A presentation on intellectual property and patents Friday at Flathead Valley Community College attracted more business owners and investors than college students.

Molly Kocialski, director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, led a presentation and answered questions from the 45 people in attendance.

Kocialski discussed the differences among trademarks, copyrighted products and patents, intellectual property law and the functions of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Kocialski said the function of the office is to help protect inventors and boost innovation. Offices around the United States have more than 9,000 patent examiners working on the 592,417 patents currently pending. Last year, 208,660 patents were issued.

“We recognize that private industry is moving at a faster pace than we can keep up with,” Kocialski said.

Surprisingly to several people in attendance, the seats weren’t filled with young millennials looking to start the next social media giant but rather older folks who have already started a company or invented a product and hoped to protect their intellectual property.

Of those was T.J. Higgins, president of the Kalispell-based Mission Design Solutions, who wanted to broaden his understanding of patenting products. In an area that’s home to so many startups in technology and manufacturing, Higgins said the workshop arrived in the Flathead Valley at just the right time.

“I wanted to get some more information on the patent process,” Higgins said. “It ties in with my business, what I do.”

Others asked about obtaining patents for things such as biochemical products, children’s books and water filters.

Stan Pivovarov, a welding major at FVCC, was simply curious about the process of acquiring a patent.

“I’m here because I’m not quite sure where to start,” he said. “I’m not an engineer, but I have an engineering mindset. I’ve always wanted to invent something.”

Unfortunately for the young entrepreneur, the cost to file a patent can be around $25,000. Pivovarov said he’s discouraged by cost, being a college student without much capital or an angel investor. Kocialski said the cost of a patent depends a lot on the complexity of the product.

“I figure, I just want a little bit of education on this,” Pivovarov said.

According to Kocialski, getting patents while a startup business is young correlates with creating more jobs within the company, growing sales, and more than doubles the possibility that a startup eventually will be listed on a stock exchange.

“We believe innovation creates new jobs,” Kocialski said. “We want to see the U.S. economy succeed.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.