A patent primer for startup founders
Last week, I wrote about why patents provide no short-term benefits for startups but are still absolutely necessary to build a competitive moat. Today, I dive into the details founders need to know about obtaining patents.
Because I don’t know much about the non-U.S. and every country is somewhat unique, I’m limiting this article to discussing U.S. patents. My apologies to startup founders outside the U.S.
There are 3 distinct patent types:
Utility patent: When people in the tech industry think of patents, they’re generally thinking of utility patents. These are granted for any new or improved process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. For most tech startups, these are the only patents that matter.Design patent: These are patents for ornamental designs of manufactured items. Unlike a utility patent, which protects how an item works, a design patent protects how it looks. Unless your startup makes shoes or unique consumer goods where appearance is critical to branding, design patents are generally useless for startups.Plant patents: These are patents for new varieties of plants. Plant patents are critical if you’re breeding new varieties of apples. They have some applications in AgTech but are otherwise irrelevant to startups.
Patent Period:
A patent provides a 20-year period of exclusivity on the use of the technology from the date of filing (not the date of issuance) except for design patents, which are for 15 years. However, ongoing maintenance fees must be paid during the period, or the patent will be abandoned.
Filing Deadlines:
In the first-to-file system, the date of the patent filing is critical.
A patent application for the technology, either a regular or provisional application, must be filed before anybody else’s application, or they get the patent, not you.The patent application must be filed before anybody else releases public…