Apex: Connector Patent Assessment

Connector Patent Assessment

Patents protect new product features and allow a company to enjoy market exclusivity for a given time. Because others may infringe your design, a thorough assessment is advised at an early stage. APEX helps strengthen your patent by identifying and interpreting similar claims, helps to avoid potential infringement, and advises on “design-arounds”. APEX suggests claims based on truly novel features, works with legal counsel, acts as a patent agent, and performs as expert witness during patent challenges or litigation.

WHY APEX:

  • Free-up internal resources with independent, third-party expertise
  • Assist in the new “First-to-File” process of the America Invents Act (AIA) 
  • Experienced working with legal counsel and the USPTO
  • Assure claims coverage of all unique and novel product features
  • Post-Grant participation in Inter-Partes Review (IPR) and ExParte Reexamination (EPR)
  • Access to experts having more than 300 issued patents on interconnection technology
  • Exclusivity to higher sales, profitability, and market share

APEX PATENT ASSESSMENTS INCLUDE:

  • Description of viable claims and identification of key product features
  • Database research to screen and identify existing patents for review
  • Determine specific claims relating the new product to those already invented
  • Familiar with the connector industry, its history, and related technologies
  • Provide design-arounds to existing patents, patent teachings, and patented claims
  • Cite existing intellectual property utilized in patent search
  • Serve as expert witness during infringement suits and reexamintions

EXAMPLES OF APEX PATENT ASSESSMENTS:

  • Decreased the likelihood of infringement by identifying patents having similar claims
  • Suggested design-arounds on specific claims with new features that achieved equivalent performance
  • Highlighted similar patents that were previously unknown to a client
  • Expanded claims and patent coverage by identifying product features that a client overlooked
  • Drafted initial patent text and claims for a new application
  • Documented industry and product technologies that formed the basis of the Background of a patent
  • Defended existing patent claims during reexamination by filing expert declarations to the USPTO
  • Worked extensively with patent counsel to invalidate claims in competitive patents