Most inventors lose patent rights before they even file. A staggering number of inventors accidentally disqualify themselves from patent protection by making premature public disclosures—publishing research papers, presenting at conferences, discussing their invention at trade shows, engaging in early commercialization efforts, testing prototypes publicly, conducting experimentation in public, disclosing early product versions on websites, or engaging in test marketing activities.
To preserve your ability to patent, it is crucial to avoid public disclosure of your invention before filing a patent application. These activities trigger critical deadlines to protect your patent rights or permanently erase your ability to file patents in Europe and most other countries under the absolute novelty rule. This costly mistake has derailed countless innovations that could have generated millions in licensing revenue.
Not all patents are created equal. Weak patents don’t just fail to protect—they actively help competitors by creating roadmaps for faster, cheaper design-arounds. Meanwhile, strategic, well-engineered patents deter competitors and maintain market control. In our first-to-file system, competitors are already working on similar solutions, making professional patent prosecution with proper experience essential for securing meaningful protection.
Patents protect new inventions – including processes, machines, compositions of matter, and designs – by granting you, the inventor, the exclusive right to make, use, sell, and import your creations. These exclusive rights are statutory rights granted by the government under patent law. But the real power lies in understanding how to leverage this protection strategically. A 2022 report by the USPTO/Commerce Department found that IP-intensive industries account for 41% of U.S. economic output and support over 62 million jobs, underscoring the importance of strong patent protection in fueling economic growth. Intellectual property rights are a key driver of this growth, providing legal protections that help businesses maintain a competitive edge.
The patent landscape is more active than ever. The USPTO grants hundreds of thousands of patents each year – 368,597 patents were awarded for the period December 1, 2023 – November 30, 2024, marking a 5.7% increase from the previous year’s 348,774 patents. US-based companies continue to lead all countries for the total number of granted US patents (157,955), despite a 2.8% decrease from 2023. Yet, only about 0.5% of U.S. firms obtain a patent in a given year (27,800 firms in 2022), revealing a massive opportunity for those who understand the system and work with experienced patent counsel who maintain a 94% allowance rate through strategic prosecution techniques.
What Does A Patent Protect? Understanding Patent Protection
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides patent protection to define and secure your inventions, which is essential for commercializing your research and establishing a competitive edge. Securing strong IP protection is crucial to safeguard your innovations and ensure you have the legal rights to your creations. But not all patent strategies are created equal. Those that do tend to be larger and more established: as of 2022, 13.6% of patenting firms were over 45 years old (compared to 5.6% of all firms), and 2.1% of patenting firms had 5,000 or more employees (compared to just 0.03% of all firms).
This data reveals a critical insight: patents can confer significant competitive advantages, often leveraged by mature companies who understand that weak patents become blueprints for competitors to design around their technology. However, startups with novel ideas can and do seek patents to stake out their market space when they work with experienced counsel who can engineer patents that withstand scrutiny.
The patent owner, whether an individual or an organization, holds the legal rights to the granted patent and can control the use of the patented invention. These legal rights are often referred to as monopoly rights, as they enable the patent owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for a specified period of time.
Types of Patents
Understanding the distinct patent categories is crucial for building an effective IP strategy. Patents are granted for inventions that fall within the statutory categories of patentable subjects: process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.
Utility Patents – Protect novel and useful processes, machines, manufactured items, and compositions of matter. This is the most common type of patent. It covers physical inventions, chemical engineering processes, electronics, and software/business methods (if they are novel, useful, and non-obvious). Example: an innovative manufacturing process or a new electrical control system.
Design Patents – Protect the unique aesthetic design or ornamental appearance of an item (not its functional aspects). These guard against imitation of distinctive product designs – for instance, the iconic shape of a smartphone or a stylish medical device housing. (Design patents have a shorter term, as discussed below.)
What Can Be Patented?
To be eligible for patent protection, your invention must satisfy specific criteria set by the Patent Act. Only inventions that are novel, useful, and non-obvious are eligible for patents. Additionally, only inventions that fall within patentable subject matter are eligible for protection. Here’s what each criterion means in practice:
Novelty: Your invention must be genuinely new. It cannot have been previously known, published, or used by others before your filing date. If your invention (or a very similar one) is already out in the world (in a prior patent, article, or product), it fails the novelty test.
