Should I Get A Patent Before Talking To Customers?
No. As an investor in patents, I am willing to wait for the Second Patent. BTW, if you need to tell someone your invention when you are doing customer discovery, you are doing it wrong. In my business of financing patents for startup companies, I am usually willing to pass on the First Patent for…
Read MoreShould I File A Provisional Patent Application?
You should never file a provisional patent application. Ever. In every case, a small company or independent inventor is better off by filing a complete, well-written, non-provisional patent application. One of the biggest hoaxes in the patent community is that provisional patent applications are a good thing. They are not. (You can learn more at…
Read MoreHow Much Does It Cost To File A Patent?
How much does it cost to file a patent? The US average is about $12k, but the total cost of a patent is closer to $60k. Have you been quoted much less? There are plenty of patent attorneys who quote much, much less than $12,000 to draft a patent application. But beware. One of the…
Read MorePatent Enforcement Insurance Makes Your Company Valuable
Why should I get a patent? I don’t have enough money to enforce it. Many startup companies don’t bother with patents because they don’t think they can enforce them. And they are right. A patent lawsuit can be very expensive, and the game of enforcement is really a big game of chicken: both sides are…
Read MoreWhat Does A Quality Patent Look Like?
What does a quality patent look like? We evaluate patents every day. We underwrite investments in intellectual property, either for financing patents before they are written or for providing loans against patents that already exist. After doing this for a long time, there are certain elements that we evaluate every time we pick up a…
Read MoreHow Much Do Patent Attorneys Charge
The average patent cost about $60,000, and most of that goes to your patent attorney. How much do patent attorneys charge? Be prepared to pay them about $45,000 through the entire process. The patent process involves two major phases. Patent “preparation” is when the patent is originally drafted and filed with the patent office, and…
Read MoreAverage Patent Cost
How much does the average patent cost? The US average is about $60,000. The average patent cost about $60,000. The patent process involves two major phases. Patent “preparation” is when the patent is originally drafted and filed with the patent office, and patent “prosecution” is the back and forth that happens with the examiner. Typically,…
Read MoreAn NDA That Encourages Collaboration
BlueIron is now using the Ethical NDA in all our new engagements. The Ethical NDA is available from the Ethical Collaboration Assocation, a 501(c)3 non-profit. The conventional NDA ensures that one party to the agreement must keep the other party’s secrets. In a mutual NDA, both parties agree to the same terms. The conventional NDA…
Read MoreRethinking the Lowly NDA
BlueIron is now using the Ethical NDA from Ethical Collaboration Association, a 501(c)3 non-profit. The Non Disclosure Agreement is one of the basic agreements that every entrepreneur uses. For newbies, the NDA is a revered document that “protects” an idea from being stolen. For older, crusty entrepreneurs, the NDA is a pointless waste of time…
Read MoreWhy We Use The Ethical NDA
BlueIron is starting to use the Ethical NDA in all our new deals. The Ethical NDA is available here and is administered by the Ethical Collaboration Association, a 501(c)3 non profit. Why do we use the Ethical NDA? It is because we want to establish a collaborative relationship, plain and simple. We value the back…
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