Patents can be very valuable to a business (for certain businesses or in certain cases, they are absolutely necessary for success), but they can also be a complete waste of A LOT of money.
The only way to make sure you aren’t wasting your money on patent protection is by getting the help you need to understand how patents work from a business perspective (not just a legal perspective). How will a patent impact your business, positively and negatively? What products or aspects of your products should your business file a patent on specifically?
Once you understand the business side of patents and how they might fit in with your specific technology and plan, you will be in a far better position to make the right decisions and to optimize your investment into patent protection.
If you’re considering a patent, make the most out of your effort and budget by learning and preparing before going to a lawyer.
If you need help with this, we have a program with over 5 hours of training videos (among many other materials) and I’m prepared to personally coach you through every step of the way. Just get in touch!
I keep hearing people say “software isn’t patentable”.
If you don’t consider software to be patentable, I would suggest you look more closely at Amazon’s 34,268 patents, Facebook’s 31,314 patents, or even Twitter or Netflix’s thousands of patents.
You may have heard of Amazon’s “One Click” patent, in particular. This patent prevented Amazon’s competitors from allowing their customers to buy a product with only one click.
There are clearly a few misconceptions around this.
Processes are certainly patentable, and what is software if not a process encoded into a computer?
If you are thinking, well that’s just the large, well established, tech companies, then I would argue with you on that end too. Although the majority of startups don’t have patents, there are many that do, and they get more funding. There is research that shows “start-ups that filed at least one patent prior to applying for VC funding obtained a 51.7% higher amount of VC funding than did start-ups that did not file.”
That’s not to say that ALL software companies should be filing patents. Just like with any business it is important to determine 1) whether or not patents make sense for your business, and 2) whether or not you have developed (or are developing) a patentable product. These are not easy questions to answer, especially when it comes to software, but The IP Link is here to help!
After getting the right help, if you do end up determining that you will move forward with filing a patent on your software, there are a couple legal subtleties around how software patents should be written to ensure they have the best chance of being accepted by the patent office. It is important to include certain language in software patents that might not be needed in other types of patents. But this should not be taken to mean that software isn’t patentable outright.
When it comes to software, there may also be some confusion over the difference between copyright and patent. Copyright may slightly reduce the likelihood that a competitor (or disgruntled employee) copies and pastes your code and uses it as their own. On the other hand, copyright has no power to stop another party from creating your exact app or software themselves from scratch once they see how it’s done and how successful your product is in the market. They can’t use screenshots of your media, but they can create their own.
Patents are a far stronger form of protection that may enable you to prevent competitors from using the idea behind what your software does and how it works, not just the specific code.
So if you’ve dismissed software as “unpatentable”, I would highly suggest you consider it more closely. Watch the video below for more info and book a call with me here to get started with a proper review of your patent opportunity: https://theiplink.com/book/
Has anyone told you that you absolutely need a patent to move forward in your business? Has anyone told you not to get a patent because it’s a waste of time and money? These are not rhetorical questions, I really want to know. Please leave a comment below with any patent-or-not advice you’ve heard!
If you’re an innovative business or a tech startup, there are two things you should be considered closely in order to determine whether or not you should file a patent application.
The first is determining whether or not a patent would even make sense for your business.
You’re right to be skeptical about patents given the high cost. This is all the more reason to figure it out properly. You might have not previously thought about all the benefits and costs, much less calculated them out carefully and weighed them. The IP Link has a program called “Strategize” that gives you the expertise you need to be intentional about your goals for filing a patent, objective about the downside, and confident in your decision to pursue patent protection or not.
The second thing you should consider is whether or not the patent office will accept your application or reject it once they finally get around to reviewing it. If your application does not meet the criteria for patentability, it will likely be rejected.
