On a recent episode of Savvy Business Radio with Christina Nitschmann, Craige Thompson, Austin patent attorney and best-selling author, talked about how to get your patent approved.
According to Thompson, most people don’t start the patent process in the right way.
Thompson said, “It all boils down into one thing, what I call a ‘point of novelty’ that can be articulated in one sentence. That is the mistake that makes a lot of patents fail to achieve the monetization potential that they could. If you miss this, your patent process might not achieve what you want it to achieve and might be very expensive and a waste of time.”
When host Christina Nitschmann asked why anyone would need a patent attorney, as the patenting process couldn’t be that difficult, Thompson responded, “I’ve had a lot of clients come to me with horror stories in which they went the LegalZoom route where patents were advertised for $199, or they worked with some invention submission corporation and spent a lot of money and got nothing for it. Patent law is very complicated. It takes years of experience and study to profitably apply the patent laws.”
During the interview, Thompson shared the importance of having one sentence to thoroughly describe the patent’s point of differentiation. He noted, “Instead of going through the Patent Office process and finding out you don’t have a patent ‘point of novelty,’ let’s figure out that out up front before you spend two or three years of time and $20,000 to $30,000 to discover this fact. That’s a crucial step that we handle before starting any patents, and it’s a step for which our clients are extremely appreciative. In my view, this is the right way to begin the patent process.”
The interview concluded with Thompson saying, “The number one tip that I would say is the key to the patent kingdom and to big licensing deals is the “point of novelty.’ That must come before you file your patent application. Otherwise, the horse is already out of the barn.”
Craige Thompson is the best-selling author of Patent Offense, 7 Steps to a Safe, Secure Patent Portfolio. He started out as an Electrical Design Engineer. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Thompson went to work for an electronics design and manufacturer that specialized in product conception, design, commercialization, and manufacturing. There he honed his design and development skills in a wide variety of commercial, industrial, and consumer products.
After ten years in design, Thompson went back to school to get his law degree. This led him to Fish & Richardson P.C., the preeminent patent/IP law firm in the country. He won acclaim for his ability to find weaknesses in opponents’ patents and became known as “The Patent Killer.” He was also able to account for those weaknesses when writing a patent, and due to being able to write a patent that quickly advanced through the USPTO, soon also became known as the Patent “Examiner Whisperer.”
This culminated in the creation of Thompson Patent Law, a boutique patent law firm that specializes in patents for electronic/electrical, mechanical, electro-mechanical, and software in Austin, TX. They write Litigation Quality Patents that are designed to stand up to the scrutiny of litigation and believe that every patent should be viewed and treated as a valuable business asset. While they work with Fortune 100 companies, they enjoy working with entrepreneurs and startups to help them “out-patent the Fortune 100,” making sure all patents start the right way.
