IT and IOT Innovation

IOT

Whoever says that IT patents are not important does not know the world of patents. IBM had more than 7,000 granted patents in 2018 in all areas of IT and IOT technologies. The purpose of patents is to teach and speed up innovation. To be successful, you need to do the research and know the landscape if you are going to identify how your new product is new and different.

Recently, the Intellectual Property Owners Association published a podcast with IBM Master Inventor, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, who has more than 400 patents across the tech world. In this podcast you will learn how large corporations innovate with research, learning from existing patents and identifying differences in their new ideas.  A lot is required to go from an idea to a successful product and her experience will provide key points to consider, such as brainstorming, patent review committees to evaluate an idea, patent application processes, marketing a new product and developing products that meet real needs.

This 28 minute podcast includes information every tech entrepreneur should know.

Episode 1 (https://apple.co/2XxERQn) of #StrokeofGenius featuring IBM Master Inventor Lisa Seacat DeLuca is NOW…

Publiée par Stroke of Genius sur Lundi 10 juin 2019

 Lisa, also has an 8 minute TED Talk about her experience as an inventor and the direction of technology today.

What is Behind the Shark Tank Question “Have you got a patent on that?”

The ABC network television show Shark Tank has almost become a standard for entrepreneurs pitching their business to investors. In fact, if you do an Internet search for “Shark Tank lessons” you will get thousands of results for articles with great advice about business development and pitching your business. However, very little time is spent in those articles on what is behind the almost systematic question “Have you got a patent on that?”.

The goal of this article is to present a few thoughts on what the “sharks” know and some assumptions they may make based on the answer to this question.

Here are a few examples of what the sharks know.

  1. If you have a provisional patent application, they know you do not have a patent and you may never get one. Since anyone can file a provisional application on anything, there is no guarantee that they will get a patent unless it meets the requirements for a patent.
  2. They know that a good provisional should meet the requirements of a non-provisional patent application and in preparing it you will have identified the ways in which the product has distinctive differences from competitive products.
  3. They know that you are serious enough about your product and business to seek some protection and competitive advantage.
  4. If you have a patent, they know that your product has been researched, evaluated by several independent sources and recognized as new and different.
  5. They know that with a patent, the product is protected in a way that may make the competition think twice before copying it.
  6. They know that with a patent, they can bring legal action in the case of infringement.
  7. They know that patents improve options for licensing and licensing may be at higher royalty rates.

There are also several things that they might assume.

  1. They assume you are familiar with and recognize the value of having intellectual property assets.
  2. They assume you know your competition and have evaluated the risks.
  3. They assume you have taken advantage of all opportunities in your business development process.
  4. They assume you have made the initial investments needed to acquire long term advantages.
  5. They assume you will gain added value for your product since protected products generally obtain higher sale prices.

I haven’t seen every episode of Shark Tank but most of the entrepreneurs presenting products have at least sought, if not obtained, patent protection.  This should be a warning to those who wish to follow in their footsteps, whether that be in a local, regional, or national pitch events. The question of patent protection should be answered and ideally applications filed before pitching a new product. The question that is posed at the pitch stage of business development needs to have been answered very early in the process.

A professional patent researcher can help you answer many of the questions you may have and prepare you for discussions with a patent attorney.  They can help you identify opportunities or obstacles. Opportunities may be commercial opportunities seen with the review of the competitor landscape and opportunities for patent protection. Obstacles may include technical issues raised in similar patent documents or barriers due to existing competitor patents.

Going from an idea to a successful product is a multi-step process and the best business venture decisions are based on solid market and intellectual property research. You wouldn’t want to later find yourself swimming with sharks without a cage.

Start Small, Dream Big

Apple is a great of example of starting small, dreaming big, and scaling fast without losing control. It took many Fortune 100 companies 20, 30, 40 or more years to get where they are. Most did it with a solid patent portfolio based on serious research.

Contact us for assistance in getting your dream to reality.

Taking Patent Research to the Next Level

By DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Today many patent databases are publically available for research or corporate patent portfolio management. The IPO Patent Search Committee has published an article that will give you a quick overview of what is available at little or no cost and how these databases could be used.

https://www.ipo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Patent-Searching-Public-Databases.pdf

Calling All Inventors!

Did you ever wonder if you idea is new? Patents are a great source of technical and competitor information. You may not be a professional researcher but today’s search tools are extremely powerful and easier to use. Check out this review of four leading search tools including Espacenet, Google Patents, PATENTSCOPE, and The Lens.

Patent Searching Using Free Search Tools