Patents Attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota

When is a House like a Patent?

More In This Category

View Transcript

Hi folks, my name is Dave and we’re here today to talk about intellectual property. My objective is to get this message across in 20 slides, each of 20 seconds in duration. So we’re going to think about intellectual property with regard to patents and so our metaphor to talk about this is a house, a piece of real estate. So business people as you are we’re interested in growing the business. We’re interested in raising the value of the assets of the business itself. And one of those important assets is the intellectual property that is the patent.

So when we think about a patent we can draw an analogy and look at a house as the metaphor here. And a house is something that’s tangible, it’s you can stub your toe, it will cast a shadow these are things that a patent is incapable of doing. It’s a document that memorializes the rights. And so there’s a lot of complexity that goes with some of these rights and so we’re going to think about what does it take to acquire a patent and compare that with acquiring real estate.

So the first thing to think about is when it comes to buying a piece of real estate you pay cash, you pay money, and in exchange for payment of that money you receive a deed and a deed gives you the right to enjoy that property. Similarly, when it comes to acquiring a patent the parties here are slightly different and now you go before the patent office and the patent office makes a calculation. They decide whether your idea gets a yes or gets a no. And so the important question here what are those requirements to get a patent and we can think in terms of several key considerations. One, the idea has to be new. The patent office will not give patents for old ideas. The patent must be non-obvious.

Our character, Mr. Captain Obvious is quite the opposite of what you need to qualify for a patent. And that has to be minimal useful and perform some function. Now the interesting thing about a patent is each one is unique. That’s quite a bit different than a piece of real estate where you may have a road with house after house after house that has very, very similar characteristics and design. Patents are all different. Each one is unique. The parties to the acquisition of real estate include the seller and the buyer and the reach a mutual agreement and for that agreement there’s this transfer of property, this exchange of money for a deed.

When it comes to acquiring a patent, on the other hand, the parties at the table include the patent office working on behalf of the public and then the inventor as the applicant applies for a patent and asks does my invention, does my clever idea qualify for a patent? So those are the parties in the transaction. Now when it comes to owning the property or owning the intellectual property that is the patent, there are certain obligations and similarly with regard to real estate there’s annual taxes that are due. And in Minnesota that occurs in May and October of every year. For maintaining ownership of your intellectual property, namely a patent, there are maintenance fees that are due and those maintenance fees occur at the three and half, seven and a half, and eleven and a half year mark. So failure to pay these maintenance fees or failure to pay the taxes will result in return of the asset to the granting authority.

In terms of cost to acquire a patent, we can think in terms of acquiring a house. Is a small bungalow going to meet your needs or do you need something more extensive, a larger, more spacious property. And in terms of patent, we can think of how complex is the idea. Is there subtleties and details with regard to the invention that justify additional expenditure so a simple idea might be an expensive a more complex idea will be more costly.

Now with regard to acquiring real estate, the duration of the acquisition period is probably measured in terms of weeks, maybe months. But on the other hand, when it comes to acquiring a patent, you’re looking at a timetable that can stretch for several years and there can be any different turns and twists in the path to acquisition of a patent. And similarly, there are mechanisms by which you can accelerate the acquisition of a patent. These are mechanisms by which you pay money and the patent comes more quickly.

So what can you do now that you’ve acquired your patent or acquired your real estate. In terms of a house, you get to enjoy the place with peace and quiet. You can have a picnic in the backyard and you can ask your neighbors to leave if they have a picnic so it gives you the ability to excuse. Similar to a house in terms of a patent we have the right to exclude others and so it does not necessarily give you the right to practice the technology but it certainly gives you the right to stoop others from bringing their picnic into your backyard.

So that’s’ the beauty of a patent. So in terms of bringing your product to market one important consideration and this is important question number two is will you get in trouble if you sell this product or use this technology in your commercial enterprise? And we have to be aware of the patents held by others. These represent landmines or traps that can get you in trouble. So for most people in terms of owning real estate a single home is adequate for their purposes, perhaps they have two homes, but rarely do they have many more than that. In contrast, a patentee may have a business where they find it important to have many patents; many thousands of patents in some cases and those patents each represent arrows in a quiver that gives them the power to stop others from doing different activity that interferes with a competition advantage of the business.

So you may need many patents depending on your business, scope, and the enterprise that you’re conduction. So that brings us here to the final slide and we’re asking the question what sort of a portfolio is going to be important for you to have in running your business. Do you need something more substantial or will a little bit of a portfolio be adequate for your purposes?

Minneapolis patent lawyer David Black explain when a house is similar to patent.

More Videos From This Lawyer