Patently Strategic - Patent Strategy for Startups
A patent-focused podcast for inventors, founders, and IP professionals that explores the nuances and sharp edges of startup patent strategy. Each monthly episode features a round-table discussion among patenting experts. The show is brought to you by Aurora Consulting, a patent strategy boutique specializing in early-stage life science, medical device, digital health, and software companies. It aims to help startups build valuable patent portfolios through comprehensive, tailored strategies.
Episodes
Prompting and Patents: What to Know Before You Ask AI
AI can now produce something that very much *looks* like a patent application. It can be long. It can be technical. It can have claims. It can use many of the right-sounding words in approximately the right-sounding places. But does it actually protect your invention? And that distinction—between something that looks impressive and something that creates a durable legal asset — is everything to an
The Biotech Bargain: How Patents Help Turn Risk Into Medicine
Do patents make drugs more expensive? And what role does intellectual property play in getting new medicines from the lab bench to patients?The questions have never been more timely. Biopharmaceutical innovation sits at the center of some of our biggest public policy debates. Drug pricing, access, generic competition, university research, venture funding, AI-driven discovery, follow-on research, a
Design Patents: Building Better Moats
When most people think or speak generally about patents, they’re really talking about utility patents – or patents that are primarily concerned with how an invention is used and how it works. But as it turns out, this is just one specific type of patent on the complete menu of options available for protecting your innovations. Another option, called a design patent, exists to – additionally or alt
Willful Infringement: When Patent Piracy Turns Egregious
Willful infringement is a patent law concept that applies when someone infringes a patent knowingly or with reckless disregard for the patent holder’s rights. It goes beyond accidental infringement, often involving a deliberate choice to use protected work despite awareness of the rights holder. With unintentional infringement, the infringer can still be required to pay damages, negotiate a licens
Patent Abandonment and Revival
Patent abandonment is the premature relinquishment of patent rights for an invention. Abandonment can happen voluntarily for various strategic and cost reasons, but can also happen silently and unintentionally. It can happen before the right is even granted in the case of public disclosure. But it can also happen after the patent has been granted at many key points in its otherwise useful life and
European Patent Practice
What are your options for protecting inventions across Europe? In this month’s episode, we’re taking a journey across the pond with a discussion on European Patent Practice. This episode is part two of a series we’re doing on International Patenting and follows Ashley’s exceptional Travel Guide to Foreign Protection from earlier this season. Even in a globalized economy, patents are still national
Patent Marking: No Mark, No Money
In this month’s episode, we’re talking about patent marking – and its massive implications on your ability to collect on infringement damages. We’ve all seen patent numbers on physical products. Much like their copyright and trademark cousins, these designations are far from cosmetic. And instead serve a statutory requirement to provide public notice about your protected intellectual property. In
Startup Capital: Strategic Fundraising and Patent Value
Whether you’re a founder looking to take the next fundraising steps beyond bootstrapping, an aspiring angel investor looking to understand the risks of seed investing, or even a practitioner hoping to get a better grasp of how this all works hand-in-hand with patent strategy, today’s topic provides an incredible springboard into the high risk, high reward world of strategic fundraising for early-s
International Patents: Your Travel Guide to Foreign Protection
In today’s global economy, the importance of international patent protection cannot be overstated. Your invention could be conceived of with a workforce distributed across several continents. Your manufacturing could happen in Asia or India, while your products are shipped into and distributed from ports in the target markets of the largest economies across the globe. Would be competitors and infr
Cannabis Patents: Cutting Through the Haze of the IP Landscape
In this month’s episode, we’re getting high on innovation with a deep dive into cannabis patents! As more and more states relax restrictions on both medical and recreational uses of marijuana and hemp, the U.S. cannabis industry is projected to reach $50 billion in sales this year and over $74.6 billion by 2032! This rapid growth is happening despite immense challenges brought on by a complex and
ParkerVision v. Rule 36: The Battle for Dignity and Due Process
If a court stripped away your property rights, wouldn’t you at least want an explanation? The answer is obvious, but the reality is appalling. The practice of revoking patent rights on appeal without explanation has been happening to inventors at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (CAFC) at an alarming rate. In over 43% of PTAB cases on appeal at the CAFC, inventors receive a single-word respons
Dealing with Rejection: Overcoming 101, 102, 103, and 112
So, your patent application got rejected. Now what? In this month’s episode, we’re talking about rejection. Specifically, the type that comes from the patent office in the form of an intimidating sounding three-digit number when your application gets denied by an examiner.Some time after submitting your application, it goes into a process with the patent office called examination. This is the part
Patent Case Law Review: Obviousness
An invention cannot be patented if the differences between your claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was conceived. Determining obviousness – and the validity of your patent – is more than simply establishing that the invention doesn’t already exist and that
Petition Practice: Correcting PTO Errors With Your Patent
