TRADEMARK IS DISCLOSED

A patent or trademark disclosure is perceived by many 

women to be self defeating. Not only does it reveal to 

potential competitors the details of the product, process 

or service that the disclosure is supposed to protect, it 

attracts poachers and invites an avalanche of 

solicitations from attorneys and others who 

aggressively try to entice the businesswoman into 

buying their services. The entrepreneur who is struggling to keep a business alive under 

Perception: “The process itself is 

archaic and needs overhauling.”

Perception: “Women are 

harassed by attorneys for business 

once a patent disclosure becomes 

public.”
30

enormous financial stress is burdened further with the task of fending off the solicitors. This is a 

“downer” and acts as a dampener on innovation. A simplified IP protection process that provides 

temporary protection for, say two years, to an innovator would go a long way towards helping 

small businesses focus their energies on the marketing and sales of their innovation. If the 

innovation is accepted by the market, a second tier process with more stringent requirements can 

perhaps take over. It would also help if there are laws against undue solicitation and aggressive 

poaching during this initial period of gestation.

A few voices are articulated here:

“It’s like the ambulance chaser. It felt very much like the attorneys chasing you as if you just got 

hit by a car. It was really a turnoff.”

“I got a lot of mail with bills, like the same amount as the trademark and patent application was a 

lot of mail...the one company that looks like the US patent office. There are a few of those.”

“I guess that is one comment I can make about the patent office is that of course your 

information is publicly available but then that means you have all these ambulance chasers who 

send you mail and they try and make it look like it is from the government and you have to use 

them and then you see they are charging lots of money and I just had this little freelance 

business.”

THERE IS SCANT ASSISTANCE AND 

GUIDANCE FOLLOWING THE FIRST 

REJECTION FROM THE PATENT AND 

TRADEMARK OFFICE

While most women entrepreneurs approach the initial 

filing of a patent or trademark application with some 

awe and trepidation, they do manage to overcome that 

first hurdle with perspicacity and assistance from the 

patent office as well as their own support systems. 

However, it is that first rejection letter from the patent 

office that is the biggest hurdle in the successful pursuit of a patent or trademark. Most women 

just do not know where to turn for help at this stage because the rejection letter from the patent 

examiner is often stated in legal language not understood by laymen. Individual entrepreneurs 

and inventors do not always have the financial means to consult attorneys. So, frustration sets in.

This frustration is articulated in select quotes submitted below:

“It has been an interesting scene; the process...The paperwork is crazy. The initial application is 

easy. You just go online, you fill everything out. Once that stuff comes back it is so completely 

overwhelming...I have a Masters degree too and I did not even understand what they are asking 

me.”

Perception: “There is no 

assistance or guidance available 

following the first rejection of an 

application by the USPTO. 

Attorneys are too expensive for 

most women entrepreneurs who 

often toil as single mothers”
31

“I think the biggest thing in the whole process is: “Hurry up and stop and wait.” It feels like a 

stalling process. You don’t really know where to go to get the answers unless you have all the 

money to pay someone to help you. And the amount of time to do the research is exhausting and 

frustrating and takes you away from doing the actual work to get this product that you want to 

put out and you want to share with others.”

THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK 

PROCESSES ARE TOO FOCUSED ON 

“LEGALESE” RATHER THAN ON 

FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Inventors and entrepreneurs tend to be highly 

individualistic, well versed in their disciplines 

but typically short on training in legal matters. Often they tend to be visionaries, passionate about 

their work and their innovative ideas but lack an understanding of the legal and commercial 

aspects of their products and services. A highly competitive economic environment that changes 

so rapidly with evolving technology puts enormous pressure on the entrepreneur to get her ideas 

out in the marketplace as fast as possible. These requirements run into the perceived slow pace 

with which patent and trademark applications are processed. These processes are governed by 

strict statues and commercial law. The requirements for protection are at odds with the 

requirements of the fast moving modern commercial marketplace. If fostering entrepreneurship 

is the goal, not just the granting of a patent or a trademark, then there needs to be a strategic 

rethinking of the goals as well as the process of IP protection.

The inherent tensions between legal requirements and the pressing demands of the commercial 

world are articulated by a focus group participant in her own words.

“I felt there was a lot of “legalese” that I didn’t understand when I was reading them. So I come 

from, I’m actually adopted. My father is a physics professor and my mother is a botanist, 

biologist and I had them look at it, and they were confused.”

THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK PROCESSES HAVE NOT KEPT UP WITH 

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

The perception is that the patent and trademark processes take too long. The average estimated 

time for obtaining a patent is approximately 

3.6 years. Not only do most applicants not 

understand what goes on once their 

application is submitted, they do not even 

know what stage of the process their 

application is. To them, the process is a “black box”. The focus groups showed an overwhelming 

desire for improved communications. At the minimum, the applicants would like to know where 

their application is in the process and the estimated time for the completion of the process.

