Patent Strategy for Startups
Hello,
First and foremost - happy to answer any general patent questions folks may have!
Some background about myself - I'm a patent lawyer and I am working on a course for founders and inventors that want to write their own patents. As part of validating whether there are folks that want to write their own patents, I've also prepared a ~15m free patent strategy course for any founder building their own startup to explain the value of patents.
https://from-zero-to-patent.teachable.com/p/patents-for-startups-for-founders-and-inventors
I'd love to hear any questions or feedback on the course!
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i would definately sign up for the course!
In order to validate the demand for such a course, the person has created a free 15-minute patent strategy course for any founder who is building their own startup. The course is designed to help founders understand the value of patents and how they can be used to protect their intellectual property. The goal of this project is to make the patent application process more accessible to startups and inventors who may not have the resources to hire a patent lawyer. By providing education and resources on patent strategy, the hope is that more startups will be able to protect their innovations and compete in their respective markets.
For more see: www.ipprism.com
Man, this is great timing - I will buy your course. I'm co-inventor on a couple of patents from my past corporate life, but never had to write the legalese or do prior art check myself.
It seems not to be part of the course, but could you share some brief information about extra steps needed to also file in the EU? What is the sequencing? How much of the work can be re-used? Is it even worth it? (specifically thinking about SW patent on the technology for an app I'm making.)
Cheers,
Marc
Hi Marc,
Thanks for letting me know your interest! I'm finalizing videos on a bunch of topics and will release all the lessons next month. Did you finish taking the patent strategy course? I'd love to know what you thought or if there are other questions you wish I addressed.
Re EU, the first question to ask is if you just want protection in one EU country or both in the US and the EU. If the former, you can file directly with the patent office of that particular country with the techniques in the course, but there are certain practices involving copying claim language into your description that you need to do for the EU but do not need to do in US cases, which I will go over in the course. This is due to the EU's stricter requirement of written description.
If you'd like protection in both the US and EU, it becomes much more complex, and I would recommend hiring a lawyer to handle the procedural aspects (you can still write the patent yourself if you want and work with a lawyer to file.). That's because there are many more deadlines and procedural nuances in different countries that most folks aren't willing to learn.
If you're US-based, a common practice is to first file the US patent application. Within 1 year, you'll need to file the PCT application claiming priority to the US patent application. Then, eventually you'll need to "enter" into the EU countries you want to have protection in. Again, there are tons of procedural things here that I think would be best for a lawyer to handle. Substantively, the EU patent can be quite similar to the US, although some countries require certain translations.
IMO, the safest thing to do, if you don't want to have a lawyer write the initial patent, is to write and file the patent yourself, then within 1 year if your app is doing well and growing, go to a law firm and ask them to file it internationally.
If there's any EU country to file in, it's Germany b/c their courts are much more patent-friendly. They give injunctions (prevent competitors from using your patented idea) more easily than other countries.
I'd say for the average inventor, the majority of the time it's not worth it to file in the EU. However, if within one year your app is doing well, then you should consider hiring a lawyer to get international protection.
The course looks interesting. My girlfriend works as a junior lawyer in a Patent and Trademark law firm(India) and it's always interesting to hear the stories. Lots of founders could benefit from your expertise.