Entrepreneur secures patent

Philadelphia stock broker-turned Sarasota entrepreneur Susan Beausang can now add her own patent to her list of firsts.

Beausang, founder of www.4women.com, was awarded the patent last month. Three years in the making, the patent is for the Beaubeau scarf, a head covering she created in 2002 when she sought a fashion-conscious alternative to a wig for women and girls coping with hair loss. “It was a long process,” Beausang tells Coffee Talk. “There was a lot involved.”

The patent process was complicated by the fact that at its core, Beausang's product is merely a piece of cloth used as a scarf. But Beausang, through her patent filings and eventually in person, argued that the unique design of the Beaubeau scarf allows for two things no other scarf can do. For one, says Beausang, it can combine fabrics with seams to “offer maximum comfort and rule out slippage.”