A patent in the United States grants an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the claimed invention in this country. Such a right to exclude competitors can be a useful business tool. But too many inventors, in my opinion, delay the birthing of an invention-centric business […]
Widerman Malek Law Blog
Should I Seek A Foreign Patent: Invention Factors
As mentioned in an earlier blog, many businesses are unaware of the need and/or are unfamiliar with the procedures to extend patent rights outside the United States. This article describes some factors characteristic of the invention itself that one may consider when making the important decision to file for patent protection in foreign countries. Invention Factors […]
Should I Seek A Foreign Patent? Legal Factors
As mentioned in my last blog, many businesses are unaware of the need and/or are unfamiliar with the procedures to extend patent rights outside the United States. This article describes some legal factors one may consider when making the important decision to file for patent protection in foreign countries. Legal Factors Before initiating a time consuming […]
Should I Seek A Foreign Patent? Business Factors
Every United States patent contains a grant to the owner of the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the subject invention in the United States or importing the invention into the United States. However, many businesses, especially small business and micro-entities, are unaware of the need and/or are unfamiliar […]
Never Too Early, Never Too Late
The output of an intellectual property (IP) landscape analysis is typically a report that captures business factors in a given technology area at a “snapshot” in time and synthesizes findings into actionable information. The findings in an IP landscape report may be applied to support business decision-making at any level of intellectual asset management (IAM) maturity achieved by […]
IAM, Sun Tzu, and “White Space”
“Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Sun Tzu, […]
IAM: He Who Fails To Plan …
As mentioned in a previous article, a company’s business plan is a good source of input to intellectual asset (IA) lifecycle planning. More specifically, a well written and routinely updated business plan may serve as a starting point for an intellectual property (IP) landscape analysis. IP landscape analysis is a knowledge discovery discipline that involves […]
IAM: It’s Your Business
Intellectual asset owners (and, frankly, many IP attorneys) allow themselves to be consumed by the intellectual asset protection effort. And that is perfectly understandable! The investment of time, energy, and treasure required of, for example, an inventor in a patent prosecution can leave little left of all three. But successful exploitation of an intellectual asset demands diligent attention not […]
