{"id":13600,"date":"2024-04-02T14:40:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T14:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/?p=13600"},"modified":"2025-07-28T13:01:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T19:01:03","slug":"success-story-how-deborah-campbell-revolutionized-sushi-making-with-mi-casas-patent-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/success-story-how-deborah-campbell-revolutionized-sushi-making-with-mi-casas-patent-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Historia de \u00c9xito: C\u00f3mo Deborah Campbell Revolucion\u00f3 la Elaboraci\u00f3n de Sushi con el Programa de Patentes de Mi Casa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Deborah Campbell is no stranger to entrepreneurship, beginning her first business venture selling Christmas cards at 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, she has owned and operated various businesses, including a clothing store and coffee shop. But one night, while she was making sushi with her son, an idea was born that took her in a new entrepreneurial direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sushi making was not going smoothly. Rice was sticking everywhere, leading to sanitation concerns. It was time-consuming to use the traditional bamboo rolling mat. The resulting rolls were less than ideal due to their messiness.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy son said, \u2018There\u2019s got be a better way to do this,\u2019\u2019 Deborah remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah and her son began talking about creating a sushi rolling machine, which she began designing in her head. Deborah made a wooden prototype and one entirely out of Legos\u00ae – complete with a Lego\u00ae gear \u2013 to get exact placement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the measurements of the Lego\u00ae prototype, Deborah built an acrylic version with the help of her husband. But it was too large and costly, at a production price of $500. Deborah then scaled down and fine-tuned the design to a sleeker, more cost-effective version, going through 20 to 30 prototypes. Deborah\u2019s daughter pitched in to help aesthetically with the logo and color variations, making the project a true family affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The finished version consists of acrylic pieces that pop together, removing the need for glue and allowing it to be dishwasher-safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the ingredients are placed inside, a crank is all that\u2019s needed to churn out a standard-sized sealed sushi roll within seconds – hence the name 2 Minute Sushi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe once made 64 pieces of sushi in about 15 minutes with 2 Minute Sushi,\u201d Deborah said. \u201cIt truly streamlines sushi making to be much cleaner and faster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After applying for a non-provisional patent, Deborah discovered the Patent Program at Mi Casa Resource Center through the United States Patent and Trademark Office website. The Patent Program connects low-income inventors with volunteer patent professionals who provide legal services on a pro bono basis. The legal process to obtain a full patent typically requires three to five years and thousands of dollars in fees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was paired with attorneys at Merchant & Gould, who helped her navigate the complex journey of obtaining a full patent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I would have obtained a full patent without the help of the Patent Program,\u201d Deborah said. \u201cI didn’t have the stamina to keep up with the back-and-forth claims process with the patent office. And the claims have to be worded in a particular way, which is what the attorneys I was paired with specialize in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inventors who attempt to navigate the patent process without legal help can unknowingly make decisions that harm the value of their patent application. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Patent Program pairs qualifying inventors with a volunteer professional who has patent experience and can help them through the complicated process and the many decisions along the way,\u201c said Ben Fernandez, a Patent Program volunteer attorney. \u201cIt\u2019s a long process with many phases. Even for sophisticated companies, it\u2019s a high-risk, high-cost endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within two years of contacting the Patent Program, Deborah and her family were awarded a full patent in May 2016, thanks partly to an acceleration she could apply for due to her husband\u2019s age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah\u2019s advice to other inventors centers around perseverance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust keep at it and don\u2019t give up,\u201d Deborah said. \u201cI made it minute by minute, doing the best I could. And get help. The Patent Program lawyers did a wonderful job and were very kind. I wouldn’t have made it through the patent process without them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Deborah Campbell is no stranger to entrepreneurship, beginning her first business venture selling Christmas cards at 14.\u00a0 Since then, she has owned and operated various businesses, including a clothing store […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65,142],"tags":[53,51,141,52],"class_list":["post-13600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-updates","category-success-stories","tag-business-pathways","tag-mi-casa-resource-center","tag-patent-program","tag-success-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/micasaresourcecenter.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}