Tag: Patent Prosecution
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Just Do Your Job
Your patent attorney is a skilled professional. They spent years learning patent law. They passed the patent bar. They have written hundreds of applications and prosecuted thousands of office actions. And they will not make…
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AI-Assisted Patent Search Tools Exacerbate Inventor Biases
AI chat tools have two problems: over-simplification and hallucination. These two problems mimic inventor’s biases when doing patent searches, leading to bad results. Inventors and entrepreneurs might love the idea of using an AI‑powered search…
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Assignment Due Diligence: Unassigned Assets
Spotting bad behavior in startup companies. It is heartbreaking to see bad behavior by ‘inventors’ and their startup companies, but it occurs over and over again. Let this lesson be an example of the things…
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Patent 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…
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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…
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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…
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Low Hanging Fruit: How Patent Searches Make Your Patent More Valuable
References and Information Disclosure Statements One easy way to spot an above-average patent is the References Cited on the front page. The references are specific pieces of prior art that the examiner considered when evaluating…
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The USPTO Claims it Wants to Ensure ‘Robust and Reliable’ Patents – But Its Questions Imply Another Assault on Patent Owners
All of the suggested changes to continuation practices are extraordinary in their breadth and reach, and place severe and staggering restrictions on an Applicant’s ability to craft meaningful and useful claims. Last October, the United…
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You – And Only You – Are Responsible for Your Patent
The sad story of how an inventor was taken advantage of by his patent attorney. In 1989, Steven Byrne invented an accessory to a string trimmer – the ubiquitous ‘weed whacker’ used for landscaping. Mr.…
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The 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…