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 […]
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 […]
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? […]
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 […]
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 […]
How Technology Scouting Could Help Enhance Your Patent Portfolio?
Have you ever wondered how Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft emerged as market leaders, despite having thousands of competitors in the technology domain? The popular notion of their success is believed to be continuous progressive and disruptive innovation. Though true to an extent, it should be noted that innovation merely can’t contribute to the success of […]
How to Check The Essentiality Of Standard Essential Patents?
Did you know that licensees pay huge licensing fees for Standard Essential Patents (SEP)? Unfortunately, not all those patents qualify for the criteria of being a SEP. Hence, in many licensing deals, a licensee can end up paying millions for false SEPs. How does that happen and how can it be avoided? The answer to […]
4 Reasons Why You Should Build A High-Quality Patent Portfolio
NuCurrent Inc., a Chicago-based wireless charging equipment manufacturer earns millions in patent licensing every year, its licensees including the likes of Apple and Motorola. Did I mention they merely have 29 granted patents in their portfolio? That’s the power of a strong patent portfolio. NuCurrent is not alone. There are multiple companies that make millions […]
Patent Pruning: How to increase the value of your patent portfolio?
A couple of decades ago, patent portfolios were considered one of an organization’s most indispensable assets. It was when quality was given more importance, and filing patents was not a mere numbers game. The blind filing was extremely low, and granted patents were normally considered valuable, both in terms of quality and face value. But […]
Patent Prosecution: 5 ways to cut the cost to file a patent
hbspt.cta.load(1791848, ‘5a9b267c-02a7-4033-a894-fa9187d5e4d6’, {}); “It is great to be the owner of hundreds of patents, but it is not a simple task to obtain and maintain these patents.” – Legal Counsel at an Inc. 5000 Company The cost to file patents is an expensive task. Especially when you have filed patents for a variety of products […]
How to get more with a smaller IP budget?
Corporate leadership is squeezing IP budgets across the country. This impacts both staffing and overall IP creation efforts. In-house IP management is being asked to file more applications with less staff, under strict budget limitations. For example, several months ago we visited a west-coast client, a U.S. subsidiary of a large multinational electronics company. The […]
Why is it important to check the strength of your patent?
Before we move ahead to the topic – importance of checking patent strength, for the uninitiated, here is a definition of the term: What is patent strength? Patent strength, in simplest terms, gives an idea of the survivability quotient of a patent. A granted patent doesn’t always mean that it is novel or can survive […]
When does a Mathematical Formula or a Law Of Nature become patent eligible?
The gist of the verdict: Claims having a mathematical formula or an application of laws of nature are patent eligible if they improve a particular process. If you don’t know, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program under which the US and other allied nation developed a fifth generation single engine aircraft, F-35, for their Navy and […]
Patent abandonment: IBM’s grant to lapse ratio touched 50% in 2016
IBM received more than 8000 patents last year but at the same time, they also abandoned more than 4000 patents from their portfolio. For the last few years, their patent grant to lapse ratio has been increasing continuously which touched 50.6% in 2016. As we all know that IBM is the biggest patent filer across […]
How Technology Life Cycle helps in Patent Portfolio Maintenance?
Imagine the world where you’d be clicking pictures on your Kodak DSLR and uploading them on Instagram with hashtag #KodakMoment while checking comments on the post on your revolutionary Blackberry. The foldable Nokia Smartphone that you wore on your wrist is still your backup phone because Nokia phones never run out of batteries. The above […]