Harvesting Software Innovation

Harvesting Software Innovation

Evaluating software development for potential patent protection can seem more difficult than for hardware or manufacturing methods.  There are lots of reasons for this, but one may be the cultural hesitancy among software developers to pursue patent protection.  Software developers are used to sharing, collaboration, and moving quickly.  They don’t tend to think of their work as an invention.  That’s why our guest Karl Barnfather suggests orienting your review around innovation instead of invention.  Karl shared his experiences with Elizabeth and Nathaniel on this episode, including engaging with developers and overcoming their propensity to say “this was trivial” or “this didn’t take very long.”  Incentive schemes, training, and adding a publication option can all help increase the flow of disclosures and provide more options for protection.

Closing Funding Gaps for STEM Students: Last Mile Education Fund

Much of a company’s innovation is based on its talent.  If you look at recent news, the semiconductor industry needs more talented people.  But life disruptions can derail a promising student from being an engineer, scientist, or technician in the semiconductor industry.  Scholarships won’t cover things like needing new tires for your car, covering the cost of a funeral of a family member, or other emergencies.  A huge percentage of promising students can’t absorb costs like that, which puts a dream of working in the industry out of reach.  It also removes that individual’s future innovation contribution from the future talent pool.  Elizabeth and Nathaniel were joined by Ruthe Farmer, Founder and CEO at Last Mile Education Fund, which closes critical gaps in funding and career support for financially vulnerable college students who are in the “last mile” to graduation in high-demand STEM fields.  An alumnus of the fund, Aburva GS, also shared her personal experiences about how the fund kept her on track to graduation and enabled her to stay in the semiconductor industry.

Unified Patents – Fighting NPEs in the Semiconductor Sector

Approximately 86% of high-tech IP litigation involves a non-practicing entity. Unfortunately, challenging the NPEs forces companies to make a decision: why should my company pay the costs of a challenge when my competitors benefit? Enter Unified Patents, which helps members deter invalid or unsubstantiated patent assertions. Elizabeth and Nathaniel were joined by Sasha Sokhis from Unified Patents to learn more about the Unified Patents organization, how it helps members, and recent trends in IP disputes.  Sasha also discussed their patent reexamination and licensing strategies.

Differences in US and European Patent Law: Obviousness and Intermediate Generalization

The United States is one of the largest non-European filers at the European Patent Office, with around a quarter of its total applications in 2024. That means semiconductor companies need to consider European patent rules and procedures as part of their filing strategy. On this episode, Elizabeth and Nathaniel were joined by Phil Sanger from Grey Wolf IP in the United Kingdom to learn about some issues in European patent practice that come up when trying to coordinate prosecution from the US. First, they discussed the standard for obviousness, including the number of references that can be cited in Europe, starting from the closest prior art reference, and the importance of technical effects. Then they discussed Europe’s (dreaded) intermediate generalization and strategies to avoid adding undesired features in a claim amendment. Drafting the specification in a way that the desired feature is optional or is not necessarily only linked to other features can help in this situation, but that requires activity well before the patent application is filed in Europe.

The Unitary Patent System: A Two-Year Review

Companies from across tech industries have been carefully watching Europe’s Unitary Patent system since its 2023 launch.  A Unitary Patent offers simplicity and reduces the administrative burden for applicants.  You manage one patent, pay one renewal fee, and have one legal system to deal with.  You also can obtain a single injunction across 18 European countries.  However, there is a risk.  A competitor can invalidate your Unitary Patent in a single action.  Now that we have nearly 22,500 patents requested and over 940 cases already filed in court, Elizabeth and Nathaniel were joined by Paul Keane and David Keane, both European patent attorneys at FRKelly in Ireland, to understand recent trends and potential strategies to implement the Unitary Patent system in a company’s global patent portfolio.