Patent Prosecution

Overview

Patent protection begins with patent prosecution – the process of drafting and filing a patent application with the USPTO by licensed practitioners. Our team includes patent lawyers who have the hard science backgrounds necessary to qualify to practice before the patent bar. Additionally, our patent prosecution team includes non-lawyer agents – technical specialists who, in addition to possessing unique and deep technological expertise, have passed the patent bar and therefore fully understand the rules and procedures required to pursue patent protection for our clients.

We guide clients through a thorough process to maximize opportunity for patent protection. Key to our approach is prosecuting the invention in a way that is not destructive – either improperly defining the product when trying to differentiate it from prior art, or changing the scope of the invention in a way that surrenders the invention to future ideas and products. Our process includes:

• An initial consultation that we refer to as “invention harvesting,” during which we compare the client’s innovation with prior art (such as prior published patents) and identify the potential scope of the invention. In this stage, we work with the inventor to get a full understanding of how the process, composition, or product is novel and non-obvious, and where it has commercial value.
• Crafting a set of claims that capture the scope of the invention and preparation of a specification to accurately describe and support the invention as claimed.
• Managing the essential administrative aspects of getting the patent application on file and propelling the patent application through to issuance, including negotiating the scope of the claims with the USPTO and overcoming the many procedural and technical hurdles that can stop progress of the application.

In the patent prosecution process, we monitor all current technical initiatives, newer products, and sales cycles that are relevant to our client’s invention. Our goal is to determine a coherent strategy to obtain protection focused on the technical improvements underlying the commercial and strategic value of the innovation.

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