Category: Patent Filing
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Divisionals After PCT National Phase: Timing and Tips
When your startup’s invention reaches the global stage through a PCT application, it feels like a big win. You’ve taken your idea from local to international—protecting it across borders and showing the world you’re serious about what you’ve built. But once your PCT application enters the national phase, a new question often comes up: What…
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CIP vs New Application: Scope, Cost, and Risk Tradeoffs
If you’ve ever updated your invention and wondered whether to file a new patent or build on your old one, you’re not alone. This is one of those moments every founder or engineer faces once the idea starts evolving faster than the paperwork. You’ve already filed something once, maybe months ago, but now you’ve made…
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How to Draft Specs Today to Enable Tomorrow’s CONs
When you’re building something new — a system, a product, or a bit of deep tech magic — you’re also building its story. The specs you write today don’t just describe what your invention does right now; they set the stage for every future version, upgrade, and continuation that might follow. Think Beyond the First…
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Using Continuations to Add Method, System, and Product Claims
When you file a patent, you’re not just locking in an invention — you’re setting the rules for how others can’t use what you’ve built. But here’s the thing most founders and engineers miss: your first patent application isn’t the end. It’s just the start of something you can build on, expand, and strengthen over…
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Reclaiming Creativity and Ownership: How Modern Tools Are Reinventing Patent Protection for Universities
In a world where innovation moves faster than legal systems can track, the link between creativity and ownership is more vulnerable than ever. Inventors today aren’t just battling technical complexity—they’re navigating a fragmented patent process, rising prosecution costs, and a legal environment where true ownership feels increasingly out of reach. But a quiet shift is…
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Transforming Patent Commercialization in the Digital Era
Introduction In the dynamic landscape of the digital era, the convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and patent commercialization has emerged as a catalyst for transformative growth and innovation. AI’s profound impact on the process of patent commercialization has revolutionized the way intellectual property assets are valued, marketed, and monetized. From streamlining patent valuation and market…
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Why and How to Increase Your Patent Department’s Budget
In the ever-evolving business landscape, protecting intellectual property (IP) has become a critical aspect of maintaining a competitive edge. The department that shoulders this immense responsibility is the patent department. The patent department’s budget plays a crucial role in not only protecting the company’s existing IP but also nurturing and developing new, innovative ideas. To…
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Value-Driven Innovation and Intellectual Property Management
Managing your value-driven innovation and intellectual property is essential to the success of your business. Whether you are a Fortune 500 corporation or a small startup, your success is largely dependent on your ability to maintain and develop your intellectual property. Fortunately, there are a number of tools you can use to create and manage…
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Trends in Patent Prosecution: Don’t Get Left Behind
Whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant, you’re not going to get left behind if you stay on top of the trends in patent prosecution. There’s a lot to know about the PTAB, the AIA anti-joinder rules, the standing requirements for patent infringement actions, and other issues that affect the way a lawsuit is filed. Patent…
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Three Qualities That Make Quality Patents
Getting a quality patent can take a lot of work, but there are three qualities that should always be considered. These are prior art references, non-obviousness, and clarity. Clarity Patent clarity and Section 112 are both important considerations in the preparation and prosecution of a patent application. Patent clarity refers to the requirement that…
