Why Large And Powerful Companies Like Conair Embrace Open Innovation

by | Sep 22, 2020

For the past six months, I’ve been interviewing dozens of companies that practice open innovation. Specifically, in this case, meaning that they’re willing to work with independent inventors to develop new products. Among other topics, I wanted to understand their perspective on intellectual property. Were new product idea submissions required to be patented? How much did patents matter to them? About 30 experts across 17 industries weighed in.

The short answer is, no two answers were the same. For some, patents were of great significance. For others, they weren’t. One big takeaway? Product developers who want to take advantage of open innovation to bring their product ideas to market must learn what’s important to the companies they want to invent for and about their policies in general. That’s really step one.

With that spirit in mind, I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lawrence Cruz, Chief Patent Counsel at Conair Corporation. Conair is a $2 billion dollar 60-year-old privately-held company that dominates the market for hair grooming appliances. It is a leader in the other fields it sells products in, which includes massage apparatuses and travel accessories. Notably, it also owns Cuisinart, the consumer cooking appliances brand, as well as Waring, which markets its cooking appliances to commercial kitchens.

For such a large and powerful company, Cruz was remarkably easy to get ahold of, even downright friendly. He started his career as a patent examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office in 1987 while attending law school in the evening. Before landing at Conair nearly 18 years ago, he was in-house counsel at FMC Corporation, a large multinational, publicly-traded company, as well as at U.S. Surgical Corporation (which later became Covidien), worked at two intellectual property boutique patent firms, and consulted for a medical startup.

In a phone interview, he was effusive about his role, which he described as broad. He primarily oversees matters related to intellectual property and anti-counterfeiting efforts; his work overlaps with other legal, business, and product development functions.

Cruz described Conair’s policy towards working with independent inventors as informal and explained that it had been largely shaped by him. (It is worth noting that Cruz is an inventor himself.) The company sometimes receives more than 100 unsolicited cold calls from inventors in a year, occasionally resulting in a business arrangement such as a license. 


“I receive all their calls and try to be as patient as I can, in a way that makes the inventor feel welcome and comfortable and at the same time keeps it professional,” Cruz said. “As a company, we’re thankful that people give us a chance to consider their ideas. We treat everyone with a lot of respect, so that we have a good reputation and we’re trustworthy as a business partner.”

There are no strict requirements to submit a product idea. Instead, Cruz encourages inventors to send him “something that will initially convey the product quickly to a team of people that includes marketing, sales, and management. I tell them, ‘Focus on the gist of the idea, the part that you think might be appealing.’”

As a policy, he does not sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) right off the bat. Instead, he prefers that inventors submit only what they are comfortable submitting. If he has specific questions or needs more details, he will discuss signing an NDA.

On the question of patents, Cruz told me, “In the event that you have not yet filed an application, it’s okay to show the idea to us, but if we do decide we really like the product and we want to do business with you, you’re encouraged to file an application at some point soon, because the whole idea is that we’re paying you for your current or future patent rights.”

He continued: “Sometimes people bare their souls to me on the phone and say, ‘I don’t have the money to be filing patents unless I know I have a customer.’ I can’t give them advice. I tell them very clearly, ‘I’m not your attorney and I’m not giving you legal advice. You should consult your own attorney. After you talk to your attorney, I’m telling you that we don’t require you to file patents before you show it to us. That’s your decision.’”

A core philosophy of Conair is to treat people right. Cruz fully embraces this ethos in his role as Chief Patent Counsel.

“That means, to me, when someone calls with an idea, I treat them as important as the next person. Everyone’s important and everyone’s idea is a good one. I think that’s the way you need to do business in general,” he said.

To be honest, this interview surprised me. The perspective Cruz revealed is not what most inventors would assume, including myself. 

Most of us feel that reaching out to such a large company will be extremely difficult. We envision having to get through gatekeeper after gatekeeper to get to the right person. And then there are our doubts. Why would such a large and powerful company give us the time of day? The fact that Cruz is so open and honest about Conair’s open innovation policy speaks volumes.

In fact, it’s extremely refreshing that a company of this size takes cold calls, patiently explains their policy, and genuinely wants to see product ideas from the outside. 

Sometimes, you just have to pick up the phone. That’s how I reached Cruz. Out of the blue, I called Conair’s corporate number and asked for him by name. And sure enough, he picked up.

Large and powerful companies like Conair embrace open innovation because it benefits them. A call from an inventor could result in their next big hit. That’s why they keep their door to new, innovative ideas open.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Author

  • Stephen Key

    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 d...