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Need a fast, cost-effective method to protect your most valuable inventions? Try this.

Many people are familiar with “traditional” patent applications, which are referred to as non-provisional patent applications.

These are formal patent applications with specific rules regarding a written description, drawings, and claims that define the legal protection provided by each non-provisional patent application. The applications are typically prepared by patent attorneys (or patent agents) and go through an examination process to determine whether the invention described in the application is patentable.

A well-drafted non-provisional patent application typically costs $8,000-15,000 depending on complexity.

However, there’s another type of application referred to as a provisional patent application (PPA). This application allows an inventor to establish a filing date in a fast and cost-effective manner.

A PPA is not examined and never becomes a patent itself, but it’s a powerful tool for securing a filing date that gives the inventor time to determine whether to file a more expensive non-provisional patent application.

Here are three crucial benefits of incorporating PPAs into your intellectual property strategy:

  1. Establishes a filing date for your invention with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

The United States is aContinue reading

Most Technology Companies Fail to Protect their Critical Intellectual Property Assets. Here’s Why.

Most technology companies take a haphazard approach to protecting their vital intellectual property (IP) assets. They have no system to identify innovative ideas, prioritize which ideas are the most valuable, and build a strong IP portfolio filled with strategic inventions.

Inventions are critical for technology companies to maintain a competitive advantage. New competitors can “come out of nowhere” with a product that steals market share from well-established companies. Without a strong IP portfolio, your company is at risk of lost revenue – or worse – due to these competing products.

Thus, your company needs a system for identifying, evaluating, and protecting important inventions and other IP.

Keep away from the haphazard approach to protecting your IP.

This approach is guaranteed to fail.

IP strategies are not taught in college or high school, so most people never learn these skills.

Here’s how most tech companies fail to begin identifying and protecting their valuable IP assets, and how you can avoid doing the same:

  1. They fail to assess their current IP situation

The lack of guidance or knowledge about IP causes most companies to either ignore the subject or randomly prepare a couple patent applications without determining whether they actually benefit the company.

The unfortunate result is a weak IP portfolio with patent applications that do not provide significant value to the organization.

Building a strong IP portfolio requires Continue reading

7 Ways To Protect Your Intellectual Property in 2019

A strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio is critical for technology companies to maintain a competitive advantage and drive company growth.  Here are seven ways to protect your IP and strengthen your IP portfolio.

  1. Identify Your Intellectual Property Assets. You can’t take steps to protect your IP until it is identified.  Create systems that discover these assets as part of your day-to-day operations.
  2. Consider All Types of Intellectual Property Protection. Learn how to use all four types of IP (patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets) to secure those assets.
  3. Use Provisional Patent Applications to Quickly Protect Inventions. Establishing an early filing date for your invention is important in the United States.  Provisional patent applications offer fast and cost-effective protection of important inventions.
  4. Protect the Right Inventions. A valuable IP portfolio includes patents covering core technology as well as future ideas and inventions that are important to competitors.
  5. Watch Out for Public Disclosure. Implement systems to identify important inventions (so you can secure your patent rights) prior to public disclosure, such as trade shows, white paper publications, and press releases.
  6. Use Proper Agreements to Ensure Ownership of Your Intellectual Property. Use signed agreements that require all employees and contractors to assign IP rights to the company.  Promote the use of non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements throughout your organization.
  7. Develop An Innovation Culture. Encourage all team members to spend time on innovative activities, which creates a steady stream of new ideas and fosters a strong work environment.

Are you ready to create a plan to strengthen your IP portfolio?  Apply for a complimentary IP Strategy Session where we will review your current IP portfolio and identify actions you can take to strengthen your IP protection.  Apply for your complimentary IP Strategy Session at IPStrategySession.com.

Don’t believe these 5 Intellectual Property Myths!

I have a long list of Intellectual Property Myths I have created over the past 20 years. Some of these myths are silly and others are dangerous because they can have a negative impact on your business.

Today I’m putting on my “Myth Busters” hat to debunk five of those myths – focusing on the ones that can harm your business.

Here’s my countdown of the five worst offenders:

5. Intellectual property is too expensive

4. Intellectual property is too complicated

3. I don’t have enough time to protect my intellectual property

2. Intellectual property is just for technology companies and large corporations

And, the #1 worst offender…Continue reading

Do I have Intellectual Property that I need to Protect?

