Patently Strategic - Patent Strategy for Startups
Episodes
Design Patents: Building Better Moats
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When most people think or speak generally about patents, they’re really talking about utility patents – or patents that are primarily concerned wi...
Willful Infringement: When Patent Piracy Turns Egregious
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Willful infringement is a patent law concept that applies when someone infringes a patent knowingly or with reckless disregard for the patent holder’...
Patent Abandonment and Revival
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Patent abandonment is the premature relinquishment of patent rights for an invention. Abandonment can happen voluntarily for various strategic and cos...
European Patent Practice
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What are your options for protecting inventions across Europe? In this month’s episode, we’re taking a journey across the pond with a discussion o...
Patent Marking: No Mark, No Money
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s episode, we’re talking about patent marking – and its massive implications on your ability to collect on infringement damages. ...
Startup Capital: Strategic Fundraising and Patent Value
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you’re a founder looking to take the next fundraising steps beyond bootstrapping, an aspiring angel investor looking to understand the risks...
International Patents: Your Travel Guide to Foreign Protection
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s global economy, the importance of international patent protection cannot be overstated. Your invention could be conceived of with a workf...
Cannabis Patents: Cutting Through the Haze of the IP Landscape
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s episode, we’re getting high on innovation with a deep dive into cannabis patents! As more and more states relax restrictions on b...
ParkerVision v. Rule 36: The Battle for Dignity and Due Process
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If a court stripped away your property rights, wouldn’t you at least want an explanation? The answer is obvious, but the reality is appalling. The p...
Dealing with Rejection: Overcoming 101, 102, 103, and 112
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So, your patent application got rejected. Now what? In this month’s episode, we’re talking about rejection. Specifically, the type that comes fro...
Patent Case Law Review: Obviousness
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An invention cannot be patented if the differences between your claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole wou...
Petition Practice: Correcting PTO Errors With Your Patent
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Patent examiners can make mistakes. Patent office clerks can misfile paperwork and cause procedural errors. The software tools, document formats like ...
Keeping Patent Pirates at Bay: ITC Portfolio Proofing Strategies
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For inventors, the promise of the patent system is the right to exclude others from making, using, importing, and selling their patented innovations f...
Continuation Practice: Quality Patents Part 3
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s not a more important concept that’s more widely misunderstood by those newer to patenting than continuations. So we’re dedicating Part 3...
PTAB Survival Guide: Quality Patents Part 2
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The most terrifying thing that can happen to a patent owner is receiving what’s called an IPR or Inter Partes Review petition. This is a tool that a...
Quality Patents
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is your patent a vanity piece of paper for your office wall? Or is it a reliable, defendable, assertable, property right? The difference is often qual...
Inventor Stories: Robert Cameron and the Power of Perseverance
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve seen few entrepreneurial success stories that haven’t involved heavy doses of perseverance, grit, observation, and creative problem-solving....
CAFC Chronicles: Costly Tales of Claim Construction Fails
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The difference between getting claim construction right and getting it wrong is the difference between a valid patent and an invalid patent – and th...
Patents and AI: Current Tools, Future Solutions
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re talking about AI and its impact on the patent system.This month's episode evaluates where we presently are and considers where it could a...
James Howard and the Black Inventors Hall of Fame
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our interview with James Howard, Founder and Executive Director of the Black Inventors Hall of Fame.James Howard is a college professor, design histor...
Claim Construction: Building Strong Patent Foundations
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Claim construction is a process in which courts attempt to interpret the meaning and scope of the claims of a patent. It’s like reconstructing what ...
Patenting Games: From Pieces to Pixels
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From patenting classic boardgames like Monopoly and Battleship back in the 1930s to challenges with protecting modern innovations in areas like game d...
Patent Claims: The Name of the Game
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re talking about claims – the fundamental building blocks of a patent. There simply is not a more important concept to grasp in all of patentin...
Government Grants and Patent Rights: SBIR, STTR, and Your IP
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this month's episode, we’re talking about the use of government grants and the strings that can come attached to your IP! We’re exploring ...
Jack Daniels, Mickey Mouse, and Andy Warhol Walk Into a Bar
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s episode, we’re talking about Jack Daniels, Mickey Mouse, Andy Warhol, Jason Voorhees, Winnie-the-Pooh, Lizzo, and WallStreetBets …...
