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How to Identify Inventions that need Protection

I’m frequently asked how to identify inventions during product development or after a new product is finished. Here are three things to consider when looking for inventions.

1. What are the key features or benefits of your new product that distinguish it from other products in the market?  For example, does your new product automate processes or provide other benefits to the user that are difficult to obtain with other products (from competitors).  What features do your customers “love” or get rave reviews?  These distinguishing features do not have to be revolutionary ideas – most inventions are incremental improvements.  For example, I recently worked with a company that automates many of the steps for printing custom documents with specialized bindings.  The individual steps have been done by other companies (manually), but my client was able to automate the process which eliminates many printing errors, saves money (fewer human hours), and speeds up the process (by eliminating human delays).  This automation of document printing systems can be patented.

2. What obstacles/problems have you encountered when developing your new product?  Often, the solutions to those obstacles/problems are inventions.  If there was a simple solution, it would likely have been easy to find.  If there isn’t an off-the-shelf solution, then you may have an invention that can be protected with a patent.

3. What new services or activities are made possible by your new product (that were not previously available or not possible)?  Does your system create new types of activities that were never offered before?  For example, if you automate several processes, what new activities or categories of services are now available?  In the printing example I mentioned above, the company is using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to optimize the layout, organization and binding of each print project.  The AI algorithms allow the system to learn from previous print projects and continually improve.  This type of detailed analysis and data tracking was not feasible for humans to handle (too much data to analyze manually), so AI is creating a new category of printing service. These types of inventions should be evaluated for patent protection.

Keep these three topics in mind as you develop new projects and set aside time after a project is finished to identify critical inventions in that project. These inventions are valuable and may give you a competitive advantage with your new product.

Do you have questions about how to protect your inventions?  I can help.

Apply for a complimentary Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy Session where we will review your current IP situation and identify actions you can take to build or strengthen your IP protection.

3 Tips to Protect Your Intellectual Property in 2020

A strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio is critical for technology companies, which rely on inventions to survive.  Without a robust IP portfolio, your company is exposed to risks from new competitors that can freely copy your unprotected inventions.  And, lack of a strong IP portfolio may increase the likelihood of patent litigation by aggressive competitors and may hinder attempts to attract investors who demand valuable IP assets.

Strong and secure IP portfolios don’t just happen.  They’re built.

These portfolios are built on purpose by strategically adding high-value inventions.  If you need to start building or expanding your IP portfolio, here are three steps to get started.

1. 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.  Use specific criteria to evaluate inventions based on current business value, feasibility and lifetime value.  Action Step:  Review your current IP portfolio to be sure all of your core technology has been protected.

2. Use Provisional Patent Applications to Quickly Protect Inventions.  Establishing early filing dates for your inventions is important in the United States.  Provisional patent applications provide fast and cost-effective protection for important inventions.  Action Step:  Identify the most important new inventions your team has developed and quickly file provisional patent applications covering those inventions.

3. 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.  Action Step:  Identify upcoming public events and be sure you have protected any inventions being disclosed publicly.  If necessary, protect those inventions quickly using a provisional patent application.

Do you have questions about how to strengthen your IP portfolio?  I can help.

Apply for a complimentary IP Strategy Session where we will:

• Review your current IP situation
• Explore your business goals, such as obtaining investments, attracting critical employees, expanding your product offerings and increasing your market presence
• Identify your best “next step” to build or strengthen your IP portfolio

Apply for your complimentary IP Strategy Session at IPStrategySession.com.

A Fast Way to Achieve “Patent Pending” Status

“Patent Pending” is a designation used to indicate that a patent application has been submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for an invention. Using the “Patent Pending” designation on your product, and marketing materials associated with the product, may discourage competitors from copying your product.

A new patent application typically remains confidential for 18 months after the filing date. During this period of confidentiality, the “Patent Pending” designation is particularly valuable because competitors cannot determine any details regarding the invention. They know you have submitted a patent application, but don’t know what it covers or whether they can avoid patent infringement.

Additionally, the “Patent Pending” notice can be a valuable marketing tool because it will cause some customers to perceive your product and company as an innovative leader in your marketplace.

Before applying a “Patent Pending” designation to your product, you must have a pending patent application with the USPTO and an assigned serial number. This can be accomplished by filing a provisional patent application (PPA) or a “traditional” non-provisional patent application. You can continue to use the “Patent Pending” designation as long as the application remains pending in the USPTO and has not been abandoned or issued as a patent.

In most situations, the fastest way to achieve “Patent Pending” status is by filing a PPA, which provides a fast and cost-effective tool to establish a filing date in the USPTO and receive a serial number. A PPA has fewer requirements and is much simpler to prepare, saving time and money. Additionally, the USPTO filing fees for a PPA are considerably less than a traditional patent application.