Utility: The invention must have some real-world use or benefit (it can’t be purely theoretical). This is usually a low bar – almost any functional invention provides some utility.
Non-obviousness: Even if novel, the invention must not be an obvious variation of existing knowledge. It shouldn’t be something that a skilled expert in the field could easily deduce given the prior art. This is often the most challenging hurdle – an invention that combines known elements needs to produce an unexpected new result to be non-obvious.
Determining obviousness is the #1 challenge in patent prosecution, requiring years of experience battling Patent Office bureaucrats to develop proper calibration. DIY inventors and novice attorneys lack this critical calibration, which must be “baked into the cake” from the initial filing.
If these criteria are met, the inventor is granted an exclusive monopoly over the invention for a limited period, preventing others from making, using, or selling it without permission.
When considering what can be patented, the subject matter must fall into one of the statutory categories: process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. Utility patents, for example, can cover a new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, as well as any new and useful improvement of an existing invention.
Critical Exclusions: Certain things cannot be patented, even if they meet the above criteria. Abstract ideas, mathematical algorithms, laws of nature, and physical phenomena are excluded from patentable subject matter – a policy meant to prevent monopolization of fundamental truths.
The legal landscape has become more challenging for specific technologies. In recent years, U.S. court rulings (such as the Supreme Court’s Alice decision in 2014) have made it harder to patent some software algorithms, business methods, and medical diagnostic techniques because they are “abstract” or natural phenomena. This has created uncertainty regarding patent eligibility in fields such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology. However, experienced patent attorneys use proprietary techniques that increase Alice eligibility success by 25-50% compared to standard approaches.
Utility patents can also protect any improvement thereof to an existing process, machine, or composition, provided the improvement is new and useful.
However, relief may be coming. Bipartisan legislation (the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act) was introduced in 2023–2024 to clarify what inventions are eligible for patents, aiming to ensure cutting-edge innovations in AI, software, and medical diagnostics can be patented in the U.S. (as they are in Europe and China). PERA passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in November 2024 on a vote of 11-10, though the House companion bill was withdrawn after lacking sufficient committee support.
The Scope of Patent Protection
Understanding the scope of patent protection is crucial for both defensive and offensive IP strategies. A patent grants you exclusive rights in the United States, allowing you to use, sell, and distribute your creation while preventing others from making or using it without authorization. Importantly, a patent is a negative right, meaning it allows you to exclude others from using your invention. Still, it does not necessarily grant you the right to use it yourself if other laws or existing patents apply.
Exclusive Rights Granted
By obtaining a patent, you gain the exclusive authority to manufacture, use, sell, or import your invention in the country that issued the patent. In the U.S., a patent is essentially a 20-year legal monopoly (for utility patents) granted by the government in exchange for public disclosure of your invention.
This exclusivity can be extremely valuable. For example, consider that you invent a novel battery management system and patent it. You alone (or anyone you license) can make and sell that system in the U.S. – competitors would infringe your patent if they attempted to market a substantially similar system. This exclusivity allows you to establish a market share, recover R&D investments, and potentially license the technology for royalties.
Territorial Limitations: It’s worth noting that patent rights are territorial in nature. A U.S. patent grants rights only in the United States. To protect the same invention in other countries, you must seek patents in those jurisdictions.
Duration of Patent Protection
Patent protection is granted for a limited period, depending on the type of patent:
Utility Patents: Utility patents (for inventions and processes) last 20 years from the filing date of the application (for applications filed after June 8, 1995). In practice, the effective term may be slightly shorter, as patents are often granted a few years after filing – the 20-year clock starts ticking at the time of filing, not at the time of grant.
Design Patents: Design patents (for ornamental designs of products) are granted for a limited period of 15 years from issuance (for design applications filed since May 13, 2015; older ones had 14 years). No maintenance fees are required for design patents, unlike utility patents.