Why Patents Exist with Professor Adam Mossoff
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why do patents exist in the first place? What function do they serve in society? And what is their historic origin story? In this month’s episode, w...
What Investors Want in Patents with Sridhar Iyengar
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do investors want to see in patents? What do patents tell a potential investor about a founder? And what do investors wish inventors knew before ...
Open Source and Patent Rights: Collaboration with Consequences
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How does the use of or contribution to open-source software impact your intellectual property rights? In this month's episode, we’re talking ab...
Patent Wars: Innovators, Revolutionaries, and the Race to Reform
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this month's episode, we're talking patent reform solutions with Judge Paul Michel, Professor Adam Mossoff, and Randy Landreneau!Nearly t...
SCOTUS in Focus: Amgen v. Sanofi and the Future of Pharma Patents
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re leading off Season 3 with a close look at a Supreme Court patent case that could have profound impacts on the invention enablement problems we...
License to File: Foreign Filing License Risks and Strategies
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Foreign filing licenses – surprisingly sneaky and easy to overlook, but can come with significant consequences if you do. Many countries, including ...
Top 3 Inventor Mistakes: Disclosure, Search, and Ownership
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If there were a guidebook we could hand to inventors on the first day following the conception of their idea, this episode would be it. When is it saf...
Unpredictable Arts: Patenting Bio, Chem, and Emerging Technologies
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Think your innovation is sufficiently enabled to secure, defend, and assert your patent rights? If it’s a biological, chemical, or emerging technolo...
Into the Patentverse Vol. 2: AR, VR, and Virtual Infringement
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re slipping our headsets on and heading back into the Metaverse! Earlier this year, we began our foray into this world with a deep dive into the ...
Means-Plus-Function: The Risk of Losing Your Way
27 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Word choice matters a great deal in the world of patenting. You’re using the English language to draw a picture around highly technical concepts. Th...
From Alice to Axle: IP Uncertainty for the Innovation Economy
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, we’re discussing a recent court decision that judges have said could threaten "most every invention for which a patent ha...
Prenuptial Patenting: Responsible Engagement with Engineering Firms
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You have your big idea and now it’s time to breathe it into existence, but you need some help with the development. Like many others, you may turn t...
Fortifying Life Science Patents: Eligibility and Enablement
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The life sciences are currently facing at least two major plagues in our patent world. The first is that many life science innovations have been deeme...
Into the Patentverse: Web 3.0, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and NFTs
29 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Metaverse” is the buzziest of the buzzwords in tech today and will soon be joining the ranks of “AI” and “ML” as requisite keywords in th...
Common Ownership: Whose prior art is it anyway?
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this month's episode, our experts help to demystify the concept of Common Ownership and how it can be leveraged to disqualify prior art that m...
Inventor Stories: RISEing with Patents
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this month’s special episode, we’re sharing a great sit down with three very innovative, up-and-coming inventors – as we also launch the next...
Software Patents: Protecting Your Digital Innovations
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're officially kicking off our second season and in this month's episode, our experts tackle software patents. As Silicon Valley engineer ...
Patent Anatomy: What’s in a patent?
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
Inventorship: Who should be listed as an inventor for a patent?
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the US especially, patents are granted to inventors. More often than not, that’s more than one person and the ideas themselves are fluid concepts...
American Inventor Horror Story: Ten Years of AIA and the PTAB
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in as we discuss the impact of the AIA and the PTAB with inventors gathered as part of the "Decade of Stolen Dreams" rallies, happeni...
Patent Monetization: Buying and Selling
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we take a deep dive into the war games filled world of patent buying and selling. We are joined today by special guest host, Louis Ca...
Patent Searching: Sleuthing Your Way to Stronger Patents
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You have an idea and you’d like to protect it. But can you? Is it novel? Non-obvious? Would you eventually be able to license or enforce your patent...
Patent Prosecution Highway: Fast Tracking Your Application
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Getting a patent is no quick process. In the time between filing and issuance, your application will go through several stages, often from multiple pa...
After Final Practice: Life After Final Rejection
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Your application just received a final rejection notice from the patent office. Now what? How final is final? The office owes you nothing at this poin...
Google v. Oracle: The Future of Software and Fair Use
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen in as our expert panel breaks down Google v Oracle and what it means for the future of software development and fair use. This legal contest...
On-sale Bar: Patentability and Selling Your Invention
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this inaugural episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President & Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora Consulting leads a deep dive into the on-sale ba...