Voice of the Customer
The only metric of patent value – and business in general. Our business is to loan money using patents as collateral. My most frequent question: How do I put a value on patents? It all comes down to the voice of the customer. If I can capture the reason why someone bought your product –…
Read MoreShowing Up and the Green Beans
My mantra for grinding out the day to day. At coffee the other day, someone said that showing up on time was the lowest cost, easiest way to get off to a good start. I have always believed in the simple mantra of “show up.” The mantra of “show up” is really about putting in…
Read MorePatent Attorneys Do Not Live with Their Mistakes
The Feedback Problem in Patent Law. Patent attorneys typically have zero feedback about the quality of their work product. This is an inherent weakness of the whole patent system. The attorneys do not have to live with their mistakes, because patent litigation and patent transactions happen long after their work product has ended. The Long…
Read MoreDue Diligence and IP Valuation Webinar
The Angel Capital Association hosted a webinar on Due Diligence and IP Valuation. In this webinar, I discussed an IP-backed loan for Ivani, who has an extensive IP portfolio. Note that this is a public version of our analysis of Ivani’s portfolio. Here’s the complete deck for download. We have an investor-specific due diligence package…
Read MoreIP-Backed Lending In Asia
Intellectual property-backed lending, particularly patent-backed lending, has been growing in Asia, particularly China and Korea. Both countries have made extensive efforts to use IP as a business resource for growing their economies. Maybe the US can use part of this playbook? China’s IP Emphasis is a Huge Asset to SMEs Seeking Financing. $67B in loans…
Read MoreWhy You Cannot Hire a Patent Attorney Who Worked for a Competitor
I talk to countless patent holders, and I often hear that their patent attorney did all this work for a direct competitor before doing their patents. Somehow, the client seems to think this is a good thing. It is not. It is always a bad thing to hire a patent attorney who has previously worked…
Read MoreThe Problems with Your Patent Attorney Owning Stock in Your Company
The Ethical Quandary Patent attorneys are entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding their clients’ intellectual property. This fiduciary duty requires them to act in the best interest of their clients, providing unbiased and objective legal advice. However, when a patent attorney owns stock in a client’s company, their financial interests conflict with their professional obligations.…
Read MorePatent Attorneys’ Misguided Obsession About Costs
Hand wringing amongst patent attorneys show their misguided view of their clients. Patent attorneys work in a bubble that is completely hidden from laypersons, but is an incredibly loud echo chamber. An example is the current obsession and endless handwringing over the USPTO’s DOCX filing requirement. The issue is that the USPTO prefers that you…
Read MoreEvery Word Hurts You: Patent Claims
Every Word in the Description Hurts You, and the Claims Hurt You, Too. The length of the claims really matters. The length of the specification is important – but only up to a point. There was an old joke in the Patent Office that when a claim is longer than your hand, it must be…
Read MoreHow Long Provisional Applications Hurt You
How Your Own Prior Art Can Kill You I had a client whose inventor would write long provisional patent applications. He would think through all the options of his inventions, and he would include every option he could conceive. The company made battery separators – the thin sponge that goes between the anode and cathode…
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