Maintenance Fee Requirements: To keep a utility patent in force for the full term, you must pay USPTO maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after grant. If you fail to pay the maintenance fee by the deadline (or within a grace period), the patent may expire prematurely. Maintenance fees increase at each stage (for example, a large entity pays approximately $2,000 at 3.5 years, $3,800 at 7.5 years, and $7,700 at 11.5 years as of 2025).
Geographic Scope of Protection
When you obtain a patent from the USPTO, it covers the entire United States, granting you exclusive rights in all 50 states and U.S. territories. Patents confer territorial rights, meaning the protection is limited to the jurisdiction where the patent is granted. For international protection, inventors have several strategic options:
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): The PCT is an international procedure that streamlines the process of seeking patents in multiple countries. International agreements, such as the PCT, facilitate the obtaining of foreign patents across a broad range of countries, making it easier for inventors to secure rights globally. You file a single PCT application, which essentially holds your place and allows you to enter national-phase filings in over 150 member countries later. The PCT itself doesn’t grant a patent. Still, it gives you up to 30 months from your initial filing date to decide where to pursue patents, and it includes an international search and preliminary examination.
Global Competition Reality: Other nations are also aggressively patenting. For instance, China has seen an explosion in patent filings and grants, especially in areas such as AI. By 2022, inventors in China were obtaining ~40,000 AI-related patent grants per year, far surpassing the roughly 9,000 AI patents granted to U.S. inventors that year. This makes strategic U.S. patent protection even more critical for maintaining competitive advantage.
According to 2024 patent statistics, Samsung leads with 14,716 US published patents, followed by TSMC and Qualcomm. Roughly 11% of US patents come from Japan, and 8% from China.
The Patent Application Process
Securing patent protection for your invention necessitates navigating an intricate application process, from initial preparation through filing and examination. The patent process consists of a series of steps that inventors must follow to seek patent protection, including submitting an application, working with a patent attorney, and undergoing examination by a patent examiner to determine patentability. Successful completion of this process results in the grant of an exclusive privilege to the inventor. Understanding each stage helps avoid costly mistakes that could jeopardize your rights.
Filing a Patent Application
Preparation: A successful patent application requires a thorough description of the invention and its advantages. This usually includes: a written specification (background, summary, detailed description of embodiments), one or more claims (defining the legal boundaries of your invention), and any necessary drawings/figures. Crafting a strong application is as much art as science – the wording of claims is critical, as it determines what will be protected.
The application must also comply with all statutory requirements established by patent law. Experienced patent attorneys who have prosecuted over 1500+ patents understand how to engineer applications that withstand scrutiny and achieve a 94% allowance rate.
Provisional Patent Applications: U.S. law permits the filing of a provisional patent application—note that there is no such thing as a “provisional patent,” only provisional patent applications. These are lower-cost, informal applications that are not examined or granted as patents. They simply secure a filing date for your invention and let you label it “patent pending.” A provisional application is often used when an invention is still being refined or when you need to establish a priority date quickly. It must be followed by a complete non-provisional application within 12 months to claim the benefit of the provisional date.
Provisional applications create immediate monetizable property rights – they can serve as licensing assets, collateral for loans, and balance sheet assets. They’re also superior to NDAs because they provide concrete, legal protection versus vague contractual agreements. Most sophisticated companies require inventors to file provisional applications before discussing their inventions, thereby protecting the companies from lawsuits related to idea submissions. This “patent pending” status opens business opportunities unavailable without a filed application.
Critical Timing Requirements: It’s vital at this point that your invention has not been publicly disclosed or sold more than 1 year prior (the U.S. has a 1-year grace period for your own disclosures; many other countries have zero grace period). Avoid any public disclosures before filing to be safe.
Public disclosure can include publishing a paper, presenting at a conference, posting online, offering the product for sale, early commercialization efforts, prototype demonstrations, public experimentation, disclosing product versions on websites, or test marketing activities. Remember that while early disclosures may limit protection for initial versions, continued development and improvements often yield separately patentable innovations that can be even more valuable than the original concept.
Fee Structure: The USPTO offers reduced fees for small entities (companies with fewer than 500 employees or individual inventors) and even more for micro entities (very small or academia-associated inventors). As of 2025, a small entity may pay a few hundred dollars to file, whereas a large entity pays around $1,000 or more in total USPTO fees to proceed through examination.
