Houston, TX (BlackNews.com) - Ingenuity and creativity is all around us. Especially in the African-American community, many creative people have conceived ideas for various products such as books, crafts, toys, artistic works, music not to mention countless inventions for goods and services. Creativity is a part of our heritage. Although the creative juices are flowing, many of these ideas never become products.

Darcell Walker, a patent and trademark attorney, says that there are two main reasons people do not pursue their ideas. One reason is a lack of familiarity with the product development process in general and the processes for protecting ideas in particular. The processes for protecting ideas using patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets are foreign to most people. People are also very fearful about the possibility of losing their idea if they make mistakes in this process. This fear causes people to do nothing with their ideas.

Another reason people do not pursue ideas is that they do not know who to trust to assist them. With horror stories of people who lost ideas or lost thousands of dollars to entities making claims to assist them, people just sit on their ideas. Some time later, they see their original idea on the store shelves under someone else’s name.

The amount of information concerning the development of ideas is enormous and somewhat complex. There are many publications on this topic, but few provide straightforward information and explanations concerning: the steps involved in the various processes, what occurs in each step and the time and costs associated with each step of a process.

Attorney Darcell Walker has spent more than 16 years practicing in the field of Intellectual Property Law (patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets). He also conducts seminars and workshops on this topic and addresses many common questions from individuals.

Walker says, “People want to gain a general understanding of the various steps necessary to protect their ideas and the costs associated with each step. From my experience, people are not interested in a do-it-yourself approach, but they do want to have an understanding of the steps that occur during a process, when each step will occur and all costs associated with the process.”

To address this matter, Attorney Walker has created a website (www.dwalkerlaw.com) that provides basic information that people need to know about the product development process. This information covers topics related to patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.

The unique website also has information that covers many questions people have about protecting and developing ideas. Furthermore, the website provides a chat room that will allow interaction between artists and inventors.

In addition to this website, Walker has produced an idea protection guide with information to assist the creative individuals with their ideas. The guide cuts through the complicated information on this topic and provides understandable explanations about the various steps in the idea protection processes and the tools needed for each step.

The guide helps people understand which form of protection best suits their idea and describes initial actions one can take in order to protect their ideas before they pursue any form of formal idea protection. This guide also provides an overview of the steps in the product development process. The guide explains the costs involved and gives tips for ways to reduce costs in the various processes. The companion supplement includes practical information about the various idea protection tools (patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets).

This information includes discussions of the different types of agreements used at the different stages of product development process. Also included are explanations of the various forms and applications used in the patent, trademark and copyright processes. The supplement provides strategic information for publishing artistic materials such as books, manuals and other creative works, for developing and protecting designs and logos for products and for protecting and commercializing inventions.

Walker says, “By providing a basic knowledge of the processes involved in developing and protecting ideas, people will now have a resource that will help them create an initial line of protection and will enable the individual to make informed decisions related to protecting their ideas or inventions. Individuals and all types of entities (including small businesses, educational, social, and religious organizations) have ideas.”

These ideas need protection in order to accomplish their intended objectives.

To learn more, visit www.dwalkerlaw.com or contact Atty Darcell Walker at 832-200-0530 or 713-772-1255 or by telephone or fax at 866-870-2382