I love showcasing the success of our clients because the work we do on their intellectual property can really make a big difference in their business strategy and understanding, even beyond IP and patents.
I just interviewed an awesome inventor, Chris, who has developed a very useful consumer product. To hear more about Chris and how he suspects he saved $12,600 on his legal costs by working with The IP Link, check out the video here:
Also, we are getting closer to launching the next cohort of our program and course, the Product Protection Playbook™, so if you’re interested in keeping your costs down and filing a better patent like Chris did, stay tuned here: https://theiplink.com/waitlist/
We’ve recently had another client, Robert from Soteria120, successfully complete the “Search” phase of the Product Protection Playbook and gain significant value from it.
Robert particularly appreciated gaining a deeper understanding of exactly how to dig into the swath of existing patent literature and figure out how it might impact his business. On a recent coaching call, we dug deep into one patent application in particular to see who filed it, the current status, how likely that patent was to issue (or if it had already been rejected), and even the specific correspondence that that company had with the patent office.
It turned out that many of the claims of the third party patent had already been rejected, and we were able to see exactly what the patent office’s reasoning was. We intend to use that as a model for improving Robert’s own patent application, so that it will be well positioned to avoid such issues.
Robert has this to say about it:
“This is super useful! To see your strategy with finding something on Google Patents then what we do to dig into it more deeply and troll through those references, that was awesome. Thank you for helping us with that!”
If you’re concerned with how existing patents might impact your business and your ability to get a patent (or potentially even more dangerous, if your not), let’s hop on a call and nail down your next steps for gaining this peace of mind!
What do Capture the Flag, Venn Diagrams, and Aerospace Engineering have to do with our logo?
Our logo represents one of The IP Link’s core values – that expertise in the business, technical, and legal worlds is absolutely necessary to prepare and file the right patent. Learn more about The IP Link’s logo, what led me to this design, and a bit about my personal background in this video:
Enjoy! Let me know what inspired your company logo!
What are the patentability criteria and why are they so important?
In this video, I discuss the three primary criteria that the patent office will review when deciding whether to approve or reject your patent application: usefulness (whether or not your product is useful), novelty (whether or not your product is completely new), and obviousness (how innovative your product is).
Watch now to learn how these criteria impact your chances of getting a patent!
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on a new presentation that really highlights the differences between the typical approach of going straight to a lawyer to get a patent application and the new and improved approach that The IP Link has developed.
Watch this video if you would like to avoid all of the common mistakes and roadblocks that tend to arise with the old approach to getting a patent.
In this video, you will also learn how to get a better patent and make the most out of your investment into patent protection:
In this video, I talk about:
How to get started with patent protection,
The three steps to getting a better patent that will bring value to your business,
How much patent protection costs,
How to avoid common pitfalls,
How you should prepare for filing a patent application BEFORE contacting a lawyer,
The typical timeline of the patent process (including costs) AND a timeline of our improved approach,
How the typical approach of going to a patent lawyer first can cause issues (and how to avoid these issues),
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:
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.
