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Category Archives: Intellectual Property

Three Patent Strategy Changes Under the America Invents Act

The final provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) recently took effect. The AIA represents the most significant overhaul of United States patent law since the mid twentieth century. It enacted provisions over time, with some provisions taking effect in September, 2011, some in September, 2012, and the final phase taking effect in March, 2013. […]

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Ten Common Concerns with Expanding Business to the United States

Ten Common Concerns with Doing Business in the United States

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Startup IP, Investors, and Nondisclosures

Frequently, in an intellectual property consultation with a startup team, we inventory and discuss the intellectual property involved in the business plan and the timing, cost, and strategy in protecting it. As some intellectual property rights can be impacted or misappropriated upon disclosure, the consultation turns towards upcoming disclosures of the proprietary elements of the […]

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Governmental Sources for Inventor Prototyping and Manufacturing Assistance

Many small businesses need help with design and development of inventions at various stages. A startup may want a mockup or virtual prototype in order to pitch for funding. Later, the business may need a working prototype for further proof of concept. Then that prototype may need to be further refined for efficient manufacture. Thus […]

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Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in the Startup Phase

Mission critical assets of a startup business can include its unique products and its branding. If either is usurped, the emerging business may not survive for long. Because of that, the small business must consider protecting those assets. A frequent discussion in the analysis of securing formal intellectual property rights is, of course, the value […]

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Small Business Innovative Research Funding for Your Patentable Concept

Funding is a concern for many startups and small business creating new products.  The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) is a congressionally authorized, federal program that may be an option for funding for some of those businesses operating in select fields of technology. Two of the key driving policies of the program are to help […]

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Common Factors in the Decision to File a Patent Application

When working with an inventor or  startup, a frequent question is whether it is prudent to proceed with a patent application. More often than not, I am not in a position to concisely answer the question, as the question may hinge more on economics than intellectual property. A patent search may shed some light on […]

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Keep Your Startup’s Data Secret

Recently I have talked with some scared startups. Scenario #1: Startup has its data on a flash drive and loses the flash drive. Scenario #2: Person has startup’s data on a laptop and the laptop is stolen. The common theme to both scenarios is that they had unencrypted intellectual property on the drives, thus the […]

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