Patented Inventions Really Do Reflect Up
In Long-Term Profit Potential & Shareholder Value

Strategy

As I’ve stated many times before, the first question a Marketer must answer is this: “What are we selling?” For many companies, especially technology-focused firms, a Patent can be the central point of the answer to that question. A case in point is Telebit Corporation’s multi-carrier modem technology (I worked at Telebit in the late 1980’s—sorry to date myself). This particular technology was not only the basis of the products we sold in the ’80’s and ’90’s, it became the core of what we know today as WI-FI (IEEE 802.11 a-g) and DSL more than twenty-five years later.

Assignments

Similar to the trademark process (Play T-07), conducting a patent search is the first step. An attorney can be hired, but a preliminary search can also be done on-line through the web site of the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), www.uspto.gov. The difference between a Trademark and a Patent, however, is worth noting. A Patent has to meet far more stringent tests for originality and use, which are spelled out in my Resource Blog. Bottom line: A patent is more than a “great idea.”

If there is no infringement, and your idea meets the three criteria listed in my reference article, then you can take the next step. Have your attorney file a disclosure document, which requires a drawing and written explanation of your idea. Following this, you will also file a provisional application, which lays the groundwork for foreign filing (a patent is required in every country of trade)—a lengthy process that often takes one year to complete. The final step is filing a full utility application. Although the steps may be few, the patent process is much more technical and rule oriented than in trademark application and is best done by retained counsel.

Once filed, the Patent & Trademark Office will assign an examiner to your application. The examiner follows a strict procedure for determining whether or not your application should become a patent. It is important you understand today’s examiners are under extreme time-pressures and production goals. Throw away your notion of a green eyeshade, slow-moving office worker. The U.S. PTO examiners are highly-trained professionals who know how to work their way through a literal mountain of applications with incredible speed and proficiency. If your application isn’t properly prepared—just like your elevator pitch—it may be rejected. The examiner’s work involves searching prior patents and printed publications for “prior art”—a term referring to the disclosure of inventions similar to yours that predate your date of invention—and determining if your claims meet the basic threshold of patenability, i.e., usefulness, novelty and nonobviousness.

Coaching Points

• Some inventors become unnecessarily nervous about the disclosure filing. The ideas submitted are preserved in secrecy—and the government can only protect what is known.
• Some companies keep their inventions cloaked in trade secrets, rather than patent protection. The most famous example is Coca-Cola’s syrup formula. Trade secrets are practiced but there is nothing to prevent a third party from analyzing your product and reconstructing it through reverse engineering.
• Reverse engineering is one test used in patent law to determine whether an infringement has occurred, as is a claim comparison. Technology is moving faster than ever, and heavy competition is on the rise as well. Today’s market dictates that entrepreneurs obtain patents to stay in the game.
• A patented invention is protected for 20 years from the first application, which grants the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.

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