Patent examiners can make mistakes. Patent office clerks can misfile paperwork and cause procedural errors. The software tools, document formats like DOCX, and the IT systems your application passes through can have bugs. What recourse do you have when quality issues creep in at this stage? This is where petition practice, fortunately, comes to the rescue. ** Quality Patents Part 5 **This is our f
Keeping Patent Pirates at Bay: ITC Portfolio Proofing Strategies
For inventors, the promise of the patent system is the right to exclude others from making, using, importing, and selling their patented innovations for a limited period. But how do patent holders actually enforce those rights, particularly when the copycat product is being manufactured outside of domestic jurisdiction? In an otherwise challenging time for rights assertion, the ITC – or Internatio
Continuation Practice: Quality Patents Part 3
There’s not a more important concept that’s more widely misunderstood by those newer to patenting than continuations. So we’re dedicating Part 3 of our series on quality patents to everything you need to know about this essential step for future proofing and increasing the value of your portfolio. Void of pursuing continuations, the language of your patent is frozen in time at issuance. The specif
PTAB Survival Guide: Quality Patents Part 2
The most terrifying thing that can happen to a patent owner is receiving what’s called an IPR or Inter Partes Review petition. This is a tool that accused infringers can use to invalidate patents. And they have … to alarming effect. As we’ve discussed, the kill rate at the PTAB is staggering. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board – or as regular listeners of this audience more commonly know it as, the
Quality Patents
Is your patent a vanity piece of paper for your office wall? Or is it a reliable, defendable, assertable, property right? The difference is often quality. Is your patent simply a transactional cost and a large pile of legal bills for your startup? Or is it a leverageable asset worthy of attracting precious investment dollars, worth its cost in multiples of valuation? The difference is often qualit
Inventor Stories: Robert Cameron and the Power of Perseverance
We’ve seen few entrepreneurial success stories that haven’t involved heavy doses of perseverance, grit, observation, and creative problem-solving. Today’s guest possesses these qualities in spades. And while I can’t necessarily recommend some of the more death-defying specifics of his approach … at least not without a lot of “don’t try this at home” fine print :) … I do think that most inventors
CAFC Chronicles: Costly Tales of Claim Construction Fails
The difference between getting claim construction right and getting it wrong is the difference between a valid patent and an invalid patent – and the difference between millions of dollars awarded from infringement decisions vs. ending up with a worthless piece of paper.In this month’s episode, Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion into three real-world application
Patents and AI: Current Tools, Future Solutions
We’re talking about AI and its impact on the patent system.This month's episode evaluates where we presently are and considers where it could all be heading. Dr. David Jackrel and Dr. Ashley Sloat lead a two-part discussion with our all-star panel that begins with a deep dive on the present state of AI patent tools for searching, proofreading, drafting, and prosecution – and then moves on to
James Howard and the Black Inventors Hall of Fame
Our interview with James Howard, Founder and Executive Director of the Black Inventors Hall of Fame.James Howard is a college professor, design historian, entrepreneur, industrial designer, inventor, filmmaker, and restauranteur. He brings over 25 years of experience as a design professor and has authored a course on Design Thinking and Design History that explores the impact of design on society.
Claim Construction: Building Strong Patent Foundations
Claim construction is a process in which courts attempt to interpret the meaning and scope of the claims of a patent. It’s like reconstructing what an inventor and their practitioner meant back when they drafted the patent application. While your patent might not be tested in a court for many years, understanding the sometimes surprising language specifics and context traps while drafting now can
Patenting Games: From Pieces to Pixels
From patenting classic boardgames like Monopoly and Battleship back in the 1930s to challenges with protecting modern innovations in areas like game development and VR, our experts are breaking down everything you need to know about patenting games so you don’t end up just rolling the dice when investing in protections for your entertaining innovations. As a bonus, in this month’s episode, we’re
Patent Claims: The Name of the Game
We’re talking about claims – the fundamental building blocks of a patent. There simply is not a more important concept to grasp in all of patenting. As a former chief justice of the Federal Circuit once famously said, “The name of the game is the claim.” And in terms of what game you’re playing, the claims are where you separate the patents playing checkers from the patents playing chess. This is
Government Grants and Patent Rights: SBIR, STTR, and Your IP
In this month's episode, we’re talking about the use of government grants and the strings that can come attached to your IP! We’re exploring the various types of small business research grants, how the Bayh-Dole Act regulates inventions generated under government grants, licensing and ownership implications for your patent when using federal dollars, and the sticky webs that you may find your
Jack Daniels, Mickey Mouse, and Andy Warhol Walk Into a Bar
In this month’s episode, we’re talking about Jack Daniels, Mickey Mouse, Andy Warhol, Jason Voorhees, Winnie-the-Pooh, Lizzo, and WallStreetBets … What do they have to do with patents you might fairly be wondering? Honestly, not much. Patents are our focus in our business and in this podcast, so we devote a lot of air time to talking about protecting ideas and inventions, but in the realm of intel
Why Patents Exist with Professor Adam Mossoff