Other important advantages of filing a PPA include establishing a filing date for your invention with the USPTO and giving yourself 12 months to continue developing the invention and testing it in the marketplace.

If you file a PPA to get “Patent Pending” status, remember that a PPA expires after 12 months. If you don’t file a traditional patent application (or file another PPA) at the end of the 12 months, you no longer have “Patent Pending” status and you must remove that designation from your product, marketing materials, etc.

If you want to use the “Patent Pending” designation on your product and, at the same time, establish a filing date for your invention, a provisional patent application is a fast and cost-efficient tool to accomplish both.

Ready to learn how to protect your own inventions? Get details about the Invention Protection Blueprint course at http://InventionProtectionBlueprint.com

Most Common Mistake In Provisional Patent Applications

A provisional patent application (PPA) is a fast and cost-effective tool to protect your valuable inventions.  A PPA establishes a filing date for your invention in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and provides 12 months to decide whether to file a “traditional” non-provisional patent application.  During those 12 months, you can continue to develop the invention, test the commercial value of the invention, and seek investors, business partners, and licensing opportunities.

As an intellectual property attorney, I have written hundreds of PPAs and reviewed more than 1000 PPA documents.  Based on this work, I have discovered the most common mistake when preparing PPAs.

Inadequate description.

Although a PPA is a valuable tool, it must meet certain requirements to be valid.  For example, a PPA must have the same level of written description as a “traditional” patent application.  The written description of a PPA (including the drawings) must teach someone who is skilled in the relevant technology to make and use the invention.

I’ve seen many PPA applicants submit marketing brochures and lists of invention benefits without any description of how the invention is implemented.  These applications are not valid and will not be given the benefit of the PPA filing date.

Failing to satisfy the written description requirement provides a false sense of security.

Although a PPA was filed, the USPTO will not recognize the filing date of the PPA if it has an inadequate description.  Unfortunately, the inventor may be disclosing the invention publicly during the 12 months after filing the PPA, falsely believing that they have protected the invention.  In some situations, this public disclosure of the invention may prevent them from obtaining a patent on their invention.

When preparing a PPA, focus on a strong written description that explains the benefits of the invention as well as specific details regarding how to make and use the invention.  I recommend using drawings that complement the written description.  Often, the drawings can help illustrate features of the invention better than relying exclusively on a written description.

Avoid this common PPA mistake to ensure you have a valid application that provides the protection you require.

Ready to learn how to protect your own inventions? Get details about the Invention Protection Blueprint course at http://InventionProtectionBlueprint.com

It’s Time for Your Intellectual Property Assessment

July 1 marks the midpoint of the year.  This is a perfect time to assess your intellectual property (IP) situation.  If you’ve been neglecting your IP, you are not alone.  Many tech company leaders I’ve talked with have done nothing in the first six months of 2019 to identify and protect their IP assets.

Let’s fix that problem!

You already know that properly protected IP can provide a competitive advantage and protect your valuable innovations from being stolen. Don’t let another 6 months go by without giving serious attention to your high-value IP assets.

I’ve been helping tech companies with Intellectual Property Assessments for more than 20 years.  Based on my experience preparing these assessments, here are four things you can do to build your IP portfolio in the next six months:

1. Be sure you are identifying inventions and filing patent applications. More than 150,000 patent applications were filed during the first half of 2019 – how many did your company file?  If your answer is “Zero”, change that in the next six months.
2. If you have hired new employees in the last six months, train those new hires on the importance of IP and teach them how to identify inventions.
3. Smart organizations schedule regular brainstorming sessions and invention contests to create an innovation culture that produces a steady stream of new inventions. How many brainstorming sessions and invention contests did you conduct in the first half of 2019?  If your answer is “Zero”, add this to your list of key activities for the second half of the year.
4. Schedule an “invention mining” session to analyze any new products (or product enhancements) released in the past 6-12 months. Look for any critical inventions in those products and take steps to protect the inventions.

Don’t spend another six months ignoring your valuable IP.

Failing to protect your IP in a timely manner may cause inventions to become freely available to your competitors.

Get started with at least one of the above activities this week so you have a stronger IP portfolio by the end of the year.

The four activities listed above are part of my 12-point Intellectual Property Assessment.  This assessment provides a comprehensive analysis of a company’s current IP situation and identifies problems to fix.  Based on the analysis, I map out an IP plan for the next 6-12 months that will expand the company’s IP assets.

If you are interested in learning more about an Intellectual Property Assessment for your organization, let’s schedule a time to talk.  Click Here to Contact Me.

 

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