Unity of invention decides whether one application can cover several inventions. Learn the single-inventive-concept test and how the PCT, EPO, and USPTO differ.
Provisional Patent Application Drawings: 6 Smart Rules
Do provisional patent application drawings have to be formal? A practical guide to informal sketches, the 35 U.S.C. 113 rule, and the new-matter trap.
European Patent Drafting: 7 Rules to Win at the EPO
A US-style application filed at the EPO without reworking rarely survives examination. Here are the seven rules that separate a European patent that grants from one that stalls.
Shop Rights: 6 Essential Rules on Employee Inventions
A practical guide to shop rights: the employer’s implied, royalty-free license to an employee invention, how it arises, and why it is a poor substitute for an assignment.
Bolar Safe Harbor: 6 Essential Rules Under 35 USC 271(e)(1)
A practical guide to the Bolar safe harbor under 35 USC 271(e)(1): what it protects, how far reasonably related reaches, and where the exemption runs out.
Patent Exhaustion: 5 Critical Rules After Lexmark
Sell a patented product once, and your patent rights in that unit are gone — no matter what the label says. Here is what the Supreme Court actually held, and how to structure around it.
Certificate of Correction: 5 Smart Rules to Fix a Patent
A typo in an issued patent can quietly weaken a claim or break a priority chain. A certificate of correction is the low-cost fix — but only for the right kind of error, and only going forward. Here is what it can repair, what it cannot, the litigation trap that surprises owners, and five rules for using it well.
Markush Claims: 6 Smart Rules for Drafting Alternatives
One claim can protect a whole family of alternatives — if you draft it the way the USPTO expects. This guide walks through the Markush format, the improper-grouping rejection that trips up chemical and biotech applications, election of species, and six practical rules for getting alternatives allowed.
Provisional Patent Deadline: 5 Essential Rules for 2026
The provisional patent deadline gives you 12 non-extendable months. Here’s how the clock works, how to claim benefit, and how to restore priority if you slip.
Supplemental Examination: 5 Smart Ways to Save a Patent
A single reference you forgot to disclose during prosecution can make an entire patent unenforceable years later. This AIA proceeding lets a patent owner cure that vulnerability before an accused infringer ever raises it. Here is how it works, the timing traps, and five smart ways to use it.
Patent Misuse: 6 Costly Traps and How to Avoid Them
A patent can be perfectly valid and still unenforceable if the owner overreached in licensing it. Here is how the patent misuse defense works after Morton Salt, Kimble, and Princo, the six traps that trigger it, and how to purge misuse before it costs you a case.
Patent Infringement Monitoring: 6 Steps to Catch Infringers
A patent you never enforce is a patent you overpay for. This guide shows how to build a patent infringement monitoring program, detect copycats, and act before your damages window closes.
Track One Prioritized Examination: A 12-Month Fast Lane
A regular U.S. patent application can sit for two or three years before an examiner opens it. Track One prioritized examination compresses that to roughly twelve months for a fixed fee, with no prior-art search paperwork required. Here is how the program works, what it costs, the claim limits that trip applicants up, and when the fee is worth paying.
Claim Construction: 6 Keys to Winning a Markman Hearing
Claim construction is the pretrial ruling that decides what your patent claims mean, and it quietly settles most patent cases. Here is how the Markman hearing works and how to win it.
Reissue Patent: 6 Essential Rules to Fix Your Claims
A reissue lets you repair a patent that claims too much, too little, or rests on a flawed specification, but the tool comes with a two-year broadening window, a recapture trap, and intervening rights for competitors. Here is when a reissue patent works, when it backfires, and the six rules that keep a correction from costing you the claims you already own.
Patent Prosecution Highway: 6 Steps to a Faster Patent
If one patent office has already allowed your claims, you can use that result to jump the queue in another office for no petition fee. The patent prosecution highway is one of the most underused tools in international filing. Here is how it works, who qualifies, and six steps to file a request that sticks.
On-Sale Bar: 6 Rules to Avoid Losing Your Patent
Sell or offer your invention too soon and you can forfeit the patent before you ever file. Here is how the on-sale bar works after Pfaff and Helsinn, when the one-year clock starts, and six rules to keep an early deal from sinking your rights.
Patent Enablement Requirement: 6 Essential Rules
Broad claims fail when the specification does not teach how to reach them. Here is what the patent enablement requirement demands after Amgen v. Sanofi, how the Wands factors work, and six rules to draft claims that hold their full scope.
Means Plus Function Claims: 7 Smart Drafting Rules
Functional claiming under 35 USC 112(f) can quietly narrow a claim to a single embodiment. Here is when it triggers, why it matters, and how to draft around it.
Inequitable Conduct: 6 Costly Traps to Avoid
What inequitable conduct is, the Therasense but-for materiality and intent standard, the duty of candor under 37 CFR 1.56, and how a disciplined prior-art record keeps a patent enforceable.