BIO

The time frame was the early 80's.  I was in my early twenties and I was making my way as an owner operator of an over-the-road tractor trailer rig.  When suddenly out of nowhere; the idea hit me… oil filters!

Fast forward...  I wasn't quite 30 and newly married when I filed for my first oil filter patent.  By 1993, I was the proud owner of 2 benchmark utility patents for oil filters. Since their grant, these patents have been cited a combined 159 times in the US prior art, making me the most referenced inventor in US patent history for oil filtration.

My two patents & trade secrets along with my extensive intellectual property portfolio, gave birth to both the Fram Double Guard & the Fram TRT oil filter lines.    At the time, Fram was the undisputed world leader in automotive oil filtration.

Just so you know...  I was the first outside inventor to ever enter into a licensing agreement with the Fram oil filter division.  At the time, Fram  was the crown jewel of the AlliedSignal automotive aftermarket division.

Now keep in mind that oil filters are classified as an OEM product.  OEM stands for original equipment manufactured part, which means that the oil filters I invented, had to meet the highest criteria to be accepted as an automotive original equipment part.  For an outside inventor to invent an OEM accepted part is one of the highest technological achievements that any backyard inventor could ever hope to attain.

The Double Guard oil filter was sold in many of the major automotive retailers throughout both the US and Canada.  It sold over a 100 million dollars worth of product the very first year it hit the shelves in Walmart.

The Double Guard was sold in Walmart for over a decade and it was available across Fram's 32 model line, which covered nearly every make and model car on the road.  The Double Guard made its debut roll-out in Walmart during the late spring of 1996.  Its appearance on the shelves was so disruptive, that over 750,000 filters were stolen during the first few months that it was offered for sale.  As a result, the Double Guard had to be recalled nearly as quickly as it appeared.  Fram was then forced to repackage the filters in theft-proof packaging, making this the first oil filter in history to ever be sold that way.

So why all the fanfare over an oil filter?  Simply, because AlliedSignal proclaimed that my oil filter invention was, "The most significant innovation in oil filtration history."

Just so you know...  during this timeframe, oil filter sales in the USA alone was approaching 5 billion dollars in annual retail sales.

Just so you know...  AlliedSignal's Automotive Aftermarket Market Division was one of the most prominent OEM's in the world!  When I entered into a licensing agreement for the use of my intellectual property in the fall of 1995, Fram was the world's leader in automotive oil filtration.  At the time, Fram had 28% of the US automotive oil filter market and its parent company, AlliedSignal was ranked number 38 on the Fortune 500 list.                           

Just so you know...  AlliedSignal acquired Honeywell in the late Summer of 1999.  The Company then doubled in size and renamed itself, Honeywell International.  As a total outsider, I had intimate dealings with both Companies as I journeyed deep inside their inner workings, all the way up to the powerful CEO level and beyond.

In 2011 Honeywell sold off their Automotive Aftermarket Division, which included the Fram Oil Filter Division to Graeme Hart; New Zealand's wealthiest man for 950 million dollars.

As an outside inventor off of the street, I brought Fram the patents, the trade secrets, the formulas, as well as both the manufacturing & marketing plans.  I was the one who devised the crucial co-branding strategy that was set in place between AlliedSignal and DuPont.  This was done so that AlliedSignal, under a license from DuPont, could advertise that they were using Teflon® as a key design element in their product.  From a marketing standpoint, this was one of the major corner stone's for the products success.

This was the very first time that AlliedSignal/Honeywell had ever displayed another company's trademark on one of their high visibility branded products.

I was the one who brought Fram all the materials and all the necessary elements needed to launch and sustain this product for over ten long years at the highest retail levels possible!  At the time, Fram's bevy of oil filter engineer's didn't hold a single oil filter patent amongst them!

Just so you know...  I should at the very least, be the co-inventor of an additional 31 US oil filter patents, but I am not!

Despite the fact that I was their licensing partner, both AlliedSignal and Honeywell didn't hesitate to cut me out as the "first true inventor" of this technology. They took my trade secrets and my proprietary information and filed dozens of oil filter patents around the globe behind my back by violating US patent law: 35 USC § 115 & 116 the "oath of inventorship." 

As I would soon find out, they were totally indifferent as to what contract law had to say about our proprietary information agreements, our trade secret agreements and our licensing agreement.  And to my absolute horror, they had absolutely no regard for what US patent law had to say about my patents, my trade secrets and especially my rights of inventorship!

