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Gene Luoma

is the inventor of the Zip-It drain cleaner. He was born in January 1943 and raised in Floodwood, MN. After graduating high school, Gene attended UMD Duluth and then the Dunwoody College of Technology. He and his wife Kathleen have three children: Kevin, Brian and Kim.

Recent Articles by Gene Luoma

A Personal Plea From the Zip-It Inventor to Support the Inventor Protection Act

Cobra Products filed a lawsuit for patent infringement. G.T. Water then filed for a re-examination of my patent at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to invalidate my patent claims. My licensing agreement with Cobra and BrassCraft was to share equally in the cost of defending my patent. However, Cobra Products elected not to help me in the defense of my patent at the USPTO. I was forced to bear the total cost of that alone. After seven years of validity proceedings, which have cost more than $250,000, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has invalidated all 12 of my claims covering the Zip-It. How can the USPTO issue a patent with 12 claims and then use the PTAB to neuter my patent? Since this has been going back and forth with the court system, there are now numerous other entities which have engaged in copying and infringing my patented invention.