Intellectual Property in the News

At STRATWORX we like to keep the legal, dry part of intellectual
property to a minimum. But we keep an eye on changes in IP law
that impacts our clients’ business strategy. You should know about
some changes on the horizon that will affect your business.So, we
are dedicating our January 2008 issue to this topic.

Over the last several months, we have been working with our
IP attorney, Matt Latimer on evaluating and designing the patent
application for our IP Wealth Systemâ„¢.

The US Patent and Trademark Office may be changing the way it does
business depending on the success or failure of The Patent Reform
Act of 2007. These potential changes may substantially change patent
law and the value, specifically equity value, of your patents.

Here are three highlights you should be aware of in case your
pursuit of intellectual property points toward filing a patent.

- The first issue regards an “apportionment of damages” provision
that weakens the economic value of patents. In simple terms this
limits the damages that can be acquired from those who infringe
on your patent. If violators aren’t concerned about the hefty
damages that may be incurred from stealing your ideas, then what’s
the true value of the patent? It’s a question worth asking.

- The second issue makes it easier to file post-grant oppositions
which means every time someone, especially big companies with deep
pockets, challenges your patent in court, you have to defend it
otherwise you essentially abandon your patent. This would seemingly
limit the incentive to create new inventions because the ability
to protect them would be challenging.

- The third concern is the proposal to change the unique American
“first-to-invent” system to the European type “first-to-file”
process. In effect this puts small business owners and medium size
companies at a disadvantage because of the time and effort it takes
to prepare and fund a patent filing. Again it would seem large
companies with their big legal staffs could be the beneficiaries
of this change.

What’s the bottom line?

Get good advice on the value of pursuing patent protection. In many
cases there is specific marketing value to having a product that is
‘patent pending.’ Given most applications are not even looked at for
a year to 18 months, even if the patent application is denied, the
market value of the pending status may be worth the preparation.
Good discussion with your marketing team, budget director and attorney.

Our discussion barely scratches the surface of the topic and if you
like legalese you can click on this link US Patent and Trademark Office
for all the details.

Hope you found this helpful.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

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