Patent Strategy

H. JACKSON KNIGHT E.I du Pont de Nemours and Company, Inc., Virginia, USA

Preface xi

Preface to the Second Edition xv

Preface to the First Edition xix

About the Author xxiii

1 Basic Intellectual Property Concepts 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Basic Patent Law Concepts 2

1.3 Patent Office Operations 5

1.4 Requirements for Obtaining a Patent 8

1.5 Types of Patents 11

1.6 Parts of a Patent 14

1.7 The Term of a Patent 20

1.8 Provisional Protection 22

1.9 Definitions of Commonly Used Terms 24

1.10 International Treaties 32

1.11 The Paris Convention 32

1.12 The Patent Cooperation Treaty 35

1.13 The European Patent Convention 40

1.14 The African Intellectual Property Organization 42

1.15 The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization 42

1.16 Eurasian Patent Convention 43

1.17 Copyrights, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets 45

1.18 Other Resources 48

2 The Value of Patents 49

2.1 Exclusivity – The Desired Goal 49

2.2 The Mechanics of Achieving Exclusivity in a Technology Area 56

2.3 Traps and Misconceptions – What Patents Can’t Do 62

2.4 The Informational Value of Patents 65

2.5 Assigning Value to Patents 68

2.6 Licensing of Patents 72

3 Developing a Strategy 75

3.1 Professional Help 75

3.2 Determining Whether or Not an Invention is Patentable 77

3.3 Defining Strategy 79

3.4 The Principles Behind the Strategy – The Military Model 81

3.5 Developing a Patent Strategy Model 82

3.6 Developing a Patent Strategy for an Invention 96

3.7 Developing a Patent Strategy for a Series of Inventions 110

3.8 Developing a Strategy for an Existing Product 118

3.9 Developing a Strategy for Licensing Patents 121

3.10 Developing a Strategy for Handling a Potentially Adverse Patent 123

3.11 Developing a Strategy for Oddball Inventions 127

3.12 Dealing with Inventors When Patent Applications are Not Filed 129

3.13 Coordination of Other Strategies and Patent Strategy 131

4 Researching with Intellectual Property in Mind 133

4.1 Introduction 133

4.2 Characteristics of Prolific Inventors 134

4.3 Characteristics of Casual Inventors 140

4.4 The Inventive Process 142

4.5 Fostering Inventive Activity 146

4.6 Suggestions on How to Conduct Research for Stronger Patents 150

5 Infringement and Freedom to Operate 155

5.1 Types of Infringement 155

5.2 Avoiding Patent Infringement 158

5.3 Dealing with Infringers 161

5.4 Research Disclosures and Journal Articles 162

5.5 Published Patent Applications and Provisional Patent Coverage 165

6 Working with Attorneys, Agents, and Patent Liaisons 167

6.1 Introduction 167

6.2 Preparing for the Legal World 168

6.3 Actions to Take before Meeting with the Agent 170

6.4 Typical Working Arrangements with Agents 171

6.5 The Researcher’s Responsibility for Technical Details 173

6.6 Aloofness 174

6.7 Experimentation for the Patent Application 176

6.8 Patent Liaisons and Other Intellectual Property Professionals 177

7 Disclosure and Filing Decisions 181

7.1 Introduction 181

7.2 Controlling the Disclosure of Technology 182

7.3 The Filing Decision 183

7.4 Filing Globally 185

7.5 Compulsory Licensing 187

7.6 The Cost of Broadly Filed Patent Applications 188

7.7 The Legal Systems of Individual Countries 190

7.8 Techniques for Determining Which Countries will be of Value 191

7.9 World Growth and Economic Power 193

7.10 Templates 195

7.11 Timing of Application Filings 195

7.12 Global Experts 197

7.13 Agreement with Strategy 197

8 After the Filing 199

8.1 Introduction 199

8.2 Anticipating the First Response from a Patent office 199

8.3 Modification of Claims 200

8.4 Research After the Filing 202

8.5 Maintaining Cohesion 204

8.6 Issuance and Maintenance of Patents 205

9 The Future of Intellectual Property Efforts 207

References 211

Further Reading 215

Index 219