“I felt there were a lot of “legalese” and I 

didn’t understand when I was reading 

them”

Perception: “The patent and trademark 

processes have not kept up with state of the 

art technologies.”
32

“If you go on UPS or FedEx to track your package, you can see exactly the process and where 

your package is and the estimated time of delivery. Why can’t they put that kind of knowledge to 

this so that anybody who has applied for one (patent or trademark) can log on and see at what 

stage your application is?”

INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION IS ABSENT

Notwithstanding international treaties that govern IP protection, the perception is widespread that 

there is scant protection for patents and 

trademarks in the international marketplace. 

Specifically, the perception has set in that 

Asia does not honor patents and trademarks. 

This perception is particularly strong among 

small businesswomen and individual entrepreneurs who lack the means to defend their IP should 

there be an infringement of their patents or trademarks. Large businesses have the financial 

means to defend their IP and the news and social chatter reflect the arm wrestling between big 

players for ownership of IP. However, it is in the small business arena where much of the 

perceived infringement takes place. The frustrations of the individual entrepreneur and the small 

businesswomen are underrepresented.

Here are a few representative comments:

“And you do all this work and then a company in Southeast Asia - and they are doing it anyway. 

I have been hearing stories about how big companies are.... Is it even worthwhile?”

“I just want to say for other countries the patent is not respected. In Russia, for example, they can 

do anything. They can copy the name.”

“One of my ex co-workers used to work for the company where I worked. She has this business 

also. She builds software. Someone from China copied it and was making money. So my coworker wrote to him and also wrote to the Chinese embassy. It turns out that person was caught. 

He was willing to do free advertising for my co-worker. It turned out all right. But she is still 

sore it was stolen.”

THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK 

PROCESS FAVORS LARGE 

BUSINESS

Whether it is the front end or the back end, the

patent and trademark process is perceived to 

favor large business. The successful pursuit of 

IP protection often requires legal help which is 

expensive. The entrepreneur or the small businesswomen who struggles between the competing 

requirements of establishing a business, meeting payroll, responding to local, state and federal 

Perception: “Women entrepreneurs do 

not have the resources to file for 

international patent protection.”

Perception: “I found it interesting that 

two years later, the exact same name was 

given a registered service mark for the 

exact same pill bottles, a receptacle for 

medication.”
33

government regulations, answering volumes of official and non-official paperwork, and 

marketing and sales cannot afford high quality legal counsel. By contrast, big business has in 

house legal departments which specialize in patents and trademarks and are able to wade through 

the fine technicalities of a successful patent or trademark. A simplified initial process with 

interim protection for a year or two and minimal accompanying fees would go a long way 

towards addressing this issue.

“So, I chose to abandon that service mark. However, I found it interesting that two years later, 

the exact same name was given a registered service mark and it provides the exact same pill 

bottles, a receptacle for medication. So that was approved with the exact med minders versus 

med e-minders. I was a dotcom (.com) - that was a voice telephone communications - denied -

but somebody else a year later gets the same patent with the same name, and is giving out the 

exact same product. That’s clearly for me. So the inconsistent application of approval and 

rejection...”

IS THERE A GENDER GAP?

Perceptions on this issue are split. Despite the quantitative evidence that the gender gap is 

decreasing, the perception persists that the gender gap exists and prevents women from achieving 

their innovative potential. Long held perceptions die hard. On the other hand, it is also true that 

women face a glass ceiling in corporations and encounter a gender bias in the commercial world. 

On balance, it may be stated that the legislative 

initiatives taken over the last thirty years and the 

social transformations taking place in a technology 

driven workplace are hammering away at the gender 

gap. It is incontrovertible that in most fields the 

gender gap is shrinking. But the process must 

continue.

Here are a few observations from the focus group participants:

“But it is still a man’s world. Businesswise ... you know, it is all men. Who are the CEOs? Very, 

very few women.”

“And you know the saying about women, you are talking about CEOs. What are people saying 

about women’s rights? Aggressive go getters, we just become the big Bs.”

“Certainly, the financial industry is very much a man’s world when it comes to ownership and 

leadership. Women do a lot of the work in the field. But they don’t own and lead. So you see the 

glass ceiling, whether they are there intentionally. And some of that just becomes a boys club 

mentality.”

“The glass ceiling is still there. Unless there is a big lawsuit going on in the corporation, all of a 

sudden you see the glass ceiling going away.”

Perception: “What are people 

saying about women’s rights? 

Aggressive go getters, we just 

become the big Bs.”
34

“I think that there’s a bigger problem. I think that women, when they get to a higher level 

position, are not really good at mentoring younger women. I think it’s almost like that girl high 

school mentality.”

“What I feel is that in the big corporations, I feel that a woman can’t be a soft woman. You have 

to be aggressive. You have to be half man. I used to sit in the conference room and have 

meetings. I was the only woman sitting there in a round table like this one, and all men in blue 

suits. And, you know, they would say, “you get the coffee.” And one day I said, “No, I’m not 

doing it.”

