Patent Strategy for Startups. Presented by Schox at O'Reilly SOLID 2014 conference in San Francisco.

1. WHAT DO STARTUPS NEEDTO
KNOW ABOUT PATENT LAW
BY JEFFREY SCHOX
SCHOX PATENT GROUP

2. Who am I?
Angel
Investor
Patent
Attorney
Professor
Entrepreneur

3. Why build a patent portfolio?
What is patentable?
How to identify inventions?
When to file a patent application?
Who to choose as a patent attorney?

4. • enforce against a competitor
!
Why build a patent portfolio?

5. • enforce against a competitor
!
Why build a patent portfolio?
*Takes 2-3 years to get a patent,
and costs $3-5M to enforce.
*

6. • enforce against a competitor
!
Why build a patent portfolio?
• increase valuation
• deter patent infringement lawsuit

7. What is patentable?
General Concept
Specific Product
Not
Valuable
Not
Patentable

8. What is patentable?
Valuable,
Patentable
Invention

9. How to identify inventions?
filed should have filed
Wrongly filed patent applications:
wastes money, wastes time, and
teaches inventions.

10. How to identify inventions?
filed should have filed
Omitted patent applications:
lost valuation and
increased vulnerabilities

11. How to identify inventions?
1. incentivize engineers to identify inventions
2. evaluate in isolation from other inventions
!
1. determine strategy (CEO, CFO, CTO)
2. uncover inventions
Bottom
Up
Top
Down

12. When to file a patent application?
APPPRV
Alpha
Beta
DFM

13. Who to choose as a patent attorney?
ProximityLaw
Business
Technology

14. Book on Amazon
Stanford Lectures on iTunes
Presentations onYouTube
angel.co/jschox
RESOURCES