Inventors Flock to Convention to Show Off Wares : Marketing: Designers hope to land deals with manufacturers, investors and distributors.

Inventing a better mousetrap is one thing, but getting it to market is quite another and perhaps an even more difficult part of the process.

That difficulty is a big reason Brent Fouch and half a dozen other San Diego-area inventors are showing their wares at the fifth annual Invention Convention at the Pasadena Convention Center during the Labor Day weekend. They hope their appearances at the show will provide a shortcut to the marketplace.

Fouch, a 22-year-old Del Mar lifeguard and UC San Diego psychology student, invented and patented a pulley device called Get It Up that windsurfers can use to hoist their sails from the water. He hopes to bypass producing and marketing his idea by simply finding a manufacturer to buy all rights.

Other San Diego exhibitors have different objectives for attending the show. Mike and Kim Omalia are looking for distributors for their patented high-rise fire escape device. Joe Ingorvaia, who has invented a detachable plate for bumper stickers, is looking for investors. So is Arnold Lund, who says he has made a super-efficient, 50-foot wind power turbine.

A common thread running through the inventors is that they all have succeeded in developing and, in some cases, patenting an idea but are wrestling with how to take it from the drawing board to the retail market.

Fouch spent a couple of years and $3,000 to design and patent a prototype of his invention before discovering the race was only half finished. To manufacture and market his invention himself would require an investment in the tens of thousands of dollars.

That kind of investment was out of the question for Fouch, and he never seriously entertained the idea of raising money from outside investors. Even if he could come up with the money, there was no guarantee of success. Only 10% of patented products ever achieve any measure of market success, said San Diego patent attorney Terry Meador.

“Inventors that have patents or patent applications and want to commercialize their inventions have a great deal of difficulty if they don’t have some connection to an organization with some marketing or manufacturing capacity,” Meador said.

Rather than try to raise the money himself, Fouch decided on a less risky option: he would try to sell rights to his patent to the highest bidder.

The Invention Convention, Fouch figured, would be a good place to peddle those rights. The show, which Fouch had first read about in a magazine for entrepreneurs, is a forum where inventors can display their wares for potential investors, distributors and licensees. The organizers expect 300 exhibitors and up to 20,000 attendees.

Instead of having to spend money to call on far-flung manufacturers and distributors, Fouch hopes companies in the industry will come to see him at the convention. Patent attorneys, venture capitalists and marketing professionals also attend, looking for new clients, ideas and investments.

Fouch got the idea for Get It Up two years ago watching windsurfers while working as a lifeguard in Long Beach.

“People had big problems lifting up sails every time they fell over,” Fouch said. “So I decided to make something that would make it easier. My pulley system decreases the strain and the energy used to lift up sails by 50%.”

Fouch spent a year refining his design before hiring a lawyer to prepare a patent application, which was granted in April. Friend Kerry Driscoll, a USC business student, saved Fouch the time and trouble of writing a business plan by doing it as a class project.

“I was thinking about marketing (Get It Up) on my own, but finding out the costs and all, I wasn’t ready for it,” Fouch said. “So I decided to try to find someone to license it out to. This is the kind of convention I need to reach a licensee.”

The Omalias, who own Rescue Emergency Descent Equipment, have spent $10,000 to develop a device that enables office workers or high-rise residents caught in a fire to lower themselves to safety. Former high-rise window washing contractors, the Omalias hope to sell distributorships at the convention.

“There is nothing quite like our product, so just selling in a local market would be a waste,” said Kim Omalia, adding that the convention draws an international crowd. “These shows are valuable because we get in front of a lot of (distributors and investors) interested in getting into something new.”

Inventor Arnold Lund, 68, of Escondido says his Wind Flower wind power device is three times more productive than wind turbines on the market. A native of Norway who has lived in the United States for 20 years, Lund said he has been dabbling in wind power design ever since the Arab oil embargo caused lines for gasoline in the early 1970s.

“I thought it was a waste of time to stay in gas lines, and I thought we had to find a solution,” Lund said. “And I thought wind could be the answer.”

Lund said he holds six patents in production machinery technology that have earned him $4 million.