So on July 1, 2002 I did the unimaginable.  I filed a nine-count complaint against Honeywell in US Federal District Court, and I filed the law suit Pro Se.  Simply put, I ended up picking a fight with what had become the 18^th most powerful company on the planet and it was all going to play out in open court… 

And I was going it alone, case 02-CV-3142 JAG  Moor vs. Honeywell formerly known as AlliedSignal.                                        
View Steve's  54 page / nine count  Federal Court Complaint: Download PDF
Court fillings and pleadings can be found on www.pacer.gov 

Prior to filing the suit, I spent a year of intense searching in the hopes of finding legal representation, but to no avail.  That process opened my eyes to some very valuable lessons about patents, intellectual property law, contracts, the PTO… and our vaunted Federal Judicial system.  It goes a little something like this; anybody who believes strongly enough that they've been harmed can file a lawsuit.  But if you go on to read the fine print, you'll quickly find out that it requires a couple of million dollars in cash up front in order to retain a law firm that's capable of taking on such a behemoth.

The truth is, there won't be many takers for your case either if you don't have a bank account that matches your zeal to attain justice.  Count on it, because intellectual property litigators that take on contingency cases are indeed, very rare.

As it turned out, the lawsuit dragged on for 50 grueling months before it was ready for a jury trial.  We ended up settling on the very eve of trial, and they paid me millions.  Exactly how that came about is a long and complicated story.  All I can say is that experience was like the Erin Brockovich Story  times ten-thousand.  My first book, The Greed of a Dime  chronicled that experience and it will transport you head-long into this mind-blowing inventors journey. 

Just so you know...  I graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1982 with a BA in psychology.  As a college student and for a time thereafter, I drove big rigs around the country.  I logged over 300,000 miles and in the process, taught myself to become a mechanic.

I then moved on and became a full time straight-commissioned real estate salesman, building a successful career that spanned over twenty years selling houses on the Jersey Shore.  It was during this time frame that the dream took hold of my soul and I began hawking my oil filter patents to the major oil filter companies throughout the US. 

And yes, I did sue Honeywell Pro Se.  I filed the complaint, I filed motions and I wrote the briefs.  I participated in oral arguments and I conducted nearly every bit of Discovery.  I conducted seven depositions across three different states.  I hired the stenographers who recorded those depositions and I hired the process servers who served subpoenas to the individuals that I deposed.  I was personally deposed twice, and in two separate states for a total of 12 hours.  One of the 6 hour sessions was devoted to grilling me on my first book, The Greed of a Dime.

In fact, I did all that and much more in preparation to fend off Honeywell's frivolous motion for Summary Judgement to get my case dismissed. And by the way, they failed rather miserably.  Just prior to the Summary Judgment proceedings I got blessed!  At the eleventh hour, I found a gutsy young intellectual property litigator who was willing to team up with me in my quest to take on this Goliath.  So that's what we did... 

Without skipping a beat, the two of us mounted a campaign against Honeywell in a 100 year old converted horse stable in South Jersey.  They were a monstrous opponent.  They had 250 in house attorneys on staff, and that didn't include the three other outside law firms that they had hired to defend themselves against me.                                                                                                                                              Their lead defense firm that we battled against was Kirkland and Ellis, the 9^th largest law firm in the world, with over 1100 attorneys.

You see, I was a backyard inventor when I started out.  But as you've probably gathered by now, I've been around the block.  Actually, I have an entire world of knowledge and experience that very few people walking around can lay claim to.  The time is right, so I'm prepared to share my full on experiences with the world, and that means that I'm capable of teaching you how to go about the inventing game the proper way.

So, if you're serious about your idea…  and you're pretty sure that it's realistic…  and you're pretty sure that your idea could be valuable…      and you want know how protect your intellectual property rights…  and you're dreaming about what it would be like to one day see your product out in the marketplace…  but you're not quite sure how to go about this process, simply because all of the information that's been coming your way lately is not only so damn confusing, but filled with so much blue sky…

Rest assured you're in capable hands.  I've already blazed the trail way ahead of you and now it will be my pleasure to accompany you on your journey.                                                                                                                                                     So, if you want to know the intimate details of the inventing game, I'm prepared to share everything that I've learned from experience.        Click here to view my patent CV & history.

Steve's   YouTube Channel

I'd like to leave you with a promise…  I haven't left a single stone unturned.

The purpose of this book is to take any individual who believes that they have a valuable idea and bring them all the way through the inventing process.  We will journey together from the idea stage and follow it all the way through to the commercialization of your product.  And we’ll cover everything in between in vivid detail.

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