Patenting for Inventors

In this episode I explain why a patent examiner and a judge may interpret the exact same patent claim differently. I break down the Patent Office's Broadest Reasonable Interpretation standard, how courts analyze claims...

You've built something smart. Really smart. But the second you say the word "algorithm," alarm bells start going off at the Patent Office. In this episode, we talk about how software inventions actually get patented in...

Why does one patent show up online for the whole world to see while another seems to stay completely invisible for years? In this episode, we unpack the surprisingly strategic reasons behind patent publication and...

You finally make your first sale. Champagne moment. But what if that very first customer quietly flips a legal switch that limits what patent rights you can enforce going forward? In this episode, we dig into patent...

You spent the time, filed the application, and finally got the patent. Everything feels locked in… until someone casually mentions that part of your product uses open-source code. Uh oh. In this episode, we unpack how...

Every patent has a family, and sometimes the most important rights aren't in the patent you're looking at, but in its siblings, parents, or long-lost cousins. In this episode, we talk about how to trace a patent's...

Bankruptcy feels like the end of the road, but what happens to your patents when the money runs out is anything but simple. In this episode, we dig into whether patent rights survive bankruptcy, when they can be sold...

Before your patent ever faces a court, a jury, or a competitor, it meets its very first judge: the patent examiner. And you don't get to pick them. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on how the Patent Office...

What if you don't actually want a patent, but you also don't want a competitor locking up your idea and using it against you later? In this episode, we dive into defensive publications, a powerful but often overlooked...

If you're a student with a big idea, here's a question that can catch you completely off guard: do you actually own your invention, or does your university? In this episode, we unpack how universities handle...

Ever wonder who really owns a patent, or how to tell if a company quietly sold off its core technology? In this episode, we dive into the USPTO's patent assignment database, one of the most overlooked but powerful tools...

What if the goal isn't just to have a patent, but to surround an entire technology with so many patents that no one else can move without bumping into one? That's the idea behind patent thickets. In this episode, we...

You built something together, the invention is real, the patent application is ready… and then everything grinds to a halt because your co-inventor suddenly won't sign. What happens now? Is the patent dead? Can they...

Ever wonder how companies that compete fiercely in the marketplace somehow manage to share patents without constantly suing each other? That's where patent pools come in. They're one of the most misunderstood, quietly...