Posts Tagged ‘Startups’
How IP-Backed Loans Work
Your intellectual property is usually the hardest-fought asset you have. Intellectual property, and particularly patents, are often the most valuable intangible assets your company owns. There are several ways to use your IP in finance, and the most straightforward is to borrow against your company’s IP assets. This form of intellectual property financing is becoming…
Read MoreThe 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 States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a Request for Comments on USPTO Initiatives To Ensure the Robustness and Reliability…
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 MoreCrystalizing Your Invention
One of the many curses of a self-written provisional patent[1] application Entrepreneurs buy into the myth – perpetuated by the patent bar – that they should write and file provisional patent applications before bringing their product to market. There are many reasons why provisional patent applications are wrong for startups, but this post explains yet…
Read MoreWalking Dead and Their Patents
The Myth that You Want An Early Filing Date When I studied for the patent bar exam, it seemed that every other question was about priority dates. The priority date is when time stands still. Anything that is done before that date is “prior art,” and anything afterwards does not matter. Examiners cannot use any…
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 MorePatents Enable Innovation – not the other way around
Sophisticated companies view patents as *enabling* innovation, not as a result of it. This comes from a much more holistic view of IP protection. Startups and first time entrepreneurs/inventors focus on “protecting” their investment in R&D through patents. This report highlights a much more sublime – and much more powerful – use of patents. Clarivate…
Read MoreBudgeting for Patents
How much should a typical company budget for patent protection? One of the best books on IP and patents is Patent Portfolios by Larry Goldstein. In this book, Mr. Goldstein analyzes how companies build out their patent portfolios. Much of this post is derived from his book. What is a good budget for patents? 1%…
Read MoreFull court press for patent licensing negotiations
Many companies want to license their technologies. But what happens when a company takes a license, then decides to quit paying – or refuses to negotiate after the first license runs out? LG Electronics is facing the same thing with TCL, a Chinese manufacturer of televisions. LG had a license agreement in place with TCL.…
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