For example, anyone anywhere in the world has publicly disclosed a technology or product similar to yours, then your patent could be rejected. Unfortunately, you won’t find out officially whether you meet their criteria until 2-4 years into the process and $50,000 – $150,000 invested. It would be very unfortunate to be rejected after spending that kind of time and money.
If you want to learn more about our business focussed alternative approach to the patent process, join our newsletter and gain access to our free patent training webinar at:
If you don’t take steps toward developing and executing an IP strategy that suits your business, you have decided not to protect your IP, whether you intended to or not.
This may be the right decision (made for the wrong reasons), but it’s more likely the wrong decision.
Why leave it up to chance?
Ensure you’re putting conscious thought toward this decision and that you’re making it for the right reasons! If you’re not sure how to decide or what these reasons might be, send me a message – I’m always happy to answer IP and patent questions.
Note, you should be considering protecting your IP early in the development of your product. At least a month or two before you launch or publicly release your product. If you miss this, you will likely lose the ability to file a patent in most countries.
Have you received conflicting advice from advisors or even multiple patent lawyers about how to move forward with protecting your product?
If so, you’ve gotta watch this video I recorded about dealing with such a situation!
I had a call with an entrepreneur last week and they told me they had heard conflicting advice from different advisors and even a few patent lawyers about whether or not they should file a patent application and how they should best proceed.
Certain elements within your startup or small business are important enough that you, as the founder or CEO, need to understand them fully in order to make the right decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Patent protection is one such element.
You just don’t know what you don’t know.
You are the expert on your business. How much better would your strategy be if you understood the factors and logic behind whether or not to file a patent application?
Given the eventual investment that might go into one or more patent applications, and given the potential upside, would you rather gain that expertise yourself or take a chance on picking between the conflicting advice of expensive legal professionals?
Rather than just outsourcing patent decisions and strategy to your lawyer, join The IP Link’s Product Protection Playbook program and finally gain the understanding you need to make the right decisions on how to optimize your IP so that it benefits your business.
If you’re investing your time, energy, and money into building a new physical or software product, what steps are you taking now to prevent the big players like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple from creating their own versions of your product once you put in all the hard work to prove the market?
If there’s no market for the product you’re developing, the big players will probably never notice your efforts, but my guess is that you’re hoping for and planning for the opposite. You likely have good reason to believe there is a need for your product and that customers will pay for it. Once you prove this (with hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of paying customers), why wouldn’t the industry leader build their own version of your product? You’ve probably seen Amazon Basics products popping up, or Apple integrating the latest, greatest app into their core OS. Would they, or the big player in your industry, do the same?
This a problem for you NOW, even if you’re still in the early stages of development. The problem is, you need to file a patent BEFORE you first sell or publicly release your product. So if you wait until your bigger competitors start noticing you, it will be far too late to consider patent protection.
I would love to help you develop a patent strategy and sort through whether a patent would help or hinder your business. This is exactly what our core programs are designed to do, so that your business has a far better hope of holding your own against your bigger competitors when the time comes. Let’s chat! https://theiplink.com/book
“When somebody comes to me and says I want to invest in your company, the two questions that always come up are, ‘let’s see your financials’, and ‘what kind of patent do you have.‘ It comes up every time.”
A client, who is currently looking for investment, said this to me in a recent call.
Investors want to know how you will prevent competitors from taking over your industry once you prove the market. Having a strategic patent application will help you answer that question and will show investors that you are a running credible business and that you are committed to investing the time and money necessary to achieve success. This will certainly increase your chances of getting investment.
In certain cases, this increased chance of getting investment may be reason enough to pursue the illustrious patent-pending status.
Take the next step towards securing an investment by moving forward with patent protection. Book a call now to ask all your patent questions: https://theiplink.com/book/
Also, let me know in the comments if you’ve had “the patent question” from an investor or, if you are an investor, is this one of your standard questions?
It does not make sense for all businesses to file a patent application.
This decision depends on your industry, investment, revenue, aspirations, business model, product, price point, and many other factors.
