Posts Tagged ‘Investment Grade Patents’
Your Patent Attorney Is NOT Giving Business Advice
Are you getting a list of options or a strategy that aligns with your business? Is that “strategy” more tailored to the Law Firm’s billing or your success? Most inventors think that hiring a patent attorney[1] means they’re protected. That’s a mistake. Patent attorneys are trained to give you every possible option. Want a provisional?…
Read MoreThe Importance of Patent Searches
The easiest way to make your patent more valuable: do a patent search. One of the first things everyone sees, including me as I start a patent valuation[1] analysis, is the list of references on the front page of your patent. There are two kinds of references on the front page: those with stars and…
Read MoreInvestment Grade Patents are not for Patent Trolling
They are for business negotiations. Patent trolling is the business of extortion. Generally, patent trolling is when someone sues for patent infringement[1] but is willing to settle for less than the cost of litigation. It is extortion, pure and simple. Patent litigation will cost at least $500,000 in attorney’s fees to get to the first…
Read MoreInvestment Grade Patents Need Investment Grade Businesses
The simple fact is that patents only have value when they are infringed. When I invest in a patent through patent financing, I need the startup company to bring their product to market, otherwise, the patent will have no value. This is true of any patent: value comes from the market wants to use the…
Read MoreHow to Spot Bad Patents
Investment-Grade Patent[1][2]s represent only a small sliver of the patent universe. Their value comes from a huge amount of research and thought. However, bad patents are easy to spot. These less-than-optimal patents have certain characteristics that can easily be identified by anyone: the inventor, the investor, or anyone in litigation. Use this as a first…
Read MorePatents Are Call Options On Technology
The only way for your patent to be valuable is to bring a product to market. This post was published on Medium. You can read it here. This post is an excerpt from my upcoming book “Startup IP Strategy.” A call option is an option to purchase a stock at a defined price. It is…
Read MoreInvestment Grade Patents Do Not Have “Broad Claims”
Broad patents can hurt you. Inventors like to think that their patents are “broad” and somehow that is good. It is not. The risks with broad patents are that they are more easily invalidated, but it is also a sales pitch that patent attorneys use to make more money. Narrow patents are bad, too. Narrow…
Read MoreFoundation of Investment Grade Patents
Foundation of investment grade patent[1][2]s is serious due diligence. Getting solid, investment-grade patents is less about finding the gem as much as removing the dirt so that there are more possible gems in the portfolio. We do not know which patent will ultimately be the gem, but we can dramatically increase our chances by removing…
Read MoreInvestment Grade Patents Start with a Solid Foundation
Photo by Jack Niles on Unsplash An investment-grade patent[1][2] starts with a solid foundation. Most patents are worthless[3], and getting a good patent is less about finding the gem as much as removing the dirt so that there are more possible gems in the portfolio. We do not know which patent will ultimately be gem,…
Read More