Nine years ago Rhode Island artist Mark Wholey secured a patent for a right-angle paintbrush he developed by accident. Long Island-based paint supplier ArroWorthy now markets the product known as the Right Brush, which can be found in many independent hardware stores in northern Rhode Island. A year ago Wholey and his company, Ailmav, secured a patent for another special paintbrush known as the Upright Brush and are preparing to launch the brush, which contains a molded handle for easier holding and a lip for attachment to a paint can.
Wholey recently spoke with Providence Business News about the patent process and the challenges of marketing a new product.
PBN: Can you tell us a little about the Upright Brush?
WHOLEY: The reason I designed that was because my [Right Brush] works very well with 2-inch, 2.5-inch and 3-inch bristles, but if you get a smaller-size bristle the handle is not as good as it can be. It’s kind of the wrong shape for that, so I’ve designed a handle that would be useful for smaller-size paint brushes that still would give you all that grip control and the ability to hang it on the edge of a paint can.
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PBN: What is the process of bringing the Upright Brush from patent to market? PBN: How difficult do you think that process is going to be? Is that the biggest challenge? PBN: What is that mountain of work? PBN: Why did you decide to start the patent application yourself rather than hire a professional? PBN: Is this something you think an average businessperson, artist or inventor could do? PBN: Do you think you saved money by not hiring a professional? INTERVIEW
WHOLEY: What needs to be done is to find a producer and, of course, I will go to ArroWorthy. Let’s say ArroWorthy picked it up, then we would have a paintbrush that would be useful for small, detailed work for a person who likes to have a handle that’s straight, but also would give them a chance to hold onto a handle that was much more comfortable.
The steps for the Upright Brush would therefore be to make up a press release that would go to the trades and letting the buyers of paint supplies know this brush was available. Then start carrying it by hand through the sales reps to the various paint supply reps, hardware stores and trade shows and show what the paintbrush can do.
WHOLEY: Yes indeed, that is the biggest mountain that you face. A patent is relatively easy, and it doesn’t ensure success at all. All it does is say that yes, you have a unique product and if you’re granted a patent it is defendable if somebody tries to steal it. But other than that you’ve got a piece of paper and the next step is the mountain of work you’ve got to do to get to public acceptance.
WHOLEY: For example, in the month of August we put a focus on selling the [Right Brush] paintbrush to areas outside the Providence and Rhode Island area and specifically right around the Boston area. I would make up a list of paint-supply stores … and drive over to them with bags of paint brushes in the car and present them to the paint-supply store owners, either with a prearranged appointment or cold call. That process was marginally successful.
Where it was successful was when I took the same process when I was out visiting in Berkeley, Calif., I took the exact same process of cold call, walk in to paint-supply stores with a paintbrush in my hand and say, “This is it” to the store manager. More often than not they really loved it, and I made quite a few sales as a result of that.
WHOLEY: At first I felt I had to do that, so the first step I took was to take a look at what it takes to make a patent. I read it over and realized that the language of a patent, of a utility patent for instance, has to be done by a lawyer because it’s so complicated it’s almost like a foreign language. But mine, fortunately, didn’t need to fall into the category of a utility patent. It fell into the category of a design patent and that changed the whole thing completely.
WHOLEY: I would say yes, with a little bit of caution. I could draw, so that was really helpful and necessary. Otherwise a person would have to hire somebody to make the drawing and then be able to convey their thoughts or their object. If they had an object, they could show that to the person who was going to make the illustration. But yes, other than that they can do the filing fee and follow along with the patent office guidelines and get to their patent.
WHOLEY: I saved thousands of dollars. For a professional, one would need to hire a patent attorney to write the proper documents. And if you invented something, like a new machine for instance, there would be no way … you could make a design patent for a new machine. You would have to have a utility patent, and that means that you make a multitude of claims. Claims [identify] say this is what this does uniquely.
A design patent is something that takes an existing object and just makes it look or work a little better. So [in my case] I only made one claim, which is it’s a right-handle utility, which simultaneously doesn’t restrict it to being a paintbrush. It could be all kinds of things. It could be a scraper or it could be something I haven’t thought of yet. It doesn’t have to have bristles at the end of it. It could hold a variety of things at the end of a more comfortable handle. •
Mark Wholey
POSITION: President of Ailmav
BACKGROUND: Wholey is a long-time artist who once owned a graphic design studio. He also spent 10 years in Italy restoring old farmhouses and making sculptures. He moved to Rhode Island in 2002.
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1990, San Francisco Art Institute, also studied at the Butera School of Art in Boston
FIRST JOB: Gopher at his father’s drugstore in Jamaica Plain, Mass., at age 5
RESIDENCE: Warren
AGE: 65
