Getting a Claim chart? Beware of coincidental mapping!

Claim charts play a crucial role in litigation. The strength of mapping can become a deciding factor that could turn the balance of the game in favor of either party. However, it ought to be noted that claim charting is a manual process, which leaves the chances of human errors and resultantly, weak links. Some […]
How Patent Due diligence can help you in making Acquisitions?

What happens when a company has a strong patent portfolio but is not able to convert the IP assets into financial ones? Add to it, the rising operational costs that are affecting the financial health of the company. Now picture this – the aforesaid company is your key competitor and is going to file for […]
How can a Chief Patent Counsel Become the Innovation Flag Bearer of his Organization?

While working in the IP industry, I got a chance to work with a lot of corporate patent counsels from SMEs to Fortune 500. I learned that the job and responsibilities of an IP counsel are way more than what meets the eye. Their role is not confined within the triangle of prosecution, maintenance, and […]
How we used a continuation application to increase the monetary value of a patent?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where a product was overlapping with most of the claim elements of your patent, but 1-2 claim elements were not available in the product, hence, a complete overlap wasn’t possible? OR you noticed a new feature launched by Google that appears to be very similar to your […]
Prior Art Search: Everything You Need to Know

If you want to understand prior art searches, you’ve landed on the right page. By the time you finish reading this guide, you’ll likely have built a solid understanding of what can be included in the prior art and how to use this knowledge to conduct a patent search and avoid spending valuable resources on […]
How IP Counsels’ Job is more than doing Prosecution, Litigation, and Portfolio Maintenance?

Digital Equipment Corporation, once a leader in the computer market for decades, does not exist today. Why? Because they failed to grasp the trends. Instead of continuing in the direction of progressive innovation, the then president of DEC, Mr. Ken Olsen, was skeptical of the success of the desktop computers market and went as far […]
How SWOT Analysis Can Unlock Potential of Your Patent Portfolio

Running a successful organization is not an easy task. There are multitudes of goals to track, competitors to beat and a product line to build and protect to survive in the cut-throat race. During those times, a patent portfolio is the best weapon for an organization that can act both as a shield and sword […]
3 Instances Where We Invalidated Patents Infringed Under ITC Section 337

Patent infringement has become a lot common in the past couple of decades. With increased interconnectivity among technologies and the existence of thousands of patents covering them, it has become difficult to innovate without having infringed on at least one patent. Infringement is common and so are lawsuits filed in district courts demanding royalties. What […]
Patent Abandonment Strategy: Why you should Look beyond your core competition before abandoning patents?

Would you believe me if I said patent abandonment strategy of companies like Delphi, Hewlett-Packard, and Xerox have resulted in the loss of millions of dollars for their respective organizations? It is quite true. Each of these companies along with hundred others has lost millions of dollars in patent monetization just because of their one […]
How are Damages Calculated for Patent Infringement in the US?

In the US, litigation costs anywhere around USD 3-4 Million, with damages awarded, on an average being 8.9 Million USD. The largest patent infringement award to date is $2.54 billion. As I was reading through these figures, I had albeit one question in mind — How is the amount of damages calculated in a patent infringement? How […]
Is Your Patent Prosecution Strategy Smart Enough?

Joe is the owner of an IP law firm. His firm is popular among clients for his smart prosecution strategy. His clients claim that he understands the minds of examiners at the PTO and is well aware of their patent prosecution patterns like average actions per patent. But how does Joe know all about it? […]
How We Found Prior Art For A Trade Secret Infringement Case Under ITC 337?

How difficult is it to find a solution to a problem you know nothing about? Difficult? Very difficult? Preposterous, you say? No, we are not being ludicrous. Though less often, there are instances when you’re looking for solutions to a problem you know little or nothing about. Despite multiple solutions that exist for every problem in existence, it […]
Patent Continuation Strategy: Filing Continuation Applications to enhance the Value of a Portfolio

Technologies, nowadays, are so dynamic they often overlap multiple fields and application areas. For instance, virtual reality, a branch of computer technology has applications in healthcare, military, entertainment, and other major industries. However, the patent claims filed in the nascent stage of that technology remain the same, and it is often observed that because of those […]
5 Ways Patents Helps Make Smart Investment Decisions

Investment decisions are not made in a vacuum, they have a context. The main question is – What is that context which you should set, as an investor or a VC, before making an investment decision? For a long time, investors have followed the practice to include a company’s stock, brand reputation, and its market […]
5 Ways to do an Advanced Prior Art Search Yourself

Have you come across a situation when the search vendor you hired returned with a report concluding “no reference found”? There could be multiple reasons that your vendor returns with such a report. Few among many could be a patent being strong/novel or time allocated is not commensurate with the technology area a patent falls […]
Tracking Patent Citations – A Strategy to strengthen your Portfolio and market position

We all know that studying patent citations can reveal a lot of insights – Be it understanding the strength and potential of a patent, or figuring out the strategies being followed by companies. But that is not it. Studying patent citation data can also reveal some sophisticated insights that can help an organization expand its […]