Thoughts from the team.
This year, most of our team met in Chongqing, China — the multi-level cyberpunk city. In Chongqing, uptown and downtown describe altitude, not direction. We surrounded ourselves with neon lights one day and raging waterfalls in Wulong Karst the next.
People tend to overcomplicate patent strategy. But it’s really simple: nobody pushes around the person with the biggest gun.
Most advice is a Rorschach test - it means different things to different people. Take the classic: “Do one thing well.”
Great to see everyone at IPO! It was a great experience meeting new folks from all over the industry. We did 2 things:
I've seen thousands of continuation recommendations. Our AI-generated recommendation beats all of them.
Most companies don’t know which of their patents are the best. And how could they? To find out, you’d normally need outside counsel to build claim charts costing 5 or 6 figures.
Super proud of the team for what has been a monstrous July! I'm most excited about patent charts and product charts. I've long wondered how to identify the most valuable patents in a portfolio at scale. Traditionally, folks used analytics such as number of forward citations, among a few other factors. While this is useful, and we are shipping this in August, the better proxy of value is if you can find live products in the marketplace using your patents.
Most ideas aren’t obviously great. But they’re also not obviously bad. They exist in this uncomfortable middle ground. This is where companies make their worst patent filing decisions.
A partner at a law firm once looked at something I wrote and scolded, “Do you know how to write a paragraph?” I thought I was better than average given I passed the bar and did well in some college writing courses. Apparently not. I had to relearn the basics: use topic sentences and break ideas into digestible pieces.
Many attorneys are hoarders. They'd pay any fee to keep a case alive until the bitter end. Ask them why and you'll hear the same thing: "Just in case!" or "But I've spent so much money on it!" Are these strategies or habits?
We’ve grown faster than expected since launching almost two months ago! There’s real hunger for 1) AI-powered workflows that make teams more efficient and 2) a modern take on IP software.
Slightly hot take: It's a great time to be a specialist. I used to think generalists had the edge. David Epstein's Range convinced me that breadth beats depth. I even switched from patent counsel to product counsel, hoping that exposure to different legal domains as a 'mini-GC' would make me a better attorney.
If you're looking for an easy 10% performance boost, minimize the friction of getting your thoughts to an LLM. Install the desktop app, learn the shortcut, or keep the tab open - whatever gets you feedback faster.
When choosing outside counsel, pay attention to the associates. As a former associate, I learned that they don't just support the process; they critically shape it.
The first time I saw true craftsmanship was at Fish & Richardson. Seeing Hans Troesch's work was like seeing a new primary color. Hans is a once-in-a-generation craftsman who redefined "excellence" for me.
Hello, world. I've been lurking for 20 years. But the problems that excite me now won’t let me stay there.