Examination Process
The examination process typically involves significant waiting periods and back-and-forth communication. Due to the high volume of filings, expect an initial wait – the average time to the first Office Action (feedback from the examiner) was approximately 18 months as of recent years, although this varies by technology area.
Substantive Examination: The examiner will scrutinize your application for compliance with formalities and the substantive criteria (novelty, non-obviousness, etc.). They perform a prior art search of patents, technical journals, databases, etc., to see if your invention was anticipated or obvious.
Common Rejection Grounds: Common grounds of rejection include: lack of novelty (examiner found a prior patent or publication that shows every aspect of your claim), or obviousness (examiner argues that a combination of references or common knowledge renders the invention obvious). Experienced attorneys have years of training to overcome obviousness rejections using sophisticated legal doctrines that DIY inventors cannot replicate.
Response Process: You (usually via your patent attorney) will have the opportunity to respond to Office Actions, typically within three months (extendable up to six months with additional fees). You can argue against the examiner’s rejections – explaining why the examiner’s cited art doesn’t actually disclose your invention or why your invention isn’t obvious given it.
Timeline to Grant: The average total pendency (from filing to final disposition) at the USPTO has been around 23–24 months in recent years, although it varies by complexity and field. Not all applications result in issued patents, as some are rejected during the examination process. When a patent is granted, the owner receives exclusive rights to exploit the invention as defined in the patent claims.
Leveraging Patents for Strategic and Competitive Advantage
In today’s fast-paced business environment, patents are more than just legal protection – they are a strategic tool that can significantly enhance your competitive advantage. Patents enable commercial exploitation of innovations by allowing the owner to license, sell, or otherwise profit from their protected inventions. Smart companies understand this: approximately 86% of U.S. patents granted to domestic entities are awarded to private businesses, underscoring that companies view patents as critical assets for success.
Strategic Advantage
Patents provide a strategic advantage by safeguarding your innovations, allowing you to capitalize on your research and development investments. With a patent in hand, you hold exclusive rights to your invention, meaning competitors can’t simply clone your product or technology. These are exclusive commercial rights, allowing you to control how and by whom the invention is commercialized. This enables you to control the market entry of competitors and ensure your products and services remain distinctive.
This exclusivity becomes a powerful bargaining chip. Patents can attract partners or investors, as they signal that your company has tangible innovations and can effectively protect its intellectual property. It’s not uncommon to leverage patents in negotiations, whether you’re seeking partnerships, licensing deals, or venture funding.
Real-World Example – IBM’s Patent Strategy: IBM was the top U.S. patent recipient for decades – a fact IBM touted to demonstrate its innovation leadership. (IBM recently shifted strategy, dropping to #2 in 2022 after purposely cutting back filings by ~44% to focus on higher-quality patents. Still, IBM’s 29-year streak as #1, earning thousands of patents annually, solidified its image as a research powerhouse.)
Salesforce Case Study: Salesforce, a leader in cloud-based software (SaaS for CRM), has consistently invested in building a substantial patent portfolio. Its patents span technologies from cloud computing infrastructure to artificial intelligence in sales and marketing. This robust portfolio not only protects Salesforce’s innovations but also contributes to its high market valuation and industry leadership.
Competitive Advantage
The competitive edge gained through patents is crucial in differentiating your offerings from those of your rivals. In many industries, as soon as one company launches a successful product, others attempt to replicate it. A patent puts a legal fence around your innovation, preventing competitors from copying your unique features or technology. This legal protection provides market exclusivity, enabling you to be the sole provider of the patented product or service.
Premium Pricing Power: Patents can even enable premium pricing. Customers often will pay more for a product that stands out as the sole solution to their problem (and if protected by patents, it likely faces no exact substitutes). For instance, a patented medical device with superior performance can be sold at a premium because hospitals know rivals can’t offer the same device.
Barriers to Entry: Additionally, patents serve as barriers to entry. For potential competitors, the prospect of infringing your patents (and facing lawsuits or injunctions) can deter them from entering your space. This is particularly effective against smaller players who don’t have the resources for protracted legal battles.