“Men more easily fraternize with men. You may just pick up information at a bar or just a casual 

conversation: “I’m thinking of trademarking this or that” Some of your buddies (may have the 

information). That might happen less if there’s a larger share of women who are patent 

attorneys.”

“I think women have made a lot of strides but there is still a gap because men wrote the rules and 

there’s still this boys club which is very active and that’s because they had a running start and so 

it’s still an unlevel playing field.”

“Women don’t network enough (agreement from others saying umm) and I think men network 

more and we may not network for a different reason because it comes across as we’re bragging 

or we’re doing something and to me that is a gender barrier and cultural barrier.”

“I think because I came from Russia and I grew up in that type of society and I got used to being 

very strong and being a fighter so I came here and to me it’s much easier for me in the United 

States. I don’t see the barriers. If you put something in front of me I’ll just go for it and if I see 

somebody stand in my way I just go around (Laughter) so maybe it helps that I’m from a 

different country.” (More laughter)

Dissenting and ambivalent voices:

“I don’t think it makes a difference whether you are a man or a woman.”

“I think that it is (decreasing).”

“I guess if you put six other people in this room who were of a different culture, economic or a 

minority or perhaps grew up in Iowa rather than New York or whatever, I think there would be 

different answers.”

“We all divided up and there was the silent generation, the baby boomers, the Generation X, the 

Generation Y and the Millennium. It was so fascinating how everybody had a different take on 

that story and it was just so interesting how, for example, the women in Gen X and Gen Y had a 

far different view than the baby boomers and the silent generation.”

“The very modern liberated women, once you’re married and you have children, they do a 

disproportionate share of housework no matter how modern their husbands are, no matter 

whether they’re from the young generation or old.” (Laughter)
35

“If we can educate women and men because I believe collaboratively we’re better together if 

men and women can learn to work together rather than separately.”

“My boss has been working with $$$$ (company) for 11 years. She is the only woman in that 

whole team....I was surprised (and I thought) there must be so many women now in hi tech. She 

said: “Are you kidding, I have been with $$$$ (company) for 11 years. I am in the sales 

department and they are all men. I am the only one.”

“I worked with a small company. I was the only 

woman engineer; all the others were men. It was a 

factory. That is where I did my thermal engineering. 

And there was a difference. I could see the difference. 

People, men who got employed after me, they became 

ahead of me.”

“I think from where we were twenty years ago, it is 

decreasing but I wouldn’t say significantly. I think that for every one female CEO that there may 

be thousands of males.”

“The reality is my life stops when my family says: “Stop your life” and that is necessary. I don’t 

see that with the men in my family. They never have to stop their life. As a matter of fact, when 

it came time for the annual hunting thing, the men went off no matter what was happening. The 

women still had to do what they had to do and that is a gender barrier that isn’t disappearing.”

“Women for the past however many years, really have had to fight to have equality with men and 

you do get that: “This is what I need to do to get what I need.”

“I think in seminar presentations there definitely is (a gender gap). If a guy was doing the same 

kind of things I was doing, nobody would be arguing with him including at the university level. 

They would never ask them to do anything for free and I get asked to do things for free all the 

time.”

“I haven’t had any really negative experiences. I got very lucky with the interior plantscaping 

business because at the time maybe it was the Small Business Administration. But they would 

have these seminars where they invited Fortune 500 companies to attend and you were allowed 

to present yourselves to any of these companies who wanted to do business with women. It was 

fantastic. So I was hired because I was a woman. What could be better?”

“Men in general seem more open to helping. But with women it is a more competitive 

environment and they aren’t necessarily open to helping another woman or maybe choosing 

another women when they give a grant or something, I don’t know. But in general my experience 

has been that women haven’t been as helpful even though they are also women.”

“It depends on the individual. There are plenty of women who will nurture a woman. Hopefully 

most of them do. There may be a few who do not.”

Perception: “In some people’s 

mind, they still think that women 

can only do certain things, certain 

types of work even if it’s in the 

high tech world.”
36

“From personal experience I think they are closing. A lot of younger people, especially too in the 

financial sector, around technology, there are a lot more young females coming out of college 

applying for those positions.”

“In some people’s minds they still think that women can only do certain things, certain types of 

work even if it’s in the high tech world.”

WHAT ARE THE REAL BARRIERS?

LACK OF SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR WOMEN, ESPECIALLY FOR SINGLE 

PARENTS

Child-bearing and child rearing impose responsibilities on women that are different from those 

on men. These responsibilities are accentuated in a 

society wherein single motherhood is not uncommon. 

Although reliable statistics are not available, if the 

divorce rate is accepted as a metric of single 

parenthood, then about half the women entrepreneurs 

in the state of California would be single women. 

Women, especially single women, face the perennial 

challenge of balancing the tensions between family and career. The requirements of supporting a 

family act a brake on innovative pursuits. Support systems for single parents are either scarce or 

totally absent. It is a long term societal issue. It is real. It is here. It requires continuous attention 

and innovative solutions.