For many businesses, it’s relatively easy to determine that they don’t need to spend time or money filing a patent. For others, it’s clear that they do need a patent. The vast majority of businesses, however, are in the middle. For these businesses, determining whether or not they need a patent requires a concerted effort to review the opportunity, risks, and costs and to develop an approach and strategy.
The IP Link’s Product Protection Playbook program helps business founders evaluate patents and gain clarity on where they fit in this spectrum. The results of this work may reveal that patents don’t make sense. On the other hand, it may show that they are a great opportunity!
If you think you might be missing out on an opportunity to level up your business, watch my patent training webinar which includes a discussion of potential risks, costs, and benefits of a patent (link in the comments).
If you’re still developing your business and product and are thinking about looking into patents once you’ve finished developing your product, now is the perfect time to jump into the first phase of The IP Link’s Product Protection Playbook program.
Learn more in the video below:
Find the Gaps in your Market
I’ve had a couple clients wait until their product was further along in its development only to find that they were “reinventing the wheel” so to say. Completing an in-depth competitive review will illuminate the gaps in the market and help you focus the development of your product. A careful review of related patents will greatly improve your chances of uncovering competitors and competitive technologies.
In one case, even though a company I worked with was aware of their competitors, they hadn’t carefully searched the patent literature early in the creation of their product so they missed an important patent in their space that was owned by a company that wasn’t on their radar prior to the search.
Product Development from the Shoulders of Giants
The added benefit of completing such a search early in the development of your product is that you may be able to use what you find in existing patent applications, expired patent documents, patents in countries that you don’t operate in, and scientific publications to improve your own product. You do have to be careful not to infringe on any active patents in your country, but the vast majority of published patents and other documents never issued or are no longer active, and therefore won’t impact your ability to operate.
Further, gaining an understanding of the prior art will enable you far more effectively improve on it. Without knowing what already exists, you may end up developing a product or solution that is already publicly known, even if it may be in an obscure corner of the patent literature. Why waste your time on that, when you could start from what’s known and improve on it!
When it comes time to file your own patent application, you’ll be far ahead of the pack and much more likely to have a patentable product on your hands. When it comes time to sell your product, your offering will be truly unique!
If this sounds like where you are currently in your business, let’s jump on a call and I’ll share all the info you need to join The Product Protection Playbook.
If you’re reading this, I would love to know: have you ever done a patent search or had one done?
What Is A Patent Search
A patent search is, as it sounds, performing a search to try to find patents or patent applications through one or more of the patent search engines or databases. You might need to do a patent search if you’re considering filing a patent application on your product and want to know if anyone has filed a patent on a similar product previously (more on why this is important below). You also might want to look for previously filed patents if you are worried that someone else already filed a patent on one of your products or processes and that you might be infringing (using their idea without the right to do so).
Why Is A Patent Search So Important
As I outline in the above video, if you’re considering filing a patent application then a patent search is one of the most important steps that you will want to complete before working with a lawyer.
Patents can be very expensive, especially over time, so you will really want to make sure that you have confidence that your application will be accepted by the patent office once they finally review it. Depending on your approach, it may be 3-4 years and $50,000 – $200,000 before you receive any official notice as to whether or not your product is patentable. At this point, the patent office will review your application to see if it meets the criteria for patentability.
A patent search, if done right, can give you a fair bit of confidence that the patent office will accept a large portion of your application before spending all the money necessary to get to the review stage.
A patent search will also provide significant insight into your competition and the competitive landscape of your industry. Often times you may even discover competitors that you didn’t previously realize were in your industry.
In our experience, we have found that the best approach to patent searching is if you, as the inventor or entrepreneur, do at least some searching yourself initially – with the right help and education. This can be augmented with a review and expansion from an unbiased patent search firm, such as The IP Link, but you will gain a far deeper understanding of the patent process and the patentability of your product if you also search yourself. This will also enable you to make better decisions about your patent strategy and how your patent should be written.
