Published on January 24, 1999 SMALL-BUSINESS SOLUTIONS Mother's toddler safety strap is big trademark success story The Baby Comfort Company, LLC Grocery cart safety strap for kids Owner(s): Karen Alvarez Location: Dublin. 925-202.8828 Founded: 1997 Revenues: Undisclosed Number of employees: None The Problem: For Karen Alvarez, thinking of the invention was the easy part. Obtaining the patent and licensing information for it was another story. After her son fell out of a grocery cart as a toddler, Alvarez came up with the idea for the Baby Comfort Strap -- an adjustable, padded safety belt that would prevent shopping cart accidents. Alvarez felt the idea was a good one, and marketable, too. So she began thinking of ways to sell her product. There was a problem though. Before she could even advertise her invention, Alvarez had to find out whether or not someone else already owned the patent to a similar product or idea. A patent is an exclusive privilege of making, using and authorizing others to make, use and sell an invention granted by the government. Since patent attorneys are expensive, the mother of three turned to the patent library in Sunnyvale to do the majority of the research on her own. The patent process is a long one. Any inventor who wants to patent his or her idea must first figure out whether or not someone else has already come up with the idea. Then, any invention that is similar to the inventor's product must be referenced for officials at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington. "Researching a patent is a long and arduous process, especially if you're starting a business from the ground up and don't have the capital to hire an attorney," Alvarez said. "For myself, it was better to do the research myself. It's intimidating but the information is available even if financial resources are not free-flowing." The Solution: As a budding small-business owner, Alvarez decided that patenting her invention would be too expensive. So she trademarked the Baby Comfort Strap name instead. A trademark is a distinctive name, symbol, motto or design that legally identifies a company or its product and services and sometimes prevents others from using identical or similar marks. With less than $10,000, Alvarez launched The Baby Comfort Company in 1997. She started by catering to smaller, children's specialty stores such as Cartan's baby stores, The Right Start, and Recaptured Youth. Then, Alvarez learned HTML and designed a Web site for her company at www.babycomfort.com where products can be ordered online. As a result, business has been good. Alvarez's Baby Comfort Company has sold more than 5,000 safety belts in the past two years. Still, Alvarez believes business could be better and wants the Comfort Strap on the shelves of national stores. Large chain retailers are often reluctant to carry small-business products because of their inability to manufacture in large quantities. "I don't know if I could handle an order of 100,000. I don't know if I could float something that large," she said. "I'm not sure I'm willing to put my kids' college funds into something like this." That's why Alvarez is now about to close a deal, licensing her product to a larger, national manufacturer. The licensing agreement would most likely give the manufacturer complete distribution rights, leaving Alvarez with royalties from the product's sales. The agreement would also put The Baby Comfort Company out of business, but Alvarez said she is already looking into other opportunities such as small-business consulting. "All of my hard work was really worth it," she said. "I didn't have any experience at all when I first started, and the business just opened up a whole new world for me. Now I can go down any avenue I want." -- Anne Chen Solutions offered by consultants reflect the opinion of the person and not the Times, and should not be considered the only solution to your problems. If you're an East Bay small business with fewer than 100 employees, and have a problem you'd like to share, write to Small-Business Solutions, in care of the Times, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099. Or contact business reporter Anne Chen at 925-952-2649 or at achen@cctimes.com. Edition: BIZ,  Section: D,  Page: 3