Why do patents exist in the first place? What function do they serve in society? And what is their historic origin story? In this month’s episode, with the help of Professor Adam Mossoff, we zoom way out, turn the time dial back a bit, and focus on the genesis of patents. There’s a special kind of magic that happens when individual incentives align with societal good. Abraham Lincoln, who believed
What Investors Want in Patents with Sridhar Iyengar
What do investors want to see in patents? What do patents tell a potential investor about a founder? And what do investors wish inventors knew before coming to them?To answer these questions and more, we're joined this month by Dr. Sridhar Iyengar, an angel investor and accomplished serial entrepreneur in the medical devices and wearables space. Having been on both sides of the table, Dr. Iye
Open Source and Patent Rights: Collaboration with Consequences
How does the use of or contribution to open-source software impact your intellectual property rights? In this month's episode, we’re talking about software and the convoluted risk/reward interplay between patents, copyrights, and open source. Use of free open-source code can be an invaluable tool when building complex software applications. Why reinvent wheels? And depending on resources and
Patent Wars: Innovators, Revolutionaries, and the Race to Reform
In this month's episode, we're talking patent reform solutions with Judge Paul Michel, Professor Adam Mossoff, and Randy Landreneau!Nearly two decades worth of Federal Circuit and Supreme Court rulings have thrown the patent system into disarray and weakened patent rights for inventors. Subject matter eligibility is a confused, chaotic mess – leaving even the Federal Circuit Chief Justic
SCOTUS in Focus: Amgen v. Sanofi and the Future of Pharma Patents
We’re leading off Season 3 with a close look at a Supreme Court patent case that could have profound impacts on the invention enablement problems we covered heavily in Season 2. SCOTUS is set to hear opening arguments in Amgen v. Sanofi on March 27th. For the first time in over 75 years, the Supreme Court is evaluating the meaning and scope of the enablement requirement. For those who’ve been foll
License to File: Foreign Filing License Risks and Strategies
Foreign filing licenses – surprisingly sneaky and easy to overlook, but can come with significant consequences if you do. Many countries, including the US, require inventors to receive special permission to file with patent offices outside of the inventor’s …or invention’s… country. A foreign filing license is a government issued document that represents this permission for inventors and companies
Top 3 Inventor Mistakes: Disclosure, Search, and Ownership
If there were a guidebook we could hand to inventors on the first day following the conception of their idea, this episode would be it. When is it safe to talk about or sell your invention? How do you hedge against invalidation and rejection from competitor IP? How do you ensure you actually own your invention?In this month’s episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy at
Unpredictable Arts: Patenting Bio, Chem, and Emerging Technologies
Think your innovation is sufficiently enabled to secure, defend, and assert your patent rights? If it’s a biological, chemical, or emerging technology invention then you might want to think again. In today’s episode we’re looking into how to get more predictable results from the unpredictable arts.Some technologies, like those rooted in physics and mechanics, are considered “predictable” by the US
Into the Patentverse Vol. 2: AR, VR, and Virtual Infringement
We’re slipping our headsets on and heading back into the Metaverse! Earlier this year, we began our foray into this world with a deep dive into the building blocks that could very well form the structural and economic underpinnings of the Metaverse by exploring the tech concepts and IP implications surrounding Web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs. Today we build on this, by expanding our
Means-Plus-Function: The Risk of Losing Your Way
Word choice matters a great deal in the world of patenting. You’re using the English language to draw a picture around highly technical concepts. The precision with which this is done, down to the semantic level, can make all of the difference when it comes to your patent application being rejected or granted – and the future likelihood of your ability to assert your rights or defend against inval
From Alice to Axle: IP Uncertainty for the Innovation Economy
In today’s episode, we’re discussing a recent court decision that judges have said could threaten "most every invention for which a patent has ever been granted", turning the patent system into a "litigation gamble."Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion into American Axle’s recent bid to have the Supreme Court overturn a lower court decision tha
Prenuptial Patenting: Responsible Engagement with Engineering Firms
You have your big idea and now it’s time to breathe it into existence, but you need some help with the development. Like many others, you may turn to the aid of an engineering firm or dev shop. This relationship is a marriage of sorts. But it’s a marriage that is designed to inevitably end in divorce! How cleanly, smoothly, and successfully this separation goes depends on the steps that you take b
Fortifying Life Science Patents: Eligibility and Enablement
The life sciences are currently facing at least two major plagues in our patent world. The first is that many life science innovations have been deemed ineligible in terms of patentable subject matter. In other words, the courts and the patent office believe that the patent laws are not meant to protect these innovations. The second plague is that the courts believe that many life sciences patents
Into the Patentverse: Web 3.0, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and NFTs
“Metaverse” is the buzziest of the buzzwords in tech today and will soon be joining the ranks of “AI” and “ML” as requisite keywords in the next generation of pitch decks and patent applications. But what are the core components of the Metaverse? And what are their implications in the world of intellectual property? The Patently Strategic Podcast will be exploring this topic over the course of sev
Common Ownership: Whose prior art is it anyway?
