The value of a patent extends beyond simple protection. It allows a company to escape commoditization and command higher prices. For startups, patents are tangible assets that justify higher valuations. In legal disputes, they provide crucial leverage for negotiating settlements with competitors.
IP attorneys are not just legal advisors; they must have a science or engineering background. This dual expertise allows them to work directly with engineering teams on "design around" strategies, helping to modify a product to avoid patent infringement while still meeting business goals.
The choice between a patent and a trade secret is a strategic decision based on vulnerability. If a product can be purchased and deconstructed to reveal its innovation, a patent is the necessary path. Trade secrets are only viable for innovations that are impossible to discover through reverse engineering.
The convergence of AI, blockchain, and quantum computing is creating technological shifts faster than our legal frameworks can adapt. U.S. patent law, with roots in 1790, is slow to evolve, creating significant uncertainty and risk for innovators and companies building on these new platforms.
While an AI model itself may not be an infringement, its output could be. If you use AI-generated content for your business, you could face lawsuits from creators whose copyrighted material was used for training. The legal argument is that your output is a "derivative work" of their original, protected content.
The legal question of AI authorship has a historical parallel. Just as early photos were deemed copyrightable because of the photographer's judgment in composition and lighting, AI works can be copyrighted if a human provides detailed prompts, makes revisions, and exercises significant creative judgment. The AI is the tool, not the author.
Companies often have undiscovered IP because technologists don't always communicate their innovations effectively. A simple management practice of regularly talking to engineers and asking "What problem are you facing?" and "How did you overcome it?" can surface valuable, patentable solutions that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Product managers often wait too long to engage IP counsel. The ideal time for a patentability study is before incurring major, non-recoverable production costs, like creating specialized molds. This prevents sinking significant capital into a product that might infringe on an existing patent and require a costly redesign.