Shopify Example: Shopify, a major e-commerce SaaS platform, holds numerous patents related to online shopping technology and payment processing. By patenting innovations in its platform, Shopify has erected barriers against copycats and maintained a dominant position in the e-commerce solutions industry.
Industry Patent Leadership: According to data from 2023, the top U.S. patent recipients included technology giants such as Samsung, IBM, Qualcomm, TSMC, and LG. Samsung received over 10,043 U.S. patents that year, maintaining its #1 position with an 8.1% increase from 2022. These companies treat patents as a competitive currency. Meanwhile, approximately 53% of U.S. utility patents awarded in 2022 were granted to foreign companies or inventors, underscoring the global nature of the innovation race.
Challenges in Obtaining Patent Protection
Navigating the patent system can be challenging, with multiple hurdles to overcome on the road to securing a granted patent. Overcoming these challenges is essential to obtain exclusive patent rights for your invention. These include issues of public disclosure, proving novelty and non-obviousness, as well as the associated costs. Many inventors unknowingly rely on inadequate protection methods like NDAs, Google searches, or ChatGPT for patent guidance, leaving themselves completely exposed to competitors.
Public Disclosure and Prior Art
One fundamental challenge is ensuring your invention is new and hasn’t been “anticipated” by prior art. Before filing, it’s wise to conduct a thorough prior art search (or have a professional search done) to identify any existing patents or publications related to your invention.
The Grace Period Trap: In the U.S., if you publish or publicly use/sell your invention, a one-year clock starts to file a patent – wait longer and you lose the right to patent it. In many countries, any public disclosure before filing immediately voids patentability (no grace period).
Common activities that trigger these critical deadlines include early commercialization efforts, prototype demonstrations, public experimentation, disclosing early product versions on websites, and test marketing activities. Premature disclosure can result in the loss of the right to exclusive use of your invention.
However, what often happens with most inventions is that the early version that gets protected isn’t the final product. As you develop and improve your invention over time, those improvements can be separately protectable innovations, even after the initial disclosure of the first alpha version of a product or idea. These iterative improvements are often the most valuable enhancements and can form the foundation of a robust patent portfolio that maintains competitive advantage as your technology evolves.
Real Scenario: A startup founder excitedly demos a prototype at a meetup and gets media coverage, then files a patent a year and a half later – by then it’s too late (in the U.S., they missed the 12-month window; in Europe or Asia, the demo itself destroyed novelty the moment it happened). However, if they had filed for the initial prototype and continued developing improvements, those subsequent innovations could still be patentable.
Non-Obviousness Requirement
Even if you clear the novelty bar, you must also demonstrate that your invention is not obvious given prior art. The non-obviousness (or inventive step) requirement is subjective and is a standard stumbling block during patent prosecution.
Examiners often issue obviousness rejections by citing multiple references: “Reference A shows most of the invention, and Reference B shows the rest; it would have been obvious to combine A and B.” Overcoming this requires arguments that either (a) the combination isn’t actually suggested or feasible, or (b) that there’s some unexpected synergy or outcome from your specific combination that wouldn’t be predicted.
Experienced patent attorneys have years of training to overcome obviousness rejections using sophisticated legal doctrines. DIY inventors and novice attorneys lack this proper calibration, which must be “baked into the cake” from the initial filing. This is why working with attorneys who have experience with Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Google, Intel, and Microsoft is crucial for achieving high allowance rates.
Only by meeting the non-obviousness requirement can you secure the exclusive rights granted by a patent.
Costs and Financial Considerations
Patent costs represent a strategic investment in your intellectual property. Here’s the realistic breakdown:
USPTO Fees: For a utility patent, basic filing, search, and examination fees for a large entity total around $1,800 (as of 2025). For a small entity, it’s half that (roughly $900), and for micro entities, it’s nearly one-quarter ($450). If the application is approved, there’s an issue fee (approximately $1,000 for large, $500 for small). Later, maintenance fees become due (for large entities: roughly $2,000 at 3.5 years, approximately $3,800 at 7.5 years, and approximately $7,700 at 11.5 years; small entities pay half of these amounts).