Here is a voice speaking up on this issue:

“With a single parent, or any parent, it is an issue if you have to stop work at 3 o’clock to go to 

the school. Guess what? If I am working at a certain place, I can’t leave at 3 o’clock, if you have 

to leave at six. But if you have your own business, it is kind of like, well, I am going to stop, so I 

am going to stop taking appointments or you are going to stop designing shoes because you got 

to go somewhere. So those were real barriers, having the support that you need, whether you are 

a single parent or not, having to stop at a certain time to go somewhere.”

THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK PROCESSES ARE TOO COMPLEX, DRAWN 

OUT AND EXPENSIVE

The entire IP protection process requires a critical 

and strategic re-examination. What is the goal of IP 

protection? Is it an end in itself or is it geared 

towards encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, and ultimately the economic well being of 

the country? If it is the latter, then, are there alternate ways to provide IP protection to

entrepreneurs, small and micro businesses, even if it be in an interim, limited period, so that the 

“Lack of support systems for 

women makes it difficult to 

manage family and business at the 

same time.”

“I looked into trademarking and it 

was a lot of work and very costly.”
37

entrepreneur can focus on growing her business? The current study shows that there is a 

conviction, shared across the entire spectrum of women entrepreneurs, from those who have 

never applied for IP protection to those who have successfully done so, that the current processes 

are too complex, drawn out, expensive, and perhaps not in synch with the requirements of a fast 

moving, technologically-driven age.

Here are a few voices articulating this view:

“I have looked into trademarking and it was a lot of work and very costly and so I decided not 

to.”

“It is just frustrating. I feel like I am of normal intelligence and able to read and I have a pretty 

good vocabulary. I was very thrown and I was very frustrated... It was the trademark process. I 

was trying to get my name trademarked.”

FUNDING NOT AVAILABLE

Entrepreneurship requires money. This is a truism 

that is often overlooked. It requires funds to start a 

business, finance the marketing and sales efforts, 

meet payroll and pay for the overhead, pay taxes and 

fees and at the same time keep the engine of innovation churning. The startup costs can be quite 

high. Most women entrepreneurs, especially those who are single parents, struggle to balance the 

financial needs to grow a business with the needs to support a family. Credit is scarce and grants 

are few and far between. Additionally, the information for such grants in often buried in layers of 

obscure official disclosures and announcements. A single clearinghouse that would assist women 

seeking financial help would be of enormous benefit to aspiring innovators and small 

businesswomen.

“You always hear about women in business. “Oh you get grants.” You know I have been on the 

internet hours and hours, looking for this grant. Where are they? Where is the funding for women 

in business?”

“As a woman we do not have a lot of access to financial resources. Those are always my biggest 

challenges.”

“I have looked for those grants, like SBIR. But I really do not know which one is applicable to 

my business. I really need some help. I approached a government contracting officer. She 

referred me to one of her friends who was working on the SBIR programs. But I didn’t get a 

response from her.”

The question is: “Where do we find the resources? Is there a website, a government agency that 

we can tap into? Where do we find it?”

Perception: “There is no funding 

out there for women inventors.”
38

IP PROCESSES FAVOR BIG BUSINESS

A consequence of the long, drawn out patent 

and trademark process is that they favor 

large businesses. It costs money to file and 

pursue IP protection. And it requires a 

minimal knowledge of the legal 

requirements. Entrepreneurs, small and micro businesses do not have the resources to stay the 

course and to see through an application to success. This is an inherent flaw of a single process 

that applies to all applicants. A suggestion that has often come up in the focus groups is this: Is it 

possible to have a simplified process for small business that requires minimal investment and 

provides IP protection for an interim period of, say two years, so that the small businessperson 

can focus on marketing and sales rather than be concerned with looking over her shoulder for IP 

infringement?

Here are a few voices from the focus groups:

“Well, there are deep pockets. Just like a service mark or a trademark, whether it’s registered or 

it’s not. It’s really about marketing. But if somebody has deep pockets, they can stop you. The 

money talks. I’m not going to be able to stop somebody who steals my idea. I don’t have enough 

money to fight the big guys if they take the idea.”

“I think the better way to do it is to put a place mark here and say, “I have registered this idea, I 

have a provisional patent on it” and then we’ll go out and see if there’s actually a market there 

and see if it makes sense to go ahead and get that kind of protection.”

“It is difficult for small business people to go after the big ones (in case of patent violation) but it 

is easy for the big people to go after you.”

PROTECTING A PATENT OR TRADEMARK CAN BE VERY EXPENSIVE

Even after a patent or trademark has been obtained, 

there remains the burden of defending it against legal 

challengers and infringement. Legal costs are high. 

While a large business may spend $10 million 

defending a patent, a small businessperson cannot 

even think in terms of $10,000. So the legitimate question that comes up is this: Of what benefit 

is IP protection that cannot be defended? This is a real barrier for which there are no easy 

solutions.

