 |
|
Concept Stage:
Patents: How to share
it with the world.
By
Gerald Youngblood and David Mackie
Managing Partners, seedstage.com |
|
A patent is an
official document which is open to public examination and grants the exclusive right
to produce, sell, or get profit from an invention, process, etc., for a specific
number of years.
Why
It's Important
Patents give you the ability
to license your technology to others. This may be in your business model and it may
be better than selling your product. Also, if you build a successful company, at
some point you're going to be contacted about infringing on someone else's patents.
When this happens, the only way around paying large license fees is to have your
own patents.
How It
Works
Patents are one area in
which you can make big, big mistakes. If you think you have something to protect,
get an intellectual property lawyer. This is particularly important if you have real
breakthrough technology because patents come down to who first reduced it to practice.
Consider what might be involved: a design notebook that is not loosely bound, with
every page signed and dated, with each page attested to by a third party.
If you don't have real breakthrough technology, the reality is that it's generally
more important to move fast -- get your product right, get ahead in the market, stay
ahead. In fact, in some cases, you may choose to treat your IP as a trade secret
and not patent it, so you can protect it from modification by competitors. For example,
if your concept for business were to know what people are thinking, you certainly
would not want to get a patent. |
|
| DO: |
|
- Consult with an IP
lawyer.
- Consider the value
of building up a bank of patents, so you'll be in a position to exchange technology
with partners and use each others' patents.
- Remember the benefit
of your patents may lie in licensing your technology v. selling a product.
|
|
| DON'T: |
|
- Forget that a search
must be conducted, so you don't infringe on someone else's rights.
- Forget there is more
than one type of patent.
|
|
|
|
|