{"id":457,"date":"2020-01-27T07:38:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T12:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/?p=457"},"modified":"2020-01-27T07:38:39","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T12:38:39","slug":"file-when-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/?p=457","title":{"rendered":"File When Ready!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It may come as a surprise that even patent attorneys don’t believe that every invention should be patented. The time, effort and expense of preparing and filing a patent application should be reserved for those inventions that are likely to provide an advantage. Here is a list of criteria to help judge evaluate whether an invention should patented. These can also help prioritize multiple inventions, and help decide which inventions may be worthy of extra investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATURE OF THE INVENTION<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Does the invention relate to a new product or service?<\/td><\/tr>
Does the invention relate to an improvement in an existing product or service?<\/td><\/tr>
Does the invention relate to an improvement in the manufacturing or distribution of an existing product or service?<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
TECHNOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention solves a problem only faced by Company’s particular approach.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention solves a problem faced by Company’s major competitor(s).<\/td><\/tr>
The invention solves a problem faced by the Industry at large.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention provides a new capability for Company’s products. <\/td><\/tr>
The invention provides a new capability for Company’s and major competitor’s products <\/td><\/tr>
The invention provides a new capability for the products of the industry at large. <\/td><\/tr>
The invention improves quality. <\/td><\/tr>
The invention makes the product easier to use\/more reliable. <\/td><\/tr>
The invention makes the product safer.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention reduces costs.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
TIMELINESS<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention is being implemented.<\/td><\/tr>
Implementation of the invention is scheduled.<\/td><\/tr>
Implementation of the invention is planned.<\/td><\/tr>
No immediate plans to implement the invention.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
The invention is presently fully developed.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention could be fully developed as a routine matter with minimal resources.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention will require significant resources to completely develop.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention will require a major project to completely develop.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention is currently only theoretically possible.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
COMMERCIAL SIGNIFICANCE<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a high volume, high profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a medium volume, high profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a high volume, medium profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a low volume, high profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a medium volume, medium profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a high volume, low profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a low volume, medium profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a medium volume, low profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a low volume, low profit product.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
COMMERCIAL IMPACT<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DEMAND<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention creates an entirely new product or service.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention involves a feature that makes the Company’s product critical to all or most customers<\/td><\/tr>
The invention adds a feature that makes the Company’s product superior to all or most customers.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention adds a features that is critical to an important subgroup of customers.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SALES<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention will make it more likely most consumers would purchase the Company’s product\/service.\u00a0<\/td><\/tr>
The invention will make it more likely that some customers will purchase the Company’s product\/service.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention will allow the Company to sell other unrelated products.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PRICING<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention will allow the Company to increase prices.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention will allow the Company to maintain prices.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention will force competitors to reduce prices to compete.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
NON-INFRINGING ALTERNATIVES<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The anticipated claim scope cannot be designed around.<\/td><\/tr>
The anticipated claim scope cannot be designed around without considerable time or expense.<\/td><\/tr>
The anticipated claim scope cannot be designed around without competitively significant delay or expense.<\/td><\/tr>
The anticipated claim scope cannot be designed around without inconvenient delay or expense.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
The non-infringing alternatives are equivalent.<\/td><\/tr>
The non-infringing alternatives are acceptable.<\/td><\/tr>
The non-infringing alternatives would be regarded as unsatisfactory to most customers.<\/td><\/tr>
The non-infringing alternatives would be regarded as unsatisfactory to a significant subset of customers.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
SCOPE OF PROTECTION<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to entirely new technology with great prospects of patentability.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention relates to a new application of technology with good prospects of patentability.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention is a minor advance with surprising result and fair prospects of patentability.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention is a minor improvement with a chance of patentability<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
The patent would be infringed by a single entity (vs. multiple entities acting together).<\/td><\/tr>
The patent would be infringed in a single country.<\/td><\/tr>
Infringements of the patent could be easily detected.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
The Company is likely to enforce the patent against anticipated infringers.<\/td><\/tr>
The Company might enforce the patent against anticipated infringers.<\/td><\/tr>
The Company probably would not enforce the patent against anticipated infringers.<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
ALTERNATIVE PROTECTION<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
The invention can be protected in whole or in part as a trade secret.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention can be protected in whole or in part with copyright.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention can be protected in whole or in part with trademark or trade dress.<\/td><\/tr>
The invention can be protected in whole or in part with a design patent.\u00a0<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is important to building\/maintaining a portfolio.<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is important to the marketing department.<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is important to an important customer.<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is important to a strategic partner.<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is politically expedient (important to management).<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is required by contractual obligation.<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention is useful as a defensive position.<\/td><\/tr>
Patenting the invention could be useful in future licensing or cross-licensing.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may come as a surprise that even patent attorneys don’t believe that every invention should be patented. The time, effort and expense of preparing and filing a patent application should be reserved for those inventions that are likely to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipmanagement.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}