Patent Anatomy: What’s in a patent?

​​Patently Strategic - Patent Strategy for Startups

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What’s actually in a patent? What can you learn from reading one? Where do you even find them? For answers to these critical questions and more, I sat down with Patently Strategic regulars – David Cohen, Principal at Cohen Sciences and Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora. In our discussion, we break down the key anatomy, cut through the terminology, and provide tips on how you can use this information for your competitive advantage.
Patenting can be such an essential part of early startup years, but it’s a very complex domain, with loads of special vocabulary, and all of that can make it seem less accessible than it was really designed to be. In putting the questions together for the Q&A with Ashley and David, I quickly realized that, had I had the answers and this context much sooner in my own journey into this world, a lot of things would have made a lot more sense much earlier.
This is a guided tour, intended to reduce this barrier of entry, unlock for you one of the greatest libraries in the world, and help set you up with clear eyes going into your own patent journey. The tour is done through the anatomical lens of the most intrinsic and tangible piece of the process – the patent application. It’s through the study of a patent's structure and parts, that you’ll quickly begin to see more clearly how the broader world of patenting works!
** Resources **
* Show Notes: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/new-podcast-patent-anatomy
* USPTO: https://www.uspto.gov
* Public PAIR: https://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair
* Google Patents: https://patents.google.com

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And as always, thanks for listening!
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Note: The contents of this podcast do not constitute legal advice.

Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. What is a patent application? (00:02:17)

3. What's a patent? (00:03:40)

4. Goal of the patent system (00:04:15)

5. The right to say "Patent Pending" (00:07:18)

6. Secrecy timeline (stealth mode) (00:08:01)

7. Talking with investors (00:08:34)

8. Patent application audiences (00:10:34)

9. Patents vs academic papers (00:16:49)

10. What can you learn from a patent application? (00:18:25)

11. Starting with the background section (00:19:07)

12. Claims: defining the monopoly (00:20:18)

13. Dates, the patent term, and the enforcement timeline (00:21:25)

14. What patent-related details are not in a patent application? (00:24:00)

15. Published application vs. issued patent (00:28:11)

16. Types of patent applications (00:33:09)

17. Utility patents (00:33:41)

18. Design patents (00:34:09)

19. Plant patents (00:34:50)

20. Provisional application (00:35:19)

21. Provisional vs. non-provisional applications (00:38:07)

22. Anatomical breakdown (in-depth) (00:41:59)

23. Figures (00:42:40)

24. Claims: starting with the end (00:44:19)

25. Specification (00:45:13)

26. Context and lexicography (00:48:35)

27. Going deeper on claims (00:52:31)

28. Assessing infringement (00:57:01)

29. Independent vs. dependent claims (01:01:35)

30. Where do you find patents? (01:05:39)

31. Outro (01:09:28)