+1.970.776.4355 · Loveland, CO · Russ Krajec, principal Currently accepting Fractional Chief IP Officer engagements →

  • The Problems with Your Patent Attorney Owning Stock in Your Company

    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.

  • Patent Attorneys’ Misguided Obsession About Costs

    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.

  • Every Word Hurts You: Patent Claims

    The length of the claims really matters.  The length of the specification is important – but only up to a point.

  • How Long Provisional Applications Hurt You

    I had a client whose inventor would write long provisional patent[1] applications.  He would think through all the options of his inventions, and he would include every option he could conceive.

  • Patent Descriptions: Every Word Hurts You

    The patent application has two parts: the specification and the claims.

  • Do You Like My Invention?

    As an investor who focuses on IP, I get asked for feedback on inventions and patents. I have written hundreds, maybe even a thousand patent applications, reviewed countless more, invested in startup businesses, co-founded one, been an inventor on 30+ patents, wrote a book “Investing in Patents,” have a podcast “PatentMyths,” written hundreds of blog…

  • Communication Hygiene: Things You Never Say To Your Patent Attorney

    Inventors have extraordinary power in the patent process, especially in litigation. An inventor’s opinion or comments can often be twisted during litigation and ultimately, used to invalidate a patent or discredit the patent owner.

  • Avoid Wishful Thinking Patents

    Most startup CEOs want patents because they want ‘protection,’ so they go to a patent attorney. And the patent attorney is in the unfortunate situation of having to find something “inventive” amongst a bunch of run-of-the-mill technology.

  • Damage Control: Filing Patents After An Employee Leaves

    Capturing ideas so you own them can limit the damage a key employee might inflict when they go to a competitor.

  • Patent Ethics: Is it Ethical for the Patent Attorney to list themselves as an inventor?

    There is the “legal” definition of an inventor, and there is the realistic, practical definition.