Advice from our judges

"Be productive, be persistent and be patient when staring a company. Tell somebody, everybody and anybody about your product or service.'' -- Beatrice Louissaint, President and CEO of the Florida Regional Minority Business Council

1. If it was easy, everybody would be successful at it. It is going to be HARD! 2. Just because it will be hard does not mean it should not be FUN. Have fun at it, or get a job. 3. Build a team. You can NOT do it alone. 4. Be very, very good at something. So good that people will gladly pay you to do it. 5. Know what you are not good at and get help in those areas. 6. Don't believe the hype (late night infomercials, no money down, work 2 hours a day and such). There is and never was any "free lunch.'' 7. Lastly, know how to do something and doing it are very different things. Not everyone is cut out to do the entrepreneurial thing. Be honest with yourself, your financial and personal situation before starting a business. -- Rafael Cruz, Regional Director for the Small

Enter the Business Plan Challenge

As tough as it may be, take a break from the stresses of this dismal economy. Entrepreneurship is alive and well in South Florida, and The Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge celebrates that spirit.

Now is your chance to enter our annual business plan competition. Your plan will be judged by a team of local business experts on originality, creativity, clarity and, especially, viability.

Throughout this site, read about the progress of last year's winners: Jennifer Herskowitz, first-place winner for the Allergy-Free Shop; Robert Holtzman, second place, who wants to start an online travel site for people with disabilities; Shea Novakovic, third, whose Fort Lauderdale company would allow customers to donate the remaining dollars and cents on their gift cards right at the cash register; and Anthony Lisiewski and his Barry University classmates who developed a retractable leash for walking two dogs at once.

High court considers what can qualify for a patent

Should techniques for training horses be eligible for a patent? What about a system for choosing a jury or fail-proof method for speed dating?

Supreme Court justices raised the questions Monday as they struggled to decide what types of inventions should qualify for patent protection.

In a case that has put software and bioscience companies on edge, the justices debated whether processes or methods of doing business should be eligible for protection. The dispute has raised serious questions about whether software programs, medical procedures, financial transactions and other nontangible inventions should be able to obtain patents like those granted to physical devices. And it left the high court grappling with the line between abstract processes and concrete applications.

Software cos. eye key patent case in Supreme Court

With the technology industry looking on, the Supreme Court on Monday will explore what types of inventions should be eligible for a patent in a pivotal case that could undermine such legal protections for software.

A ruling that sides with the Patent Office could bar patents on processes and methods of doing business, such as online shopping techniques, medical diagnostic tests and procedures for executing trades on Wall Street. And it might even undercut patents on software.

In a worst-case scenario for the high-tech industry, the ruling could invalidate many existing software patents or at least make them more difficult to defend in lawsuits. And it could make such patents harder to obtain in the future because software is generally patented as a process for doing something rather than as a physical invention.

Cuba's pace of U.S. patent filings picks up

It was a brief item in a newsletter that tracks U.S. government activities: U.S. Patent No. 7,556,726 was awarded on July 7 to the National Center for Scientific Investigations in Havana.

Yes, Havana, Cuba.

Indeed, throughout 50 years of hostility across the Florida Straits, Havana has been obtaining U.S. patents -- regularly, quietly and with little of the acrimony that has laced battles over trademarks such as Havana Club and Cohiba.