Professional Fees: The significant investment is often the fees for a patent attorney or agent. Patent attorneys typically charge for drafting the application and for prosecuting it (responding to USPTO, etc.). Drafting a high-quality patent application for a complex invention represents an investment of several thousand dollars at an experienced firm – money that often saves 1-2 years and five figures in prosecution costs by avoiding amateur mistakes.
Remember: saving money upfront on legal fees often leads to wasting time and getting NO patent protection. Quality legal representation saves money in the long term by avoiding failed applications and ensuring strong, enforceable patents. The USPTO recommends working with experienced patent counsel, as pro se applicants (those representing themselves) have significantly lower success rates.
International Costs: International patents increase costs, as filing in Europe, China, Japan, and other regions requires local counsel and translations. It’s not unusual for a moderately complex invention to incur costs of $100,000 or more over several years to obtain a robust international patent family.
Enforcing Patent Rights
Upholding your patent rights is crucial to prohibit unauthorized use of your invention and to ensure that you reap the full benefits of your ingenuity. Patent protection provides you with the legal tools to enforce exclusivity, but enforcement can be a complex affair. Enforcement actions are taken to protect the exclusive rights conferred by your patent. Patents remain enforceable for up to 6 years past their expiration date under the statute of limitations for patent enforcement.
Identifying Patent Infringement
Determining patent infringement involves comparing the patent’s claims – the legal definition of the invention – to the product or process that is suspected of infringement. If the accused product or process includes each element of at least one claim of your patent, it infringes that claim (assuming your patent is valid and enforceable). This constitutes a violation of the exclusive rights under the patent.
There are two principal modes of infringement:
Literal Infringement: The accused product matches the claim’s description, element by element.
Doctrine of Equivalents: Even if not literally the same, the accused product has insubstantial differences – it performs substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same result as the claimed invention.
Legal Remedies for Infringement
When infringement occurs, patent holders have several enforcement options:
Cease and Desist/Negotiation: Typically, the first step is to send a polite yet firm notification letter to the alleged infringer, informing them of your patent and the suspected infringement. Sometimes, this leads to productive licensing discussions – perhaps the infringer was unaware of your patent and is willing to pay royalties, or you can reach a settlement.
Federal Litigation: If a friendly resolution isn’t in the cards, you can file a patent infringement lawsuit in federal court. You can seek monetary damages and injunctive relief. Damages are typically calculated as either a reasonable royalty (what a license fee would have been) or lost profits (if you can prove you lost sales due to the infringement).
ITC Proceedings: For cases involving imported goods, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) provides a powerful venue. The ITC can issue exclusion orders barring infringing imports from entering the country. Under certain circumstances, the ITC can provide remedies for patent infringement in imported goods, depending on the specific facts of the case. ITC cases are generally faster (targeting ~16 months) and can be highly effective if the infringing products are manufactured abroad.
These remedies are available because a patent grants the owner exclusive rights to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention.
Recent Legal Developments in Patent Enforcement
The patent enforcement landscape is evolving in favor of patent owners:
The RESTORE Act of 2024, a bipartisan bill introduced in July 2024, aims to restore a stronger presumption of injunctive relief for patent owners. Since 2006, courts have had discretion in granting injunctions, and often patent owners (especially licensing entities) could only get damages, not a product-stopping injunction. The RESTORE Act would establish a rebuttable presumption in favor of permanent injunctions when infringement is proven, tilting the balance back in favor of patent holders’ right to exclude. Such legislative changes are intended to reinforce the exclusive rights provided by a patent.
The PREVAIL Act, another legislative proposal (known as the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act) advanced in late 2024, seeks to reform the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings. The PREVAIL Act would narrow the scope of who can file challenges (e.g., by requiring a genuine business dispute), limit multiple serial challenges, and align PTAB standards with court standards for validity (such as requiring clear and convincing evidence to invalidate, rather than the current preponderance standard).
Significant Damages Awards: As of 2022, over $7.5 billion in damages was awarded as reasonable royalties in U.S. patent cases from 2020 to 2022, combined. This suggests that, despite fewer cases being filed, patent enforcement can still result in significant monetary remedies, particularly in high-value technology cases.
