Best and brightest

By Bridget Brady
MICHAEL Kraemer probably has one of the rarest, yet most interesting jobs in Australia.
He is a patent lawyer. In other words, he meets the ideas people who chat to him about their invention to see if it has all been done before.
If not, a patent is granted so no one else can steal that idea.
The Cranbourne businessman and resident is one of about only 750 patent lawyers in the country and the only one in Casey.
Mr Kraemer said his job was always interesting, and he continued to be astonished by the ideas that he came across each day. “I’m amazed by their imagination. I look forward to coming to work,” he said.
A patent attorney is the first point of call for someone who has an invention and wants to have the idea registered.
Mr Kraemer also deals with trademarks.
“After they tell their wife they tell me. But we are no judge of whether the idea is going to be a commercial success. You just have to be very open-minded.”
While small in numbers, the “tiny profession” was important for the technical health of the country, Mr Kraemer said.
“It has been said that if the entire world is bombed out and only one building remained, and that was a patent office, they would be able to reconstruct the world.”
Mr Kramer said it took all types to be an inventor.
“Some are very bright, others not bright but practical, and we need both sorts.”
An inventor often came up with an idea to solve the problems they encountered through their own work and experiences, he said. Some of the ideas Mr Kraemer’s clients have invented have been horizontal micro tunnelling, LED truck lights, an alphabetic learning keyboard and a seedling propagation box.
Some of his clients have appeared on the television show New Inventors and some have made millions.
He said most of his clients were successful in gaining a patent, which took about six years.
Mr Kraemer said inventions would continue and problems continued to be solved. “Improvement is inevitable. New ideas are everywhere.”