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