Tag: Patents

As an entrepreneur, filing a patent can be an important step in protecting your business and ensuring its success. Here are the top three reasons why you should consider filing a patent:

Protection of Intellectual Property

Filing a patent gives you exclusive rights to prevent others from making, using, or selling your invention without your permission. This means that you can prevent competitors from copying your product or idea, which can be crucial in maintaining your competitive edge in the market.

Attracting Investment

Having a patent can make your business more attractive to investors, as it demonstrates that you have a unique and potentially profitable idea. Investors are more likely to invest in a business that has a patent because it gives them a sense of security, knowing that their investment is protected.

Increased Value of Business

A patent can also increase the value of your business. If your business is successful and has a patent, it can be worth more to potential buyers or licensees. This means that you can potentially sell your business for more money or license your patent to others for a fee.

In addition, having a patent can help to improve negotiation power with suppliers and customers, and it allows to control the market. Furthermore, it gives you the possibility to license your patent to other companies. This can bring in additional revenue and help to expand your business.

Overall, filing a patent is an important step for entrepreneurs. It can help to protect your business, attract investment, and increase the value of your business. If you have an invention or idea that you believe is unique and has potential for success, consider filing a patent to protect your intellectual property and take your business to the next level.

It is important to note that filing a patent can be a complex and time-consuming process, so it is recommended to consult with a patent agent or attorney to ensure that your patent application is properly prepared and filed.

Providing intellectual property services tailored to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies is what we do.

+ Drafting & prosecuting patent applications
+ Patent more, pay less | Low-cost fixed-fee bootstrap model
+ Create an In-house patent creation capability
+ Company-wide IP program
+ Patent strategy that is connected with business development
+ Embedding with innovation & technical teams
+ Facilitated workshops for idea & invention capture
+ Identify competitive advantage opportunities through patent & macro trend landscapes
+ Mentoring & collaborating with your technical talent to create IP
+ On-call to discuss innovation & inventing for free

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Follow on LinkedIn.com/Company/Gr8BigIdeas/

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation #productdevelopment

If you simplify patenting down to the basics there are two primary ways to protect your invention and they are "How it Looks" and "How it Works". Let me explain.

How it Looks

A design patent is the best way to protect how an invention looks. Design patent protection lasts for 15 years from the date the patent is issued.

Design patents protect an ornamental design. In general, the shape or pattern of your invention. Design patent applications are basically a brief description and a series of drawings that include a top, bottom, left, right, front, back, and at least one perspective view. A time and cost saver can be using your 3D CAD file as a starting point to produce the patent drawings. I often get the CAD file from the inventor or product designer and use that file to create the patent drawings. When asked, I suggest waiting until your CAD design is finalized and then prepare and file your design patent application.

The patent drawings have very specific requirements and with design patent drawings it is easy to make a mistake. Since you can't add anything to a patent application once filed, a drawing mistake can be unfixable and fatal. The details in the patent drawings are so important that if I can't start with a 3D CAD file I paying for a patent drafting service to create the drawings.

An example of a design patent is entrepreneur J.D. Catalano's 1935 Automobile, Patent No. USD97,908. In the 1930s automobiles were designed to look elegant and while there were plenty of inventions to patent around how the various parts and systems of the automobile worked, Catalano chose to file a design patent to protect how his automobile looked. An interesting note on design patent drawings is that solid lines are part of the invention and dashed lines are not. See the tires? they are in dashed lines which means that the patented automobile design does not include the tires.

How It Works

A utility patent is the best way to protect how an invention works. There are two types of utility patents a provisional patent and a non-provisional patent. A provisional patent provides patent pending status for 12 months from the filing date and then expires. A non-provisional patent, once issued, provides 20 years of protection from the application filing date.

Provisional patents are a great way to protect your early ideas that are still in development. Low-cost and only a couple of filing requirements, they don't get examined and they do not mature into patents.

Non-provisional patent application requirements include drawings and a specification.  The specification has several parts that include a related applications section, a technical field of the invention, a summary, a background, a detailed description, a set of claims, and an abstract. They do get examined and if the invention is found to be both novel and non-obvious the patent application will mature into a patent. Although anyone can DIY their own application, know that there are a lot of pitfalls you will have to avoid to be successful.

Non-provisional patent applications cost more to prepare and file. If you are bootstrapping, this is an area to watch your costs carefully. If you find yourself headed into a situation where your patent budget is going to exceed your project budget you are likely in the wrong place and need to rethink your patenting approach.

An example of a non-provisional utility patent is entrepreneur Tomas Edison's, 1880, Patent No. 223,898 for the Electric Lamp; aka the light bulb. One of the most transformational inventions of our time, after all of his laboratory testing, describing how it worked took Edison less than two pages.

