Stephen Key is an award-winning inventor, renowned intellectual property strategist, lifelong entrepreneur, author, speaker, and columnist.
Stephen has over 20 patents in his name and the dozens of concepts he has brought to market have retailed in Walmart, 7-Eleven, and Disney stores and parks worldwide and been endorsed by Michael Jordan, Alex Trebek, and Taylor Swift. He has defended his patents in federal court against the largest toy company in the world, Lego’s.
In 1999, he cofounded inventRight to teach others his unique process for harnessing the power of open innovation and the licensing business model.
His bestselling book about how to license an idea, One Simple Idea by McGraw-Hill, has been translated into six languages.
He has written more than 1,000 articles about intellectual property strategy, product licensing, and entrepreneurship for publications online including Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur.
Universities and governmental organizations around the world regularly invite him to teach them inventRight’s unique processes for commercializing new product ideas.
Stephen has won over 20 industry awards, including two Edison Awards and the Most Influential and Inspiring Leader Of All Time by the WorldIP Forum in 2022.
In 2018, he was recognized as a AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador. In 2020, he became a founding member of the United States Intellectual Property Alliance.
In 2022, Stephen contributed to “Cases in IP Strategy: Industry Lessons Learned” from the non-profit Michelson Institute for IP.
Currently, he’s part of the team responsible for launching a new sustainable packaging innovation that replaces the need to use plastic to carry beverages called Fishbone.
Post Views: 383 Every year around this time I get a little nostalgic for Toy Fair. My first ‘real’ job, at age 27, was at the toy startup Worlds of Wonder. ... Read more.
Post Views: 423 To my great joy, I get to work with extremely creative people day in and day out. Some of them are nearly bursting at the seams with ideas for n... Read more.
Post Views: 303 Who doesn’t want to be free? To possess the ability to do what you want, when you want. I’ve always felt like, life is too short. It’s def... Read more.
Post Views: 354 Because I’ve been on the road promoting my new book Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent a lot this year, I’ve had the privilege of meet... Read more.
Post Views: 343 Most inventors I know enjoy solving problems. They’re plagued by an annoyance, so they invent a solution. Me? I’ve always enjoyed making peo... Read more.
Post Views: 428 When a product becomes a household name, a lot of people tend to stake their claim. Origin stories are lost and rewritten. Ownership changes han... Read more.
Post Views: 309 When I left the startup Worlds of Wonder to bring my own ideas for toys to market, I quickly learned I would need to come up with a lot of ideas... Read more.
Post Views: 416 Anyone who has had an idea has worried it’s going to be stolen from them. I remember exactly how fearful I felt when I had my big idea nearly ... Read more.
Post Views: 326 Do you believe in luck? I don’t, not really. Not in the conventional sense anyway. I believe it’s entirely possible to create your own luck.... Read more.
Post Views: 304 What motivates you to succeed? Personally, I hate to fail. I take rejection personally. I can’t help it. I want to win. And I’m thankful for... Read more.