Patent Strategy & Training

Does your company have a concrete patent strategy? Are you protecting all of your inventive concepts and industrial design? Do you have a culture of innovation? Are your product managers, engineers, and industrial designers fully engaged in identifying patentable product features and industrial design? Do you have a budget for patents? Is patent protection built into your product development process?

If you answered no to these questions, you may be leaving money on the table for your competitors.

At Sony, I witnessed first hand how a successful patent strategy should be developed and managed. At the time, I was an engineer and engineering project leader of an audio for video mixer called the MXP-390. This was my first taste of how a patent strategy and a culture of innovation could be developed. The results of the program were quite dramatic. For example, the MXP-390 ended up with twelve patents. Several of these turned out to be key inventive concepts that gave Sony a distinct edge over their competitors. The patent program helped boost morale and foster cooperation.

While I was just a participant and was not in anyway involved in the management or development of the program, I became very interested what other companies were doing. I learned what patent strategy worked and what actually stifled innovation. These experiences help me to develop a proven patent strategy that works for companies with revenues from $15 to $100 million.

How I can Help You Develop a Comprehensive Patent Strategy

Every industry is different and there is not a one sized fits all patent strategy. I will look at the competitive patent landscape and develop a patent strategy that makes sense for your competitive environment. This includes:

Develop a patent budget that includes budgeting for rewards and incentives for inventors, patent filing, and prosecution, and realistic forecasting of patent prosecution costs.
Create a set of concrete goals for both the protection of product innovations and industrial design.

Develop concrete deliverables and metrics to clearly measure the program’s success and how it could be improved.
Develop a culture of innovation through (1) training of product managers, engineers, and other innovators (2) developing a fair and transparent patent decision-making process, and (3) develop monetary incentives for inventors.
Build a patent strategy into your product development process.

Patent Training and Workshops

Executive & Management Patent Boot Camp

Your executive staff and managers will learn in a short amount of time the essentials of the patent process and how to develop a comprehensive patent strategy.

Takeaways include from this patent strategy boot camp training include:

Understanding key patent concepts and dispelling common misconceptions
Most important points about patents that can affect your bottom line
Creating an effective patent strategy that fosters innovation and avoiding actions that stifle innovation.

Product Review

As a follow-up to the patent workshops, an effective part of a comprehensive patent strategy can include review of each project with individual project leaders, program managers, and engineers, and other innovators, and teach them to identify product innovation.

Innovators Workshops

An essential part of a comprehensive patent strategy is to train the innovators. These are not just your engineers, product managers, or industrial designers, but can be hidden creative talent in your sale team, customer service department, or any area of your company.

The patent workshop will train your creative talent to incorporate an awareness of patents into their everyday workflow. To be most effective, the workshops should be given after the patent strategy has been formalized and incentives decided on.

Takeaways from the innovators workshop include:

Why they should care about patents
Understand what a patent is and what it is not
Learn the difference and function of utility and design patents
Come away with an overview of the patent process
Understand who is the inventor
Learn how to identify product innovation
Learn how to create an effective invention disclosure including practical exercises.
Understand how to effectively work with the patent agent or patent attorney.

Interested In Patent Strategy and Training?

Fill out our contact form, email, or contact me by phone to set up your free initial consultation.
Call toll-free: (877) 707-1572 for patent strategy, training, and other patent services anywhere in the U.S.
Call: (503) 719-8905 for patent strategy, training and other patent services in Portland, Oregon & Vancouver, WA area