Is your IP Strategy Stellar? How to make the most of your first meeting with a Patent Attorney.
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You are setting up a new business, or a new project, or you have a new idea. You have done your research and you have chosen to take the next step and meet with an IP Advisor. You will have chosen a regulated advisor who will likely call themselves a Patent Attorney. As you reach for the stars how do you get the best out of this meeting?
1) Tell Your Story
From the top. Leave nothing out. Be honest, be thorough, be brief.
2) Listen
Be quiet and listen, really listen to the advice. There are layers of understanding when thinking about IP. At first only the outer layer will be apparent. Later, the intricacies and implications of the deeper layers will emerge. To appreciate the layers, listen carefully with an open mind.
Your Patent Attorney will think through similar steps to the ones I spoke about in my earlier article, The First Seven Steps to Protecting your IP.
They will analyse what you have created looking at it from several angles, and they will begin the assessment of which IP rights might apply. These might include:
- a patent for an invention – a functional solution to a technical problem
- a design right in a thing of beauty or a simple 3D design
- copyright in a story or image
- a trademark in a brand
They may also spend time identifying any other issues, such as ownership of the IP rights.
3) Explore
Now is the time to explore and test your understanding with questions. What does this mean? What are the implications of doing that? This is a discussion, not a repeat of your story or the advice.
4) Cost it out
What will each option cost? You now understand something about the implications of each option, but what can you afford?
5) Act
Taking everything into account, balancing cost and risk to your business, make a decision and act on it. It might be a conscious decision to do nothing. It might be asking your Patent Attorney to further advise you. Can you see clearly how the next steps for you and your Patent Attorney will fit into your business strategy?
Can you see the beginnings of an IP Strategy mapped out; not written in stone, written in the stars?
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- #IPStrategy
- #patentattorney
- IP