This is precisely why we built a course and coaching program called Search (part of the full Product Protection Playbook) to help teach entrepreneurs and founders how to patent search properly without getting too bogged down with all the legalistic aspects. In addition to teaching you how to search efficiently, thoroughly, and properly, we will coach you through the process and review your search strings, results, and other work throughout the program!
We get into all the details in the Search program, but at a high level, there are many patent search engines that can be used to get started with a patent search, the best one likely being Google Patents (patent search Google). The difficulty comes with determining what to search, what keywords to use, how to structure your search string, and sifting through results. It is possible to do a patent search by number or a patent search by company (patent search company) to dig into specific patents in more depth, but from a patentability perspective, you will likely want to start with a topic or classification search.
As a patent search firm, we also do patent searching for our clients, but typically recommend this as an add-on to the Search program. If it’s time for a patent search, let’s talk!
What To Search
If your product incorporates many features or aspects, which they almost always do, more than one of these aspects could be patentable, maybe even independently of the other aspects.
If you’ve done a search or paid a third party to complete a search, how did you or the searcher decide which aspect to focus the search on? Did this even come up in the discussion?
I have seen the results of patent searches that a few of my clients had done before they joined my program and they often miss important aspects of the product or are so broad they are completely uninformative. To make matters worse, trying to read through a bunch of patents without any interpretation or understanding of how they might impact your patent strategy going forward is just a recipe for disaster.
For example, one of our clients recently had the following experience. “[The IP Link’s Search program] gave me a better understanding of how to search when it comes to patents. We’ve all [our team] been doing searches, all plugging away at it, and we even had a patent lawyer looking at it and they didn’t even find that one particular patent that came way too close to make us feel comfortable. So to me, the plan [The IP Link’s Product Protection Playbook] works.” – Tony Woolf
The first module of The IP Link’s Product Protection Playbook revolves entirely around brainstorming and defining all the aspects of your product (or process) and deciding which aspect to review more closely through a patent search. Without this initial step, the search will be unfocussed, take far longer than it needs to, and will likely miss important elements of your product.
Where To Patent Search
Many people are initially focused on searching for patents only in the country where they want to file their patent. I hear people asking about patent search USA or patent search Canada, for example. Although it is possible to specifically do a US patent search by keyword, for example, it is typically too narrow to be useful from a patentability perspective.
Ideally, you will want to perform a search that covers many countries. Any patent or article that is published anywhere in the world can impact your ability to get a patent on your product. As such, it is important to use a patent search engine that can search many countries all at once, and not just focus on doing a patent search in the USA or doing a patent search in Canada exclusively.
Common Patent Search Questions
I recently had a discussion about this with an entrepreneur who is just launching a product and thought I would share it here as I’m sure he isn’t the only one with this question!
Entrepreneur: “Moving in a product-focused business, [patent searching] seems like the beginning of a steep investment. How do you know when to stop looking and if there isn’t a smaller part of your design that could be patented under a different category?”
Trevor: I typically suggest trying to gain confidence that at least one aspect of your product will have a good chance of being accepted by the patent office. Once you have enough confidence to justify the cost (assuming you also have a strategy for benefitting from the patent), then move on with drafting and filing the patent.
In the drafting phase, include all the aspects of your invention (not just the one you searched in more depth), even if they cover more than one classification. Worst case, the aspects you didn’t search may be rejected, but you will still hopefully get a patent on that core aspect that you had confidence in from your search.
Entrepreneur: “Makes sense. But what about infringement research? Seems like a never-ending loop.”
Trevor: The initial research can be streamlined with the objective of gaining just enough confidence to justify moving forward with the patent at hand.
If similar patents are found or if there is another reason to believe you might be infringing on a different patent, then a more in-depth review should be considered, but this could be said of any business regardless as to whether or not they’re planning on filing their own patent.