Here are some observations from the focus group participants:

“But I asked the patent attorney, “So if I’ve found somebody infringing on the patent, how much 

would it cost me to pursue it?” Well to send a letter, it could cost me $2,000. So, then otherwise, 

$9,000” (Exaggerated laughter)

Perception: “It is difficult for small business 

people to go after the big ones but it is easy 

for the big people to go after you.”

“We had to pay an attorney $1200 

just for a couple of letters.”
39

“The burden to protect that patent falls back on us. Is the government going to step up and say: 

“We are going to bat for you. We are going to go after these people” “No.”

“We had to pay an attorney $1,200 just for a couple of letters.”

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO OVERCOME THE BARRIERS?

INCREASE VISIBILILTY OF EXISTING 

FEDERAL PROGRAMS

The importance of marketing and advertising the 

current services offered by the USPTO and other 

agencies cannot be overemphasized. Many of the 

perceptions about the patent and trademark process are simply a reflection of the fact that 

potential users are unfamiliar with what is already out there. An example would illustrate this 

observation. In March 2012, the SBA along with the NWBC and the USPTO offered a seminar 

highlighting a quantitative analysis of patents and trademarks covering a period of thirty years.

Several women in the focus groups expressed their appreciation for what they learned at the 

conference. Indeed, it inspired them to revisit their decisions to seek IP protection. More such 

conferences and seminars would help along with a user friendly website that explains the process 

in layman’s terms, a simplified process and woman-friendly online and/or phone help.

Here are a few comments that illustrate this observation:

“In March I came here because I got an email saying they were having the public meeting at the 

patent and trademark office. I drove down 200 miles, because I said, “You know what? They are 

opening the door. They are letting me in”...I register, I come. They introduce a report about the 

gap how women are not getting as many patents and trademarks. I hear this in person. I made 

this decision before I left home, “I am going to make this trip count. I am filing something before 

I leave.”

“And it was just a miracle that I got this notice that this new report that reviewed 35 years of 

information was going to be introduced. It is a free program and all you have to do is register and 

come... What I saw was a gold mine. So some of the perceived barriers can be removed based 

on education, awareness, some type of training program and even more open houses, something 

similar to that because we got a chance to hear the people who run the patent office, under 

secretary and different folks. I would never have had the opportunity to hear these people and 

when they said how valuable a patent or trademark was, that was just unbelievable.”

“And I was surprised to read that they said that they have given examiners more time to 

communicate with the applicants to review the merits well before they make their decision, place 

a greater emphasis on the examiners interaction with the patent applicants early in the process to

clarify claims and enhance thoroughness... they also mentioned something called an ombudsman 

“Many women entrepreneurs are 

not aware of existing federal 

programs to assist them.”
40

program to help resolve questions about applications as people were going through the patent 

process.”

“The Women’s Initiative is one organization but the IDA is a Federal program. So there are 

resources out there. It is just how do you hear about it?”

“It (the course offered by the IDA) is three months and it is a very comprehensive course. If you 

go in there with an idea with very little self esteem and not know what to do, you leave there 

with a very good business plan, a lot of support, consultants. They help you go from your 

business idea and win awards from the National Women’s Business Council. And they are for 

low income women.”

“What I do find is that the way information like this is marketed, that you need to have a real 

marketing entity to get it (the information) out.”

“So here is this resource, the Small Business Development Center who can help.”

“If they have this ombudsman program, it should be advertised. It should be put on the website

that this program is here to help you, assist you and maybe have something you can click on for 

more information and mention ombudsman so that most people understand that here is someone 

who can walk you through the process, if they do have all these different things this person says 

they have implemented them. Why am I reading about it here and not seeing it on the website?”

“And if they really intend to have women earn more trademarks, maybe they should have 

outreach for women. I didn’t see anything like that on their website.”

“The USPTO could align itself with the Chambers of Commerce or whatever it is in different 

states and counties. So people who are opening up new businesses know right away that, “Do 

you have something that needs to be trademarked?” before you’re out in the market.”

“Maybe if the USPTO would have a campaign about what a trademark is, put it out there and let 

people know.”

“I went to the SBA and they assigned someone to me. Most of them are retired business owners 

and he spent a year with me working on everything, financial, marketing, all for free.”

“Actually, they have an electronic filing system for patents. I personally tried that. I think that 

it’s a good system for filing a patent. I thought that since it’s going to cost me that much, why 

don’t I try it since they have this filing system. I can just get all the details and do it myself. So I 

tried it. To me I think that it’s pretty easy to use.”

SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS

The current process is perceived by women entrepreneurs to be complex, long and expensive. It 

should be possible to make it easy for an innovator to file for IP protection. A two-tier process, 

explained in greater detail in an earlier section, would be one way of achieving this. A process 

which can be followed in easily understood 1.2.3 steps would go a long way towards 
41

encouraging entrepreneurs, small and micro businesses to seek IP protection. It would be a boost 

to innovation. The economy would benefit.