Patent Strategy

When asked about patent strategy, working with an entrepreneur, I like filing a provisional patent at the start of a project where the idea is early and often still being refined. Then at about 10 months after filing the provisional (remember they expire in 12 months) it is time to start considering preparing and filing a non-provisional application that can claim the benefit of the earlier filed provisional application before it expires. Hopefully, by that time the idea is refined, and the invention is well understood and closer to commercialization so that the non-provisional application can be drafted to best match and capture the final product functionality and features.

Providing intellectual property services tailored to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies is what we do.

+ Drafting & prosecuting patent applications
+ Patent more, pay less | Low-cost fixed-fee bootstrap model
+ Create an In-house patent creation capability
+ Company-wide IP program
+ Patent strategy that is connected with business development
+ Embedding with innovation & technical teams
+ Facilitated workshops for idea & invention capture
+ Identify competitive advantage opportunities through patent & macro trend landscapes
+ Mentoring & collaborating with your technical talent to create IP
+ On-call to discuss innovation & inventing for free

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Follow on LinkedIn.com/Company/Gr8BigIdeas/

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation #productdevelopment

I walked past the candy basket at Atlanta Tech Park earlier this week, ate an #AlmondJoy candy bar, and became curious about how the almond gets placed on the candy bar. I checked several candy bars and noticed that each bar had one almond and that each almond was orientated the same way and placed off-center on the bar. Clearly, nut placement wasn't random, so why place the nut off-center, and if you are going to place the nut off-center then why only place one nut and mess up the bar’s feng shui when there is room for two nuts?

I did some research and learned that Almond Joy was first marketed in 1946. I found US patent 2,566,712 that was filed in 1948 for the invention that places the nuts on the candy bar. The entrepreneur Louis H. Zeun says in his patent that before his invention the nuts were placed on the bars by hand. Imagine the challenge for the candy bar line workers. It reminded me of that old I Love Lucy episode when she was working on the candy line and things didn’t end so well.

Mr. Zeun’s “Machine For Depositing Nuts On Candy Bars” is really neat. It looks like a small Ferris wheel. One nut at a time is vacuumed from a nut hopper into a pocket, as he calls it. The pocket positions and holds the nut as the wheel rotates. At just the right time, as the candy bar passes under the wheel, a peg extends breaking the vacuum and pushing the nut into position on the candy bar. Very cool!

I wonder how the invention was initially received in the company. If you have ever worked in a big organization you know weird things can happen when a new disruptive breakthrough innovation is introduced. I wonder if the nut placing line workers were happy to be replaced by the machine or if some of the executives in charge at the time ganged-up on Zeun’s nut depositor invention with their ‘why-nots’ to try to stop its use. The cheese was definitely moved. And for Mr. Zeun, I wonder how the organization rewarded him for his invention. Now more than 70 years later, his invention was clearly strategic and instrumental in the marketing success of the Almond Joy candy bar. As an inventor, just think of getting a royalty of a tiny fraction of a penny for each nut placed on a candy bar. Isn’t that the kind of big dreams all of us entrepreneurs have for the success of our own ideas?

A final observation, if you look closely at Mr. Zeun’s patent drawing you will see he intended two nuts to be placed on the candy bar. So to my original question, I wonder who at corporate decided to cut the nuts placed on the candy bar from two to one, and can you really get true “almond joy” from just one off-centered nut? #MoreNutsPlease

Invention is everywhere if you look hard enough!

Providing intellectual property services tailored to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies is what we do.

+ Drafting & prosecuting patent applications
+ Patent more, pay less | Low-cost fixed-fee bootstrap model
+ Create an In-house patent creation capability
+ Company-wide IP program
+ Patent strategy that is connected with business development
+ Embedding with innovation & technical teams
+ Facilitated workshops for idea & invention capture
+ Identify competitive advantage opportunities through patent & macro trend landscapes
+ Mentoring & collaborating with your technical talent to create IP
+ On-call to discuss innovation & inventing for free

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Follow on LinkedIn.com/Company/Gr8BigIdeas/

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation #productdevelopment

If you are an entrepreneur working on a big idea a patent strategy that follows your innovation process may be best. There is usually some trial and error in the innovation process where products get designed and revised. Early adopter feedback often changes product features and the business model can evolve over time.

Avoid jumping in too quickly and making commitments to high-priced attorneys and application filing fees. It is easy to run-up the cost and blow the budget if you dive-in and patent your first iteration. Early ideas are seldom refined final ideas and patenting too early can leave your final design excluded from your patent application and your product unprotected. Instead, let your patent strategy follow your product development cycle.

Here are five product development milestones to consider that will help inform your patent strategy timeline.

+ NEW IDEA | You just had a great idea. Now the first step is to get organized. Write down your idea, draw pictures, keep a running list of features as you think of them. Focus on how your idea is different and better than competing products?

