---

– All Job Categories –  Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive1 Banking1 Biotech1 Broadcast - Journalism1 Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Health Care Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Pharmaceutical Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail - Grocery Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecommunications Training Transportation Warehouse

A dance and stripper pole invented by a local man recently received a patent, the latest in a short list of central San Joaquin Valley entrepreneurs to win the distinction.

The pole joins the ranks of the Fresno scraper farm tool, solar-powered hat fans and new types of grapes.

Randy Blacker of Lil' Mynx created the removable floor-to-ceiling poles and manufactures them in east Fresno.

The patent has the potential to bring a significant financial boost to the company, he said. The growing business is also developing new products, testing a pole intended to be used as a laptop stand for the military and another that helps disabled people get out of bed.

Lil' Mynx has sold about 10,000 stripper poles over the past few years, buoyed by a growing trend of exercise videos and classes that use the poles.

If successfully enforced, the patent could bring in licensing fees from competitors, said Blacker, chief executive of the company, which he runs with his wife, Lizz.

"It gives us a lot of protection in a lot of ways," he said. "We knew that if we got it, we were going to be pretty golden."

Fewer than 1% of those awarded patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office get their products to market, said Tim Stearns, executive director of the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno.

But the Blackers are already producing their product.

"Intellectual property is one of the most valued items you can have," Stearns said. "It changes the equation of how you go about doing business as a company."

Part of the patent covers the mechanics behind the pole. Several competitors are producing similar poles that Randy Blacker believes violate his patent.

The federal government issues patents, but it does not enforce them, said Douglas Miro, an intellectual property attorney and partner at New York-based Ostrolenk Faber.

That is left up to the patent holder, who must persuade the competitor to pay licensing fees or stop producing the product, Miro said. If not, the patent holder must take the competitor to court.

But the process can get expensive, and patent holders don't always win, he said.

Blacker said he is still planning his next step.

Said Stearns: "There's big opportunities in licensing. You can do very well."

Lil' Mynx is branching out in other ways, too.

The company recently created a prototype for the military.

The shorter removable pole supports laptop computers that Blacker said military members use to control pilotless aircraft.

The company also is testing another pole application, this one involving a man who lost use of an arm due to a stroke. He uses the pole to pull himself out of bed into a wheelchair.

Blacker said the pole could have other uses in the home, too.

"I'm more excited about that than anything," he said.