“I think they just need to break it down a little more in 

layman’s terms. I think the material that was this thick 

could have been this thin and said the same thing. It is 

just an awful lot... of paperwork that is unnecessary.” 

“The first thing, I would get rid of all the legalese. Just 

say it.... The timeline should be shorter. What? 3 to 5 years, it is ridiculous. 6 months to a year, 

because you will be doing other things with your business, your products, 6 months to a year -

you are trying to get into your business -I am going to give it my best shot for a year...”

“What I would like to know is: ‘What is the process that they go through?’ I have no clue. I am 

just sitting here (asking) who is looking at it, how many stages are there in the process? Why is 

the cost so high? Why can’t you have a simple 1, 2, 3 kind of process...”

“I think the application has to be simplified and the language has to be simplified but there has to 

be a first step and you can just write a basic description of the idea and you are able to submit 

that to the Office. Or there could be a different branch of the Office which could issue you your 

documents.”

“If you don’t put it out there (put your product on the market) and you’re waiting for the patent 

to be done, it could be five or six years. And then there’s something else and it could be old.” (3)

“I think the notification of the 7th year (for trademarks) has to be redone as opposed to just 

having it on the back of the certificate.”

IMPROVE THE WEBSITE

The USPTO website is comprehensive and it contains just about any information that a potential 

user may seek. But the perception is that it is too complex. A user friendly website with a section 

that is specifically directed to small business and entrepreneurs would be extremely helpful. 

Usability tests may be conducted after redesign to 

measure its effectiveness. Website modification is a 

dynamic process. It requires periodic updating to keep 

up with user demand and changing technologies.

Here are a few observations from the focus groups:

“Just simplify the website. It’s too complicated.”

“I would agree, a la the Copyright Office, because that’s a pretty recent changeover that they 

made.”

“There should be a website with 1–2–3 (easily understood steps to get your patent or trademark 

application completed). A designated website and make it very basic. You know, when someone 

says its 1 - 2 - 3, to me that says it’s easy. “

“A lot of paperwork is 

unnecessary.”

“Improve the website. It is just too 

complex.”
42

HOLD REGIONAL SEMINARS AND WEBINARS

Periodic seminars held in different regional centers would increase the exposure of current 

services available to women entrepreneurs. A shift from the center to the regional centers 

appears to be what is required here. Webinars, 

conducted in conjunction with a simplified patent and 

trademark process and user friendly websites would 

be of tremendous benefit to aspiring innovators.

“One of the things is, like the patent office to say to 

women: “Do you have an idea where you need help 

trademarking or patenting? We are here to help you 

and have a representative come maybe three or four 

times a year to, not just Walnut Creek (California), but come to an Oakland (California), come to 

a Compton (California), come to each area and (listen to) this woman talk about being a part of 

the women’s initiative.”

A TWO-TIER PROCESS TO HELP MICRO BUSINESS?

Time and again, the discussions in the focus groups gravitated towards the complexity and cost 

of the current patent and trademark process. A recurrent suggestion was that the process can be 

separated into two distinct phases. The first phase would be an interim phase, perhaps registering 

a claim and giving IP protection for a period of two years during which time an entrepreneur 

would introduce her product or services into the market and test its sales potential.

The second phase would be more comprehensive involving detailed investigations and providing 

IP protection for a long period.

It would be worthwhile to look into the feasibility of 

such a two-tier approach, especially as it may apply to 

small and micro business and individual entrepreneurs.

“The fee I can afford, a little bit high for the chance of it being rejected. It should be something 

like: ‘Apply, then pay more if you are approved’, is something I would like to suggest.”

“I think the application has to be simplified and the language has to be simplified but there has to 

be a first step and you can just write a basic description of the idea and you are able to submit 

that to the Office. Or there could be a different branch of the Office which could issue you your 

documents.”

“I think the better way to do it is to put a place mark here and say, ‘I have registered this idea, I 

have a provisional patent on it’, and then we’ll go out and see if there’s actually a market there 

and see if it makes sense to go ahead and get that kind of protection.”

“Regional seminars, webinars 

would greatly help women 

entrepreneurs understand the IP 

protection process.”

“A two-tier process would help 

small and micro business.”
43

TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE

While there are no limits to how technology can be applied to reshape the patent and trademark 

process, the suggestion here is limited to the tracking and status reporting of applications. There 

was a broad consensus in the focus groups for the implementation of a tracking mechanism that 

would give an entrepreneur visibility about the status 

of her application. The example of Federal Express 

and UPS was often cited. This recommendation 

deserves consideration.

“I actually think that the patent office is going to have 

to change. It’s not going to be paperwork. They’re going to have to ping me back with 

clarification. And so that may reduce any gender bias.”

“Now that we are in the age of the internet, maybe (they will send us a notice). When it was all 

paper based, things were different.”

