Posts Tagged ‘Trade Secrets’
Why Patent Competence Is a CEO’s Responsibility
Why outsourcing it to a patent attorney is one of the most common — and expensive — mistakes founders make There’s a simple test for whether a patent actually matters: Did it change your competitor’s behavior? If the answer is no, then whatever you have is not protection. It may be a patent in the…
Read MoreStolen Valor: How Sleazy Patent Attorneys Abuse Inventorship
For an innovator, being named as an inventor on a patent is the crowning achievement of a career. Being named an inventor says that the person has contributed something to humanity that has never existed, and that accomplishment is memorialized forever in the patent database. Being an inventor is huge. But what happens when the…
Read MoreAI Startups: Protect Everything EXCEPT the Patent
Short version: For most AI companies, patents on “using AI for X” don’t protect you. They backfire by revealing your method while remaining practically unenforceable. The competitive advantage is in your data, processes, distribution, and customers—so protect those and build your business around the reality that competitors can do something similar. The uncomfortable truth about…
Read MoreHanding the Keys to the Drunken Sailor and Hoping You Get Home
Letting the CTO manage patent policy is bad for business. Some CEOs abdicate their IP policy to the CTO. The CTO spends lots of time with the patent attorney, so it just makes sense to let them deal with it. Right? Sadly, I see the results of this over and over in poor quality IP…
Read MoreDamage 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. A company-wide strategy for patents can have ancillary benefits when dealing with employee issues. Let’s say your company is in a highly competitive market for talent, and a key inventor/employee announced that they are going…
Read MoreIP Theft – Starting that “Side Project”
“He doesn’t own my brain” – Oh, yes he does. Doing the entrepreneurial gig is hard. There are countless barriers and endless hurdles to overcome, and many entrepreneurs relentlessly power through them. But stealing IP is never, ever, appropriate. Here’s the fact pattern: Entrepreneur starts a company and takes on investors. One of the investors…
Read MoreWho Owns the Invention?
The first step is often ‘skipped’ by startup founders. Many startups fail to have the basic agreements in place so that the company owns its inventions. Part of this is a failure to put the basic agreements in place for a startup company, and often the failure of the founders to commit to the company…
Read MoreTwo Parts of a Patent Application: What You Give Away and What You Get In Return
Patent applicants are told that they are getting a “monopoly” on their invention, and that leaves out half of the equation. Patent applications come in two parts – the specification and the claims. The specification is where you describe your invention, and the claims is the protection that you get when the patent is granted.…
Read MoreIP Theft by an “Angel” Investor
An angry “angel” investor commits federal crimes by stealing IP. How an investor stole intellectual property from a portfolio company. This is a true story. Sadly, predatory actions by so-called “angel” investors are more common than it should be. An angel investor has a portfolio of maybe a dozen startup companies. This investor takes a…
Read MoreIP Due Diligence Checklist
Due diligence is essential for any business deal, and IP due diligence[1] 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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