SensoryMetrics

For those who know me – or have heard me speak – you know I’m very passionate about innovation and the patent process. Rarely do I talk about the bad side of patents(mostly because so many others do.)

Here’s the typical process… You get a nifty idea, and prototype it. Looks good to the company you’re working for and they decide to build it into product. If the company is smart they’ll also spend money to protect the intellectual property. As the inventor, you interact with your company’s law firm and eventually write a patent application. The law firm files it with the US patent and trademark office. After that, your work is pretty much done. But a lot goes on behind the scene in the four years it will take for that patents to be granted.

Many examiners will research and review the patent applications. They may have questions that will be communicated back through the law firm. Maintenance fees have to be paid – these are managed by the law firm and billed back to the company. If a corresponsence is ignored or a payment not made, the application dies. Since the company owns the patent (usually) and not the inventor, it’s up to them to keep the process going.

In a bizarre case a couple weeks ago – the Chicago/Dallas law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist that prepared and filed two of my patents (for a previous employer) suddenly shut its doors after paying out $76 million settlement due to fraud charges (as reported by the Dallas Morning News).

So – as an inventor, there’s no joy in having your patent applications die before they are granted. Hopefully, the assignee company will track the patents and nurture them to granting.

Tags: Jenkens-Gilchrist, patents, fraud

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