ADD A HOTLINE TO HELP WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Women entrepreneurs and businesswomen have special needs over and beyond those of other 

entrepreneurs and businesspeople. Some of these needs 

have been articulated in earlier sections- a supporting 

system for working mothers, need for capital, the desire 

for talking to another woman and so on. A helpdesk, 

especially tailored to address the needs of women 

entrepreneurs, preferably staffed by women advisors 

would certainly be a step in this direction.

“I would add in a hotline, have someone available (to answer) if I am going in the right direction, 

what else can I do. So they should attach a hotline to help small business. At least someone you 

can interact with and can help you. Not just materials online but an actual person who you can 

call on or have a meeting with who can explain things and you can ask questions rather than just 

maybe a pamphlet or on a computer screen.”

BETTER FEEDBACK AND TRAINING

The recommendation here is to take periodic surveys and learn the real needs of women 

entrepreneurs. The information gathered can be used to evolve effective strategies and 

implement continual improvement of patent and 

trademark services.

“I think the director or the CEO of that business needs 

to screen and put out a survey: ‘How did you like the 

customer service? How were you treated today?’, and 

“Technology will change the way 

patents and trademarks are 

processed.”

“A hotline for women 

entrepreneurs would enable them 

to contact the USPTO and seek 

help more easily.”

“Customer satisfaction surveys, 

customer feedback followed by 

training would help the process.”
44

let people give their honest opinion or what happened to them.”

“More feedback. And if need be, bring in somebody else who can do the job...Or job training.”

“What would be nice is if there was a place where you could go and say, ‘Could you tell me if I 

should go ahead with my idea without applying and spending all that money?”

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

Many of the frustrations of those who have never applied for IP protection or those who abandon 

a patent or trademark application after filing for one 

result from failure to follow instructions. A simplified 

guidebook with easy to follow instructions and a user 

friendly website would increase the success rate of 

women who obtain patents and/or trademarks.

“It was an appeal (on a trademark). Because they said, in the letter it told you exactly, you have 

to read everything that they sent–online and everything that they send you. And read it more than 

one time. I was a little emotional about it. I had to read it over and over. And it said exactly what 

to do. And whatever it was that’s what I did. And I couldn’t believe it worked.”

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND IP 

PROTECTION

MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS A 

CORRELATION BETWEEN IP PROTECTION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Many a participant in the focus group expressed the opinion that a patent or trademark is not a 

pre-requisite to entrepreneurship. This issue also requires a deeper study. The issues are subtle 

and require a segmentation of perceived benefits from a patent or trademark measured against 

associated costs. For instance, a legitimate question would be: What is the marginal increased 

revenue associated with the perception that a client is buying a product or service because it is 

patented or is trademarked? In other words, do customers buy a product or a service because it is 

patented or trademarked? The focus groups were split on this issue.

“I personally don’t think that having a patent is that important anymore”.

“It is a perceived notion that you have to have this protection before you move forward or God 

forbid somebody else should come in and lay claim to what you are doing. That is not true. Not

in my experience. I don’t know where the preconceived notion comes from. Maybe it is of our 

own making.”

“Many entrepreneurs find the 

process frustrating because they do 

not follow instructions.”
45

“It is very frustrating. It is very costly. It is not for the weak of heart or pocketbook. And that is 

unfortunate because it eliminates a lot of many worthy ideas from coming to the market because 

there are these barriers.”

“I don’t see where there is a value to it. I really don’t. The idea initially was to bring our ideas to 

market, go through the patent process first, receive a patent on it and therefore it would 

automatically have value in the marketplace. That is very naïve, very naïve. But again because 

you have never been through it, you have this perception that if you have patent, or patent 

pending or whatever, on your packaging that somehow it is going to motivate that buyer to make 

(the decision) to buy. That is not true.”

“Everyone is working on their logo. You haven’t sold a widget. (Laughter) You don’t have a 

widget. But they’re spending money on logos.”

“But I’m not sure whether giving it a patent or a trademark would have really made that much 

difference.”

“It’s probably better to figure out where your customers are coming from rather than spending 

too much time applying for (a patent or trademark).”

“I’m saying I’m not going to spend too much time applying for the logo because I had to go 

through - do I need a trademark, do I need a service mark. And I’m thinking I need 7 things. But 

maybe I just need one thing to get started – from the 

USPTO, some protection and then I can expand it. Does 

it need to be blue? No, it can be black and white for 

now. So, all of that were becoming barriers for me.”

“It takes a while to get a trademark and that would lead 

me to think they’re more credible and in my business, 

that’s what I’m all about – is trust and accountability. 

It’s hard sometimes to find that. You know in a lot of industries now there’s a lot of fraud.”

“To the extent that it (the IP process) has (helped entrepreneurs), women are empowered by 

it...To me, there’s a benefit there whether it’s real or perceived.”

IS THERE A CORRELATION BETWEEN IP AND BUSINESS GROWTH?

