We patent attorneys meet inventors and tell them if we think their idea is “patentable”. But how do we know? How do we figure out what is inventive? Our job is to listen to an inventor’s description and, from it, to grasp the essence of the invention. We summarize the inventive aspects of the invention by defining the difference between the invention and the prior art. Where do we get the analytical mindset? From many places, but mostly from academic studies. In the Mechanica

On the surface, marketing is not at all like patenting. A patent is a technical document that defines an invention. Marketing, on the other hand, is designed to be lively and to point out the great features of a product. How can they possibly have anything in common? Well, I tell my patent clients that I like to use marketing language in their patent applications. I do this precisely because marketing people zero in on those aspects of a product that make it special. These as