Blood in the Water: America's Assault on Innovation

Blood in the Water: America's Assault on Innovation takes an inside look at the sorry state of the U.S. patent system, the crooked dealings that got us here, and what it's going to take to get us back on track.

Kip Azzoni Doyle is the inventor of the CardShark, the original and still the best combo smartphone case/credit card wallet ever made. It all started with an idea, and for Kip—like for a lot of independent inventors—that idea was going to be her ticket to the American Dream: self-determination, success, and college tuition payments for her four kids. Kip filed her application, submitted her designs, paid her fees, and had her patents issued and her product in-hand… and then she found herself infringed, sued, and threatened with invalidation before the Patent Tribunal and Appeal Board—the "death squad" for patents*—and through it all the system that was supposed to have her back was nowhere to be found. Stunned and wondering how a governmental institution expressly designed to protect "indie" inventors like her could so thoroughly drop the ball, Kip went digging… and discovered that the situation is far worse—and the potential consequences far more dire—than she'd even begun to imagine.

Kip Azzoni Doyle is the creator of the CardShark, the original and still the best smartphone walletskin in the game. She is also a writer who attended Pomona College and then graduated from NYU before earning a master's degree in Screen Writing from the Tisch/Gallatin Division of NYU. As a freelance journalist she has written about the New York deep house club scene, kidnappings in Venezuela, the life of Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley, female Knights Templar, female racers (snow and asphalt), and the Yanomami tribe in the Amazon River Basin. She is the co-author, along with her former husband, Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni, then head of Ferrari North America, of Selling Dreams: How to Make Any Product Irresistible (Simon & Schuster, 1999). Fusing her talent with mission—bringing awareness to the plight of returning veterans—Kip wrote and produced the PSA "The Other Note" and the short film "Until We Get Home" with Martin Sheen, both about suicide among our returning veteran population. She is currently working with a leading disruptor in the development space out in L.A. to produce "Radio Check," a TV series she wrote about soldiers, reintegration, and redemption. More information about the project is available online at www.LockLoadTV.org. Kip now lives in Chicago with her husband Mark Doyle and their 200-pound (he's lost 10 pounds on account of his enforced diet) St. Bernard, Geronimo. Connect with her online at www.BloodInTheWaterBook.com.

Scott Burr is a graduate of the creative writing program at the Colorado College. He is the author of the novels Bummed Out City and We Will Rid the World of You, the strength training manuals Get a Grip and Suspend Your Disbelief, and the martial arts, mindset, and health and fitness essay collection Superhero Simplified. He is the co-author of Richard Bresler's memoir of his over 40 years' involvement with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the Gracie family Worth Defending: How Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Saved My Life (www.WorthDefendingBook.com), which was an Amazon #1 New Release and an Amazon Top-10 Bestseller, and was the editor and designer for Robert Drysdale's bestselling book Opening Closed Guard: The Origins of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil: The Story Behind the Film. He currently lives in Northeast Ohio. Connect with him online at www.ScottBurrAuthor.com.