Maximizing the Value of Your Patent
A patent isn’t just a wall to keep competitors out; it’s also an asset that can be actively leveraged for financial gain and strategic opportunities. As the patent owner, you have exclusive rights to exploit the invention, which can be used to generate revenue through licensing or commercialization. Smart patent management can generate substantial returns, especially when you understand how to use tools like Craige’s 100X ROI Patent Calculator™ to evaluate and maximize your portfolio’s profitability.
Licensing and Commercialization
One way to unlock value from a patent is through licensing. A patent gives you the right to exclude others, but you can choose to let others use your invention in exchange for compensation. By entering into licensing agreements, you can generate a steady revenue stream (in the form of royalties) without having to commercialize the product yourself. Only the patent owner, holding the exclusive rights to license the invention, can authorize others to use it.
This approach is particularly valuable for inventors or small companies without manufacturing capabilities. For example, a university that patents a new electrical system will often license it to a technology company to develop and bring it to market, receiving milestone payments and royalties on sales if the system is successful.
Licensing Options: Licensing can be exclusive (where you license rights to one licensee only, typically in a specific field or region) or non-exclusive (where multiple companies can obtain a license). An exclusive license usually commands higher fees, but you risk “putting all eggs in one basket,” whereas a non-exclusive license can broaden the technology’s adoption and increase cumulative royalties.
Strategic Partnerships
Collaborative efforts can substantially increase your patent’s value. By combining your patented technology with others’ expertise or market access, you can create whole new opportunities. Technology companies often join forces with research institutions or with each other, pooling their IP for mutual benefit. Additionally, the patent owner has the exclusive right to assign (transfer ownership of) the patent to another party, which can be a strategic move in partnerships or mergers.
Patent Pools: In some consortia, multiple patent holders license their related patents into a pool that all members (and even outsiders) can license on fair terms — common practice in standards-heavy industries, such as telecommunications (e.g., 5G patent pools). While this can limit exclusivity, it also ensures your patent becomes part of an industry standard, potentially guaranteeing a royalty stream from many implementers.
Maintaining Patent Value
Portfolio Audits: Conduct regular audits of your portfolio to identify which patents align with your current business strategy and which do not. Patents provide exclusive rights for a fixed term; therefore, it is essential to regularly assess which patents continue to deliver value during their effective period. You may find that some older patents cover products you no longer manufacture or technologies that newer ones have superseded. If a patent isn’t providing defensive or licensing value, you might let it lapse by not paying maintenance fees (thus saving cost).
Strategic Alignment: Ensure that your patent portfolio evolves with your business. If you pivot to new product lines or markets, start patenting in those new areas, and be willing to deemphasize older ones. Patents last 20 years, but in fast-moving fields, a patent from 15 years ago might cover obsolete technology.
Your Next Steps to Patent Protection Success
Patent protection represents one of the most powerful tools for maintaining competitive advantage and generating licensing revenue. The ultimate goal of patent protection is to secure exclusive rights to prevent others from making, using, or selling your invention. However, the difference between strong patents that deter competitors and weak patents that help them lies entirely in strategic preparation and experienced prosecution.
The bottom line: Weak patents don’t just fail to protect – they actively help competitors by creating detailed roadmaps for faster, cheaper design-arounds. Strong patents require experienced patent prosecution with proprietary Litigation Quality Patent® services that create enforceable barriers competitors can’t easily circumvent.
The business consequences of poor patent decisions include lost revenue, diminished market share, and loss of control over how your innovations are monetized. In our first-to-file system, competitors are already working on similar solutions. Hesitation gives them the upper hand while poor preparation hands them your technology roadmap.
