Entrepreneurship

Patent 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…

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Every 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…

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How 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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Avoid Wishful Thinking Patents

I just want “protection,” but I have a run-of-the-mill product. 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. For early stage startup companies, the entrepreneur becomes…

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What Is Patent Infringement?

Patent infringement is when someone else uses your patented idea without permission. The strict, legal definition is when someone infringes or performs every limitation of at least one patent claim. This is found in 35 USC 271. Many inventors and entrepreneurs believe that having a patent means they are “protected.” Having a patent just means…

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How Patent Pools Work

Patent pools and standards essential patents are the Holy Grail of intellectual property. Patent pools are sophisticated ways that companies can bring technology together, cross license them, and license that package of intellectual property to the market. For many major technologies, such as Bluetooth, MPEG, 3G, 4G, and even electric vehicle charging, companies have banded…

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IP Due Diligence Checklist

Due diligence is essential for any business deal, and IP due diligence is shockingly left out of the equation for most angel investors and venture capital investors. Due diligence is hard work. Doing it well will get your hands dirty. Introduction to IP Due Diligence Any due diligence exercise, especially IP due diligence, involves turning…

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Only Gullible Angel Investors fall for Provisional Patents

Provisional patent applications are the worst things for angel investors. What is a provisional patent application? A provisional patent application, sometimes called a “provisional” or “PPA,” is the single worst thing a startup can do to “protect” themselves. And angel investors have been led to believe that this is a good strategy. I assure you,…

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