Don't Just Patent Everything, You Need To Have A Strategy

You can't patent it all. Inventors often want to patent every potentially novel detail of their technologies and patent attorneys are sometimes willing to help them do it. However, this type of unfocused, shotgun approach often does not lead to the strategic patent protection companies need to prevent competitors from copying their commercially important innovations. Startups and emerging growth companies should focus on building a patent monopoly around the most commercially important choke points of their inventions while making efficient use of their patent dollars and the precious time of their key innovators and technical experts.

Inventors often enthusiastically identify many features that are new and interesting about their technologies. Nonetheless, just because something is novel and potentially patentable does not mean that you should expend your technical staff's time and your patent dollars to patent it. Inventors often overlook weighing how patenting an invention