What Every Inventor and Entrepreneur Needs to Know about Patents

Tue, May 17 2011, 7:00 pm              What Every Inventor and Entrepreneur Needs to Know about Patents 1


Nearly everyone thinks they have some idea what a patent is and what it’s good for, but do you really know how to use patents effectively for your business? This talk will explore the patent world from the inventor’s point of view: who, what, why, how, and when.

A free-form presentation and discussion is planned with time emphasis on topics of most interest to the audience. Some planned topics include:

  • Why patents? Patents vs. open source
  • Patents as property: who owns them, and what can you do with them
  • The differences between a patent disclosure and a technical paper
  • The differences between patent examination and peer review
  • Are patents a rich man’s (big company’s) game?
  • Self representation vs. hired help: patent agents, patent attorneys, etc.
  • U.S.-only vs. multi-jurisdictional filing
  • The patent timeline and how to fit it into business plans
  • Timing issues: invention conception, reduction to practice, conference or trade show presentation, talking to investors and customers, publications, provisional, non-provisional, and PCT filings, non-disclosure agreements, etc.; what has to come before what and why?
  • After examination: interferences, re-examination, infringement suits, damages, appeals, licenses, etc.
  • Consequences of new changes in patent law: patentable subject matter is redefined by Supreme Court, especially as applied to software and business methods; first-inventor-to-file is about to become law in the U.S. (U.S. currently has a first-to-invent priority system)

 


What Every Inventor and Entrepreneur Needs to Know about Patents 2About the speaker,  David Dreyfuss, Moore Patents

Dr. David Dreyfuss is a U.S. registered patent agent with Moore Patents where he focuses on drafting and prosecuting patents applications for clients ranging from solo inventors to large companies in a wide range of technical disciplines.

David also has many years of experience as a senior entrepreneur and technologist with unusually broad-based multidisciplinary expertise in the physical sciences and engineering and experience in a broad range of settings and industries. Starting from degrees in Physics and Gas Dynamics from MIT, he went on to teach Mechanical Engineering at Rutgers, develop automated inspection systems at PA Technology and Dupont, and develop printers and printing systems at PA, AM Graphics, Lexmark and The Salmon Group.

David currently also serves as VP of Engineering and Board Member for Aerulean Plant Identification Systems, Inc. As an independent consultant he has worked on digital printing, inspection and machine vision problems as well as intellectual property, Google Answers and web site and e-commerce business development. He has numerous published articles, papers and patents.


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