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Two Parts of a Patent Application: What You Give Away and What You Get In Return
Patent applications come in two parts – the specification and the claims. The specification is where you describe your invention, and the claims is the protection that you get when the patent is granted.
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How IP-Backed Loans Work
Your intellectual property is usually the hardest-fought asset you have. Intellectual property, and particularly patents, are often the most valuable intangible assets your company owns.
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The USPTO Claims it Wants to Ensure ‘Robust and Reliable’ Patents – But Its Questions Imply Another Assault on Patent Owners
Last October, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a Request for Comments on USPTO Initiatives To Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights. Responses to this request are due by this Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
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You – And Only You – Are Responsible for Your Patent
In 1989, Steven Byrne invented an accessory to a string trimmer – the ubiquitous ‘weed whacker’ used for landscaping. Mr. Byrne was a landscaper. He developed his invention so that he could use the string trimmer for edging a sidewalk. His accessory was a cone that help stabilize the string.[1]
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The Importance of Patent Searches
The easiest way to make your patent more valuable: do a patent search.
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Patents on Vision vs Patents on Inventions
Entrepreneurs are fond of having big, bold visions of the future. A future of self-driving cars or virtual reality universes or DNA-based pharmaceuticals that fix every medical problem or hyperloop transport or whatever. This is catnip for investors, who get the vision and imagine thousands of self-driving cars zooming through city streets – each one…
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Good Stewards of Capital
Angel investors hear countless pitches from all kinds of entrepreneurs, some of which are extraordinarily capable scientists and visionaries who have fantastic technical solutions to a problem. Many times, these entrepreneurs stumble when trying to explain the business.
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Feedback – and the Truth
Anyone who is trying to pitch a new business idea needs to hear the hard truth, whether or not you are an entrepreneur doing the angel investment circuit or you are pitching your boss on upgrading your computer.
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Investment Grade Patents are not for Patent Trolling
Patent trolling is the business of extortion. Generally, patent trolling is when someone sues for patent infringement[1] but is willing to settle for less than the cost of litigation. It is extortion, pure and simple.
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Crystalizing Your Invention
Entrepreneurs buy into the myth – perpetuated by the patent bar – that they should write and file provisional patent applications before bringing their product to market. There are many reasons why provisional patent applications are wrong for startups, but this post explains yet another, more subtle reason.