​​Patently Strategic - Patent Strategy for Startups

In this month’s episode, we’re talking about Jack Daniels, Mickey Mouse, Andy Warhol, Jason Voorhees, Winnie-the-Pooh, Lizzo, and WallStreetBets … What do they have to do with patents you might fairly be wondering? Honestly, not much. Patents are our focus in our business and in this podcast, so we devote a lot of air time to talking about protecting ideas and inventions, but in the realm of intel...

Why do patents exist in the first place? What function do they serve in society? And what is their historic origin story? In this month’s episode, with the help of Professor Adam Mossoff, we zoom way out, turn the time dial back a bit, and focus on the genesis of patents. There’s a special kind of magic that happens when individual incentives align with societal good. Abraham Lincoln, who believed...

What do investors want to see in patents? What do patents tell a potential investor about a founder? And what do investors wish inventors knew before coming to them? To answer these questions and more, we're joined this month by Dr. Sridhar Iyengar, an angel investor and accomplished serial entrepreneur in the medical devices and wearables space. Having been on both sides of the table, Dr. Iy...

How does the use of or contribution to open-source software impact your intellectual property rights? In this month's episode, we’re talking about software and the convoluted risk/reward interplay between patents, copyrights, and open source. Use of free open-source code can be an invaluable tool when building complex software applications. Why reinvent wheels? And depending on resources and...

In this month's episode, we're talking patent reform solutions with Judge Paul Michel, Professor Adam Mossoff, and Randy Landreneau! Nearly two decades worth of Federal Circuit and Supreme Court rulings have thrown the patent system into disarray and weakened patent rights for inventors. Subject matter eligibility is a confused, chaotic mess – leaving even the Federal Circuit Chief Justi...

We’re leading off Season 3 with a close look at a Supreme Court patent case that could have profound impacts on the invention enablement problems we covered heavily in Season 2 . SCOTUS is set to hear opening arguments in Amgen v. Sanofi on March 27th. For the first time in over 75 years, the Supreme Court is evaluating the meaning and scope of the enablement requirement. For those who’ve been fol...

Foreign filing licenses – surprisingly sneaky and easy to overlook, but can come with significant consequences if you do. Many countries, including the US, require inventors to receive special permission to file with patent offices outside of the inventor’s …or invention’s… country. A foreign filing license is a government issued document that represents this permission for inventors and companies...

If there were a guidebook we could hand to inventors on the first day following the conception of their idea, this episode would be it. When is it safe to talk about or sell your invention? How do you hedge against invalidation and rejection from competitor IP? How do you ensure you actually own your invention? In this month’s episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat , President and Director of Patent Strategy a...

Think your innovation is sufficiently enabled to secure, defend, and assert your patent rights? If it’s a biological, chemical, or emerging technology invention then you might want to think again. In today’s episode we’re looking into how to get more predictable results from the unpredictable arts. Some technologies, like those rooted in physics and mechanics, are considered “predictable” by the U...

We’re slipping our headsets on and heading back into the Metaverse! Earlier this year, we began our foray into this world with a deep dive into the building blocks that could very well form the structural and economic underpinnings of the Metaverse by exploring the tech concepts and IP implications surrounding Web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs. Today we build on this, by expanding our...

Word choice matters a great deal in the world of patenting. You’re using the English language to draw a picture around highly technical concepts. The precision with which this is done, down to the semantic level, can make all of the difference when it comes to your patent application being rejected or granted – and the future likelihood of your ability to assert your rights or defend against inval...

In today’s episode, we’re discussing a recent court decision that judges have said could threaten "most every invention for which a patent has ever been granted", turning the patent system into a "litigation gamble." Dr. David Jackrel , President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion into American Axle’s recent bid to have the Supreme Court overturn a lower court decision t...

You have your big idea and now it’s time to breathe it into existence, but you need some help with the development. Like many others, you may turn to the aid of an engineering firm or dev shop. This relationship is a marriage of sorts. But it’s a marriage that is designed to inevitably end in divorce! How cleanly, smoothly, and successfully this separation goes depends on the steps that you take b...

The life sciences are currently facing at least two major plagues in our patent world. The first is that many life science innovations have been deemed ineligible in terms of patentable subject matter. In other words, the courts and the patent office believe that the patent laws are not meant to protect these innovations. The second plague is that the courts believe that many life sciences patents...

“Metaverse” is the buzziest of the buzzwords in tech today and will soon be joining the ranks of “AI” and “ML” as requisite keywords in the next generation of pitch decks and patent applications. But what are the core components of the Metaverse? And what are their implications in the world of intellectual property? The Patently Strategic Podcast will be exploring this topic over the course of sev...

In this month's episode, our experts help to demystify the concept of Common Ownership and how it can be leveraged to disqualify prior art that might otherwise cause a rejection during prosecution.  Dr. Ashley Sloat , President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora leads this discussion along with our all star patent panel, digging into Common Ownership exceptions, joint research exc...

In this month’s special episode, we’re sharing a great sit down with three very innovative, up-and-coming inventors – as we also launch the next installment of our RISE award .  We are joined today by: ⦿ Keith Phillips, CEO & Founder of realLINGUA ⦿ Theresa Smith, CTO of the Ola Filter Corporation ⦿ Brendan Wang, Founder of CAPNOS These inventors share their stories and provide invaluable tips...

We're officially kicking off our second season and in this month's episode, our experts tackle software patents. As Silicon Valley engineer and investor Marc Andreessen famously said, “Software is eating the world”. It is central to so much of today’s innovation and the growth potential is off the charts. Five companies, all with software at their core, are worth a quarter of the S&P...

What’s actually in a patent? What can you learn from reading one? Where do you even find them? For answers to these critical questions and more, I sat down with Patently Strategic regulars – David Cohen, Principal at Cohen Sciences and Ashley Sloat , President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora . In our discussion, we break down the key anatomy, cut through the terminology, and provide...

In the US especially, patents are granted to inventors. More often than not, that’s more than one person and the ideas themselves are fluid concepts that often evolve through many handoffs from initial conception through implementation and sometimes even throughout patent prosecution, but how do we determine who all should – and is legally required to be – officially named as an inventor? In the c...

Listen in as we discuss the impact of the AIA and the PTAB with inventors gathered as part of the "Decade of Stolen Dreams" rallies, happening in front of regional USPTO offices all across the country, marking the 10 year anniversary of the passage of the America Invents Act – an event described by advocacy groups as the worst event in U.S. patent history. The inventors and entrepreneurs...

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the war games filled world of patent buying and selling. We are joined today by special guest host, Louis Carbonneau, Founder & CEO of Tangible IP . Mr. Carbonneau is a recognized expert in intellectual property with close to 30 years of professional US, Canadian, and international experience in all facets of intellectual property law and business. His...

You have an idea and you’d like to protect it. But can you? Is it novel? Non-obvious? Would you eventually be able to license or enforce your patent down the road? Who else is competing in this area and where’s the whitespace? If you get the patent, can you freely produce and sell the idea, without the costly risk of infringement litigation? These questions and the quest for their answers unfold l...

Getting a patent is no quick process. In the time between filing and issuance, your application will go through several stages, often from multiple patent offices and with months or years between stages. The total process can take two to five years and sometimes longer. But who has time for that? Sometimes you need a patent, and you need it fast. Luckily, there are some options for fast tracking y...

Your application just received a final rejection notice from the patent office. Now what? How final is final? The office owes you nothing at this point and without further action, your patent is dead. Good news, though – all may not be lost! Options for resuscitation are limited, but the patient isn’t yet a goner.   David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting, leads a discussion along with our...