“Intellectual property is a key aspect for economic development” – Craig Venter: Led sequencing of the Human Genome:
As I migrated to the United States from Colombia due to personal and country challenges, I created two lives. One was working in the worldwide supply chain – electronics, telecommunications and eventually food and ag business, and secondly as a cartoonist becoming part of the birth of the licensing industry. Cartooning has been a lifelong hobby and fits right into licensing. My mentor and friend, Roger Richman, who has now passed on, represented my cartoon characters and helped frame the California Celebrity Rights Act. This formative legislation to protect the rights of celebrities, and their estates, for clients he represented such as Einstein, Freud, Marilyn Monroe and more, served to teach me the importance of intellectual property from the private and legislative angles. I will always be thankful for Roger mentoring me on intellectual property as this has become one of the four most important pillars of Agtools! From patents, copyrights, trademarks and service marks, it is as vital a part of our roadmap as is sales or technology.
If you have time and curiosity, find the link to Einstein IP based on Roger Richman legacy.