In this month's episode, our experts help to demystify the concept of Common Ownership and how it can be leveraged to disqualify prior art that might otherwise cause a rejection during prosecution. Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora leads this discussion along with our all star patent panel, digging into Common Ownership exceptions, joint research exce
Inventor Stories: RISEing with Patents
In this month’s special episode, we’re sharing a great sit down with three very innovative, up-and-coming inventors – as we also launch the next installment of our RISE award. We are joined today by:⦿ Keith Phillips, CEO & Founder of realLINGUA⦿ Theresa Smith, CTO of the Ola Filter Corporation⦿ Brendan Wang, Founder of CAPNOSThese inventors share their stories and provide invaluable tips and
Software Patents: Protecting Your Digital Innovations
We're officially kicking off our second season and in this month's episode, our experts tackle software patents. As Silicon Valley engineer and investor Marc Andreessen famously said, “Software is eating the world”. It is central to so much of today’s innovation and the growth potential is off the charts. Five companies, all with software at their core, are worth a quarter of the S&P
Patent Anatomy: What’s in a patent?
What’s actually in a patent? What can you learn from reading one? Where do you even find them? For answers to these critical questions and more, I sat down with Patently Strategic regulars – David Cohen, Principal at Cohen Sciences and Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora. In our discussion, we break down the key anatomy, cut through the terminology, and provide t
Inventorship: Who should be listed as an inventor for a patent?
In the US especially, patents are granted to inventors. More often than not, that’s more than one person and the ideas themselves are fluid concepts that often evolve through many handoffs from initial conception through implementation and sometimes even throughout patent prosecution, but how do we determine who all should – and is legally required to be – officially named as an inventor? In the c
American Inventor Horror Story: Ten Years of AIA and the PTAB
Listen in as we discuss the impact of the AIA and the PTAB with inventors gathered as part of the "Decade of Stolen Dreams" rallies, happening in front of regional USPTO offices all across the country, marking the 10 year anniversary of the passage of the America Invents Act – an event described by advocacy groups as the worst event in U.S. patent history.The inventors and entrepreneurs
Patent Monetization: Buying and Selling
In this episode, we take a deep dive into the war games filled world of patent buying and selling. We are joined today by special guest host, Louis Carbonneau, Founder & CEO of Tangible IP. Mr. Carbonneau is a recognized expert in intellectual property with close to 30 years of professional US, Canadian, and international experience in all facets of intellectual property law and business. His
Patent Searching: Sleuthing Your Way to Stronger Patents
You have an idea and you’d like to protect it. But can you? Is it novel? Non-obvious? Would you eventually be able to license or enforce your patent down the road? Who else is competing in this area and where’s the whitespace? If you get the patent, can you freely produce and sell the idea, without the costly risk of infringement litigation?These questions and the quest for their answers unfold li
Patent Prosecution Highway: Fast Tracking Your Application
Getting a patent is no quick process. In the time between filing and issuance, your application will go through several stages, often from multiple patent offices and with months or years between stages. The total process can take two to five years and sometimes longer. But who has time for that? Sometimes you need a patent, and you need it fast. Luckily, there are some options for fast tracking y
After Final Practice: Life After Final Rejection
Your application just received a final rejection notice from the patent office. Now what? How final is final? The office owes you nothing at this point and without further action, your patent is dead. Good news, though – all may not be lost! Options for resuscitation are limited, but the patient isn’t yet a goner. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion along with our a
Google v. Oracle: The Future of Software and Fair Use
Listen in as our expert panel breaks down Google v Oracle and what it means for the future of software development and fair use. This legal contest has been heralded as the “World Series of IP cases” and the “copyright case of the decade”.It’s a landmark case, 11 years in the making, between two industry heavyweights – Google, the undisputed king of search and mobile operating system market share
On-sale Bar: Patentability and Selling Your Invention
In this inaugural episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President & Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora Consulting leads a deep dive into the on-sale bar and the trapdoor-esque implications of selling your innovation before filing. Spoiler alert: there are some very sneaky triggers – many types of activities that you might not traditionally think of as sales transactions that can trigger the bar and r
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