“Shall an invention be patented or donated to the public freely? I have known some well-meaning scientific men to look askance at the patenting of inventions, as if it were a rather selfish and ungracious act, essentially unworthy. The answer is very simple. Publish an invention freely, and it will almost surely die from lack of interest in its development. It will not be developed and the world will not be benefited. Patent it, and if valuable, it will be taken up and developed into a business. ”
Types of Services
Building Aligned IP Portfolios
You may be filing your company's first U.S. Patent Application or you may be making decisions about where in the world to file corresponding applications. Jeff has over 30 years of experience in creating IP portfolios that have helped companies meet their short, medium and long-term goals. Jeff knows that a smart company never gets patents just to get patents. What is it that you want to keep your competitor from doing? What is it that you want to license others to do? What markets are you in now? What markets do you want to be in 10 years? These are just a few of the questions to answer.
Aligning Existing IP Portfolios
Business plans and strategies often change, sometimes every year. Has your portfolio kept up with the changes? Are you still protecting the products and markets that you need to be protecting? Will that be true in 5 years? In 10 years? Is your spending on IP in line with your plan? What is the value of each of the markets you are protecting? Sometimes, the best way to start is with an IP audit.
Patent Analyses
You may have one competitor's patent to analyze for validity and infringement or you may have a massive portfolio of a potential acquisition target to analyze as part of your due diligence. You may be looking at enforcing one of your patents. Jeff has advised clients in all of these situations and more. His years of litigation and patent prosecution experience, together with his staying abreast of any changes in the law, qualify Jeff for this work and are the reasons clients have relied on his opinion when it really counts.
Licenses, Joint Development and other Technology Creating and Protecting Agreements
Jeff has negotiated and drafted simple confidentiality agreements, license agreements, joint development agreements and joint venture agreements with parties in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Not surprisingly, the most important thing for Jeff is to understand what the parties hope to accomplish from the relationship.
Competitive Awareness and Portfolio Analytics
Jeff has access to the same databases that professional patent searchers use to find the relevant patents in your efforts to keep a view on your competitors' IP activities and has the tools to make sense of what you find. You may also use these tools to analyze and benchmark the IP activities of an entire market sector.
Tuning IP Systems
Jeff has worked with hundreds of companies over his career, some that had efficient and effective systems for capturing and protecting their IP and many that did not. Naturally, one size doesn't fit all. He can help your company find its best practices to prevent gaps in your protection and to get more out of every dollar spent on IP.
Ideation Sessions and Invention Harvesting
Jeff has led several sessions with R&D groups, tailored to generate new ideas to address product problems or market needs for the company.