+ BEFORE SHARING | Stop! Consider converting your notes, drawings, and other materials into a provisional patent application and get it filed before sharing your idea with external developers, potential customers, investors, and others. Once bitten, twice shy they say, right?

Provisional patent applications have lots of benefits including recording a filing date, granting a 12-month patent pending status, they are low cost, and they can serve as a stepping stone for future patent filings.

+ DESIGN DRAWINGS COMPLETE | When final drawings are done it is time to consider filing a design patent that protects how your product “looks”. Design patents can protect ornamental shapes, enclosures, ergonomic product designs, and much more. They are in the medium-cost range, less than a utility patent, and in many cases, your 3D CAD models can be converted into patent drawings to save drafting costs.

+ BEFORE YOUR PROVISIONAL EXPIRES | Remember provisional applications pend for 12 months from the filing date and then expire. Before that happens consider filing a utility patent that protects how your product “works”. Devices, systems, methods of use, software algorithms, compositions, and more can be patented. You can claim the earlier filing date benefit of your unexpired provisional patent application.

+ PRODUCT LAUNCH & BEYOND | As your product launch approaches and beyond, it is time to think about expanding your patent portfolio. Consider additional patent filings to protect current and future product variations.

 

Providing intellectual property services tailored to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies is what we do.

+ Drafting & prosecuting patent applications
+ Patent more, pay less | Low-cost fixed-fee bootstrap model
+ Create an In-house patent creation capability
+ Company-wide IP program
+ Patent strategy that is connected with business development
+ Embedding with innovation & technical teams
+ Facilitated workshops for idea & invention capture
+ Identify competitive advantage opportunities through patent & macro trend landscapes
+ Mentoring & collaborating with your technical talent to create IP
+ On-call to discuss innovation & inventing for free

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Follow on LinkedIn.com/Company/Gr8BigIdeas/

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation #productdevelopment

Go big or go home can turn into go broke fast when you are talking about filing for international patents

 

When you talk patents often the question of should I file for an international patent comes up. US patent filings seem easy. We live here, it is one of the biggest markets in the world, it makes sense so we do it without much thinking otherwise. But these days, more than ever, commerce and business are global.

Taking a patent application and spreading it around the world should not be taken lightly. A country here and a country there instantly generates lots of filing and attorney fees that once switched-on can seemly grow uncontrollably.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and an inventor's emotional attachment to their invention can become the fog-of-war. That being said, from a bootstrap patenting perspective, price is what you pay and value is what you get so making every dollar spent on patenting count just makes good business sense.

 

So when should you consider filing for an international patent?

 

I offer three things to consider to help inform your decision making.

+ COST | It can become a budget-busting expensive fast, so you have to be choiceful. There has to be a compelling reason “why to”.

+ FREEDOM TO OPERATE | Know your US published or issued patent is used as prior art worldwide to prevent others from receiving a similar patent on your invention which in turn affords you measured freedom to operate including make, using, and selling your invention internationally without feeling you have to have an international patent.

+ COMMITMENT TO ENFORCE PATENT | First consider countries you plan on making, using, or selling your invention, then within that subset of countries consider filing in countries you are prepared to enforce your patent including bringing and funding a patent infringement lawsuit if necessary.

 

Almost everything in patent law is date deadline-driven, there is often a limited window of time to make foreign filing decisions based on the filing date of earlier filed applications. If after consideration you feel like foreign filing is the right choice don't miss the deadline for filing your foreign applications.   

 

Providing intellectual property services tailored to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies is what we do.

+ Drafting & prosecuting patent applications
+ Patent more, pay less | Low-cost fixed-fee bootstrap model
+ Create an In-house patent creation capability
+ Company-wide IP program
+ Patent strategy that is connected with business development
+ Embedding with innovation & technical teams
+ Facilitated workshops for idea & invention capture
+ Identify competitive advantage opportunities through patent & macro trend landscapes
+ Mentoring & collaborating with your technical talent to create IP
+ On-call to discuss innovation & inventing for free

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Follow on LinkedIn.com/Company/Gr8BigIdeas/

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation

Looking for your next big innovation?
Ready to disrupt your industry?
Grow your business with a strong patent strategy

When it comes to identifying new white-space opportunities in an industry I like storyboarding patent and macro-trends across a beginning-to-current timeline range. The storyboard reveals how patented technologies combine with macro-trends to shape the industry over time. Informed by the past, the present makes more sense and it is easy to see the white-space opportunities that are likely to come next.

Often done as a first step to an idea harvesting workshop, when I do this for a company, I like to use the storyboard process to pre-identify with the company's senior business leaders the 5 to 10 high priority areas in which to guide a workshop cohort to explore. It is not uncommon to harvest several dozen really strong ideas with such a storyboard approach and workshop format.

