“You need to protect your ideas like property,” D’vorah Graeser explained during her session at Casual Connect Eastern Europe 2014. “You need to start thinking of them like property. Just as you would never leave the door of your house unlocked or leave your car with the doors wide open, you also shouldn’t leave your ideas unprotected.”
Since 1996, D’vorah Graeser has been an operative in the field as a US patent agent. Her specialty is in software, which includes image processing, business methods, gaming technologies, and software for cellular telephones. Graeser has started two patent firms: Dr. D. Graeser Ltd (in Israel in 2000) and Graeser Associates International Inc. (located in the US in 2011). Her latest company is being incubated out of the later. It is called KISSPatent. This company helps start-ups and entrepreneurs develop a more affordable business model with trademark, patents, patent strategy, and copyright. Graeser’s past career experiences have enabled her to recognize the needs of her clients, specifically in regards to idea protection, which is constantly being threatened by the intellectual property industry. During Casual Connect Eastern Europe 2014, Graeser announced that, “KISSPatent is setting up an idea protection package for our clients to protect their ideas in the US. For one price, they can file a trademark and a patent application, including a trademark search and a patent search.”
Graeser’s proudest moment in her career thus far was the launch of KISSPatent. She explains that she is proud because KISSPatent, “enabled me to finally serve my clients according to their needs – not according to what had always been done”. Her 17 years of experience in patenting guided her to the launch. In order to make the radical changes she desired, she needed to understand patents and idea protection.
Who is Graeser?
Graeser sees herself as both experimental and challenging. She explains, “I believe in systematically trying new things and discarding them quickly if they don’t provide value, but keeping the ones that do.” She is challenging in that she doesn’t accept the status quo. This is particularly true when referring to intellectual property, which is, unfortunately, a huge part of the current status quo.
In fact, Graeser became involved in the game industry because of her desire to help clients on the patent and ideas protection side. Originally, her interests sprang from “the wonderful software architecture and engines which this area has produced and which have also been used in other scientific fields, including chemistry and biology.” In her view, technology is where the fun resides. It is fascinating to understand how the games work and what technologies go into them.
The reason Graeser doesn’t own a console is because a mobile platform can be taken anywhere, stating the most interesting place to play mobile is in any airport. She prefers Android because of the large screen, and is partial to games with stories. She likes Twine because it is a simple, do-it-yourself game which tells an interactive story. Little Inferno is another game she likes because it is a “sly criticism of what we see as valuable”. Outside of gaming, Graeser enjoys running. In fact, she is training for an ultramarathon, stating “I’m only starting with a short one, only 50 miles”. Her use of the word “only” in this statement demonstrates Graeser’s tenacity.
So why has Graeser stayed in the industry? For her, it comes down to how fulfilling it is to provide help for her clients in obtaining protection for their innovative gaming technologies. Additionally, she also loves learning about the technologies that come about in the game industry. She admits that if she wasn’t on the patent side, she would still be a part of the industry but as a programmer.
Visions of Big Data
Within the next three to five years, Graeser predicts there will be an integration of gaming towards big data analysis, stating “big data is too abstract and diffuse for the various visualization and analysis interfaces that I have seen. Gaming could make a big contribution to finally enabling big data to be understood and used properly.” Her vision is hopeful as well as practical. Her work with patents could enable her vision to be a reality.
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