Take these immediate action steps:
- Schedule a Free Patent Needs Assessment to evaluate your invention’s patentability and develop a strategic protection plan that maximizes your competitive advantage
- Conduct a professional prior art analysis to understand the competitive landscape and identify opportunities for differentiation using The Patent Process Flowchart
- Develop a provisional patent application strategy to establish early priority dates while maintaining flexibility for future development
- Assess international filing requirements for key markets where competitors might attempt to design around your protection
- Develop an enforcement strategy that leverages patent strength to enhance licensing negotiations or deter litigation
- Work with experienced counsel who understand Fortune 500 patent strategies and can engineer patents that withstand scrutiny, utilizing insights from Patent Offense – Executive Summary
Strategic patent preparation represents an investment that pays dividends through market exclusivity, licensing revenue, and competitive deterrence. Companies that skimp on initial patent quality often spend far more trying to fix amateur mistakes later. With over 1500+ patents issued and a 94% allowance rate, experienced attorneys who have worked with Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Google, Intel, and Microsoft understand how to create patents that deter rather than assist competitors.
Quality preparation involves collaborating with experienced patent attorneys who craft patents that withstand scrutiny and deter competitors from infringing on them. The quality of your invention matters, but the quality of your preparation determines whether you receive enforceable protection or merely expensive paperwork.
Don’t let competitors use your innovations as roadmaps for their success. The patent system rewards strategic, well-engineered Litigation Quality Patent® services that create real barriers to competition, not amateur applications that accidentally help your rivals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main types of patents?
The main types of patents are utility patents, which cover new and useful inventions or discoveries (including processes, machines, articles of manufacture, compositions of matter, or improvements thereof); and design patents, which protect the ornamental design of a functional item (the way a product appears). Each type of patent grants the owner exclusive rights to the invention covered by the patent. These patents are by far the most common and valuable for most inventors.
What can be patented?
Your invention can be patented if it is new, useful, and non-obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art. In practice, this means it must not have been publicly disclosed before, it must serve some practical purpose, and it cannot be an obvious variation of existing knowledge. The key is to ensure your invention meets all three criteria and avoids the exclusions for abstract ideas and natural phenomena. If your invention meets these criteria, you can obtain exclusive rights over the invention through a granted patent.
How long does patent protection last?
For utility patents, protection generally lasts 20 years from the date of filing (for applications filed in the U.S. after 1995). This assumes maintenance fees are paid at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years to keep the patent in force; otherwise, it can lapse earlier. Design patents last 15 years from the date of issuance (under current rules), with no maintenance fees required. Both utility and design patents grant exclusive rights for a limited time, after which the invention enters the public domain.
What are the costs associated with patenting an invention?
Securing patents represents a strategic investment in your intellectual property. Government fees for filing and examination range from hundreds to low thousands of dollars. If a patent is granted, there are issue fees and periodic maintenance fees to keep it active. However, the significant investment comes from professional services, including hiring experienced patent counsel to prepare a high-quality application and navigate the process. Attorney fees typically represent several thousand dollars for professional preparation – an investment that often saves 1-2 years and thousands of dollars in prosecution costs by avoiding amateur mistakes.
The patent system is designed to provide exclusive rights as an incentive for inventors to disclose their innovations to the public.
How can I enforce my patent rights?
To enforce your patent rights, you need to monitor the market for potential infringement and be prepared to take legal action if necessary. If you find that someone is using your patented invention without permission, you have several options. Often, patent owners start by contacting the infringer – sometimes a formal cease-and-desist letter – to put them on notice of the patent and seek an amicable resolution (like licensing).
If that fails, you can file a patent infringement lawsuit in federal court. It’s highly advisable to enlist the services of skilled patent attorneys for enforcement, as they can navigate procedures such as claim construction and effectively handle expert witnesses. Only the patent owner, holding the exclusive rights to enforce the patent, can initiate legal proceedings against infringers.
The patent system rewards those who understand its intricacies and act strategically. With proper planning, execution, and enforcement, your patents can become some of your most valuable business assets.
About the Author:
Craige Thompson is a Patent Attorney, MBA, and Electrical Engineer with extensive experience helping inventors and startups secure strategic patent protection. With over 1500+ patents issued and a 94% allowance rate, Craige has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Apple, Google, Intel, and Microsoft to develop patent portfolios that create competitive advantages.
From The Patent Edge Newsletter by Craige Thompson, Managing Partner at Thompson Patent Law
Keep Innovating,
Craige Thompson