At a recent business event, I struck up a conversation with another businessperson about intellectual property. As we were talking, she said, “My business doesn’t have intellectual property, I’m just a consultant.”

Rather than tell her she was wrong, I politely asked her if I could see some of the materials she used with clients in her consulting work. After looking at a couple of her blog posts and listening to her description of the business framework she teaches to her clients, I realized that she did not understand intellectual property.

I asked her if she would be angry if another consultant copied the customized consulting documents she created based on her 15 years of experience in the business world. She quickly exclaimed, “Yes, those are my materials! I’ll go after anyone who steals my work.”

That’s a normal response. She spent considerable time, money, and effort to create the unique content she uses in her business. That content is unique because it’s based on her own experiences over the past 15 years and represents the proprietary systems she has created.Continue reading

Intellectual Property Step-By-Step

After working with hundreds of businesses for more than 20 years, I have developed a system to help entrepreneurs and businesses identify and protect their intellectual property assets.

If you are confused about intellectual property, or you think that your business doesn’t have any intellectual property, you’re not alone. Many of my current clients were initially embarrassed because they didn’t know what questions to ask about this topic.

Over time, I have developed a five-step system to help businesses learn about intellectual property and safeguard their valuable assets. After following this system, they better understand intellectual property and how to leverage it to strengthen their business. The five-step system is described below.

1. Understand and Identify Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is commonly defined as a “creation of the mind.” Your intellectual property assets include ideas, inventions, creative works, and innovative thoughts. Here are some examples of intellectual property your business may create:Continue reading

How to Protect the Creative Works in Your Business

Your business produces creative works on a regular basis. For example, the documents, images, website content, blog posts, and PowerPoint slides are creative works generated by you or the team members in your business.

These creative works are valuable to your company when they attract new clients, improve your products or services, and distinguish your business from competitors. You and your team invest time and effort to produce these valuable creations, so you must protect that investment.

Unfortunately, many companies don’t give any significant thought to protecting these business assets. That’s a mistake.

Your creative works represent your company’s intellectual property assets. Here are several things you can do to start protecting those creative works today.

  1. Identify All Creative Works

Before you can take action to protect your creative works, you must first identify them. Your creative works include anything created by you or your team. Examples include written content, images and graphic designs, website content, presentation slides, audio content, and video content.Continue reading

Capturing Your Intellectual Property

Innovative ideas can occur at any time. If you’re like me, some of your best ideas “pop” into your head at the most unexpected times.

These innovative ideas may be important intellectual property assets, so it’s important to capture them quickly. In today’s busy world, we are bombarded with new distractions every minute. A single great idea can make a huge impact on your business. That’s why it is important to implement systems that allow you to catch your intellectual property rapidly before it “escapes your mind.”

For example, it’s important to capture new product ideas, changes to current business processes, new book ideas, inventions, website design changes, and new marketing ideas. These items are important to your business and can set you apart from your competitors.

Here are several ways to be sure you and your team are always prepared to capture your innovative ideas:Continue reading

3 Intellectual Property Mistakes That Put Your Business At Risk

Are you regularly identifying intellectual property (IP) in your business?

If you’re like many entrepreneurs, you might think that you don’t have any IP. You may believe that IP is only for technology companies and large corporations. That’s a mistake.

IP is critical to many businesses in a variety of industries. I have encountered countless situations where IP is the most valuable asset of a business. Here are three common IP mistakes that can put your business at risk.

1. Failing to identify intellectual property

All entrepreneurs and small businesses create IP assets during their day-to-day business operations. Your IP may include creative ideas, artistic works, inventions and trade secrets. Items such as articles, books, marketing materials, website content, product names, company logos, novel product designs and trade secrets are examples of IP assets.Continue reading

$3.5M Intellectual Property Mistake by the U.S. Postal Service

Even big companies can make intellectual property blunders!

Although I’m going to discuss a costly mistake by the U.S. Postal Service, similar mistakes are made by hundreds (probably thousands) of businesses every day!

In previous articles, I have discussed the importance of using images that you have obtained the right to use. This advice applies to everyone, from solo entrepreneurs to the largest companies in the world.

When designing a new stamp several years ago, the U.S. Postal Service used an image on a stamp that they did not have permission to use. That mistake resulted in a $3.5 Million judgment against the U.S. Postal Service.Continue reading

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