Manufacturing Abroad? International Patent Implications for the Early-Stage Company

Do I need international patent protection? Though the location of manufacture is an important consideration for international patent protection, I would ask: “Where do you plan to sell your product?”  If your product is to be sold around the world, you should be considering international patent protection immediately for several reasons. Let’s say you are…

Can I Add to My Invention? Continuation Patent Application

What if you come up with ‘new subject matter’ for your invention after you’ve already filed a non-provisional?  No problem – the USPTO accounts for this and allows what is known as “continuation-in-part” (CIP) applications.  CIP applications allow you to expand the scope of your patent application while it’s still pending, without losing the patent…

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Apple’s Latest Patent – Docking Station

Patent News: Apples Latest Patent Docking Station for IPad & IPhone Our mission at SmartUp is to enable startups and entrepreneurs to grow and develop their patent portfolios.  That’s why we want to keep our members up-to-date on the most recent patent-filings by tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft and Google – who better to…

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Amazon’s New Patent Enhances E-books

E-books are about to be fully loaded with Amazon’s new Patent #8478662 entitled “Customized electronic books with supplemental content”, originally covered by Wired. Their intent is to turn content from an e-book from being fixed for every reader into a system that has individualized supplemental content by using a match making system between readers and…

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Apple’s New Patents and What It Means For Travel

Apple was granted 37 patents recently according to a report from Patently Apple.  Out of the series of granted patents, Patently focuses specifically on the IWallet patents.  Upon examination, we discovered that most of the patents granted today focused more on communication between one mobile device and others.  This includes patents on peer to peer communication…

USPTO Issues 700,000th Design Patent

The USPTO recently did a press release about the issuance of the 700,000th design patent.  The patent for the ornamental design for a “Hand-Held Learning Apparatus” was issued to Jason Avery of Berkeley, California and is currently assigned to Emeryville, California-based LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: LF). In case you did not already know a design patent…

Can I Talk about Things Not in My Patent?

I have a provisional patent filed, and I am speaking at a Conference about my invention.  However, at the conference, I intend to disclose new features that aren’t covered by the provisional patent.  Big companies, including competitors, will be at the conference.  What should I do? To the extent that you will be disclosing, at…

When Are Provisional Patents Effective?

A USPTO provisional patent application simply secures your ‘spot in line’ or patent priority date to a later patent application filing.  After you file a provisional application, you will have one-year to follow with a non-provisional (full) patent application to maintain the patent priority date secured by the non-provisional.  It’s important to secure your patent priority date since the…

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