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

  • 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.

  • Risks of Investing in Government-Sponsored Research

    “March-in” rights under 37 CFR 401.6 allow the government to re-possess a patent using a very arbitrary process.

  • Showing Up – The Simplest Thing

    As an early stage investor, I have only one meaningful metric: a good steward of capital.

  • Contingency Fee Litigation Is Only a Last Resort

    Contingency fee litigation is a unique feature of American Law, where attorneys perform some or all of the litigation – and they get paid only if they win. Contingency fee litigation is often associated with the “ambulance chaser” attorneys who charge no money up front, but will take 30-60% of the winnings of the lawsuits.

  • IP Theft – Starting that “Side Project”

    Doing the entrepreneurial gig is hard. There are countless barriers and endless hurdles to overcome, and many entrepreneurs relentlessly power through them.

  • Licensing Inventions from Independent Inventors

    I was an engineer for 13 years before switching to patent law, which was over 20 years ago.  My engineering career was mostly in the manufacturing side, designing fixturing and tooling for production lines.  However, I had a product idea that I wanted to invent and license products to companies.

  • Ideas from Outsiders: Not Always a Good Bet

    Many entrepreneurs attempt to start businesses by coming into an industry as an outsider. As an angel investor, I generally don’t like these kinds of entrepreneur situations – and I especially do not like independent inventors who write patents in this manner.

  • Method Claims and Undetectability

    Method claims are especially difficult to detect, but they have another twist that makes them less important than “apparatus” claims.

  • Unintended Consequences of Business Decisions

    My first job after college was at McDonnell Douglas, a (former) giant airplane company in St. Louis.  It was at the very tail end of the Cold War and we were building the F-15, F-18, and Harrier fighter jets.