If you are looking for a way to anticipate your industry's next move, consider this storyboarding technique coupled with an idea harvesting workshop. Well facilitated, it can give you what you are looking for.

Providing intellectual property services tailored to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovative companies is what we do.

+ Drafting & prosecuting patent applications
+ Patent more, pay less | Low-cost fixed-fee bootstrap model
+ Create an In-house patent creation capability
+ Company-wide IP program
+ Patent strategy that is connected with business development
+ Embedding with innovation & technical teams
+ Facilitated workshops for idea & invention capture
+ Identify competitive advantage opportunities through patent & macro trend landscapes
+ Mentoring & collaborating with your technical talent to create IP
+ On-call to discuss innovation & inventing for free

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Follow on LinkedIn.com/Company/Gr8BigIdeas/

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation

You need a patent strategy. Bootstrap patenting leverages fractional IP services that are flexibly designed right into your product development process.

Bringing the creation of patent applications closer to the innovation team gets them involved in the process which in turn makes better quality patent applications.

Mentoring innovators about the patent process, running workshops to harvest ideas, and teaching how to organize product drawings and write descriptions that can be used in patent applications empowers them to be more proactive in IP creation. In addition, when the inventors and innovation teams can produce accurate disclosures of their inventions the cost associated with preparing patent applications can be reduced. This collaboration also promotes capturing and protecting more early ideas and evolving ideas during the product development process.

Create IP faster from the spark of breakthrough ideas through product development and commercialization. A competitive advantage for your company can be the capability to rapidly identify, document, and protect ideas in a fast-paced product development environment.

Bootstrap Patenting In-House Program

• • + Drafting & Prosecuting Patent Applications
  • + Patent More, Pay Less | Low-Cost Fixed-Fee Bootstrap Model
  • + Establishing an In-House Patent Creation Capability
  • + Establishing & Running a Company-Wide IP Program
  • + Patent Strategy that is Connected with Business Development
  • + Embedding with Innovation & Technical Teams
  • + Facilitating Idea & Invention Capture Workshops
  • + Patent/Trend landscapes Identify Competitive Advantage Opportunities
  • + Mentoring & Collaborating with Technical Talent to Create IP
  • + On-call to Discuss Innovation & Inventing for Free

 

Focused on the project, working as long as it takes to get the job done, your Patent Counsel should tirelessly work as your innovation team does. For many, holding back patent protection of their greatest innovations is the by-the-hour-law-model. Open-ended in nature, costs often exceed budget quickly and at times can seem uncontrollable. Too costly to protect, good market-changing ideas can tragically get left behind.

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model.

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

 

#bootstrap #patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation

Focused on the project, working as long as it takes to get the job done, your Patent Counsel should tirelessly work as your innovation team does. For many, holding back patent protection of their greatest innovations is the by-the-hour-law-model. Open-ended in nature, costs often exceed budget quickly and at times can seem uncontrollable. Too costly to protect, good market-changing ideas can tragically get left behind.

Replace your current by-the-hour-law-model with a predictable flat-fee-for-service model. Freed of time-bound costs we can commit as much time and energy as it takes to patent protect your greatest innovations. Patent More, Pay Less!

 

Schedule Time To Discuss Your Needs

Ways we can help you:

• • • Drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications
    • Embedding with innovation teams to harvest, refine, and protect ideas
    • Identifying patentable ideas within startup technologies
    • Landscaping markets to identify new opportunities
    • Developing patent strategies for products and startup
    • Managing the patent creation process from concept to product launch
    • Searching ideas for prior art patents
    • Reviewing prior art patents with product development teams
    • Building IP for VC/PE portfolio companies

Learn more at www.Gr8BigIdeas.com

 

#patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation

Ways we can help you:

• • • Drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications
    • Embedding with innovation teams to harvest, refine, and protect ideas
    • Identifying patentable ideas within startup technologies
    • Landscaping markets to identify new opportunities
    • Developing patent strategies for products and startup
    • Managing the patent creation process from concept to product launch
    • Searching ideas for prior art patents
    • Reviewing prior art patents with product development teams
    • Building IP for VC/PE portfolio companies

Learn more at www.Gr8BigIdeas.com

 

#patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation

Ways we can help you:

• • • Drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications
    • Embedding with innovation teams to harvest, refine, and protect ideas
    • Identifying patentable ideas within startup technologies
    • Landscaping markets to identify new opportunities
    • Developing patent strategies for products and startup
    • Managing the patent creation process from concept to product launch
    • Searching ideas for prior art patents
    • Reviewing prior art patents with product development teams
    • Building IP for VC/PE portfolio companies

Learn more at www.Gr8BigIdeas.com

 

#patents #patentengineering #startups #entrepreneurs #breakthrough #intellectualproperty #corporateinnovation #innovation