This is also an issue that needs to be investigated further. The focus group discussions highlight 

some cases where an individual entrepreneur built up a successful business based upon her patent 

or trademark. But there is a growing opinion among women entrepreneurs that a patent or 

trademark does not necessarily help a business grow. Indeed, the perception is that the risk of 

divulging a trade secret through a patent or trademark disclosure and the cost of obtaining and 

protecting a patent or trademark are not worth the trouble unless it is an idea that has a huge 

market potential. It is difficult to assess how many women have given up seeking IP protection 

because of these perceptions. A flip side of the question is how many women build up their

“Patents and trademarks can help 

entrepreneurs in a big way. But 

they are not a pre-requisite to 

business success.”
46

businesses without applying for or receiving a patent or trademark. The issue warrants further 

research.

“Well, look at QVC. There are a couple of inventors that have many patents. There’s one that 

does the storage thing, jewelry storage. And she started out small and she does a lot of storage 

things for travel jewelry boxes and she’s got many patents. She just started out with one. She was 

just an ordinary person who designed this product, went to QVC and now she says, ‘Well, that 

was easy.’ She got the exposure of television and she started selling it. So she started doing 

another one, similar to that but a little bit different. And she kept on patenting them. But what I 

think she did was go to China, looked at what they had that wasn’t patented over here and she 

just patented it over here. Because her concepts are pretty...”

“I worked for a woman as a pattern maker for a maternity wear manufacturer. And she didn’t get 

a patent because she had her product out for just a year. She didn’t have the money. Back then, it 

was going to cost her $10,000 that she didn’t have. So she was running her company. And at that 

time I was the only employee so I was the only person getting paid. She’s still in business. She 

started in 1981. She didn’t get a patent and now I see her products everywhere.”

A CONCLUDING COMMENT

The focus groups provided a powerful testimonial to the courage, determination and perspicacity 

of women entrepreneurs who struggle against heavy odds to innovate and succeed. We conclude 

by offering the following testimonial of a homeless woman in San Francisco who found her way

to dignity and respect through entrepreneurship:

“...I have been on my own since I was 12. I was given up at the age of 4 ... I am from Canada. I 

have basically - I hate to even say this - I have been homeless all my life except for the last ten 

years. So when I say I have been blessed, I sincerely mean it. I have done the whole thing, the 

drinking - I don’t know if that is a Native American thing or not. For the last eight years I have 

not touched liquor and I do not even want to look at a liquor bottle. So where I’m at, I still have 

that low self esteem. I remember walking around with just a bag with a blanket and a cosmetics 

system. To me when I go to a place now and I would leave the house with one bag and I come 

back with two. I feel like, I wonder if they still think I am still homeless. I am that and it will 

always be with me. But I am very grateful. I don’t care. I don’t go to church on a regular basis. I 

go past Saint Barnabas which is at the 101 and take two seconds to just go in there and say a 

quick prayer and say I am thankful. I think I will always have that. I was very nervous about 

coming here and talking to you guys. Oh shoot, excuse me (holding back tears) excuse me 

(encouragement from other participants), you know, that is how I felt. I don’t fit in there. When I 

have my stand one day a week in the Civic Center, even though it is a couple of blocks, you are 

dealing with people on different levels, some are very intelligent, some are CEOs, and I could 

interact with them on that because my comfort zone is that little tent and my little hundred hats 

or whatever hanging up. And my other half is there all the time. He supports me a hundred 
47

percent. He is my model. I was going to wear a hat today. Well, I can’t wear that on me. O God, 

I think I have said enough.”

Moderator: “Thank you... thank you so much.”
48

APPENDIX 1

Disclaimer read and signed by all focus group participants

Purpose of the focus group:

The purpose of this focus group is to explore in-depth issues surrounding intellectual property 

protection for women entrepreneurs.

Sponsoring Agency:

This study is sponsored by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), Washington, DC.

How the information gathered in the focus groups will be used:

The proceedings of the focus groups will be recorded, transcribed and descriptively analyzed to 

capture patterns and categories of themes and perspectives and gain further insights into the 

issues which have been quantitatively analyzed.

The NWBC will use the information gathered in the focus groups to make recommendations to 

Congress and the White House on issues relating to intellectual property protection for women 

entrepreneurs.

The results of the focus groups will only be reported to the sponsoring agency in the aggregate.

The last names of the participants or other identifiable microdata will not be used in the final 

reports.

Who is conducting the focus group study:

Delixus, a corporation registered in the State of California, is conducting this focus group study 

under contract with the NWBC. Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, CEO, Delixus will serve as the moderator.

Duration of each session:

Each session will last approximately 1 hour.

Participation is voluntary:

Participation in the focus group study is entirely voluntary. Any participant can walk out of the 

focus group at any time.

OMB Approval:

One does not have to participate unless the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has 

approved the session. The OMB has approved this session. The control number is 3245-0380.

................................................

Signature of the focus group participant