Valuetech Consulting Inc.

Intellectual Property : Patents

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam

Patent Services

As Intellectual Property Specialists, we can help you as much or as little as you wish, according to the level of help that you need and your budget. We can undertake the work ourselves or we can offer you guidance if you are doing the majority of work yourself. If you do not have a patent agent we can recommend one. Either way, the aim is to provide maximum benefit at an optimised cost. Note that we are not patent agents or patent lawyers and do not represent clients in proceedings with any patent office.

Disclosure

Valuetech can work with inventors to define what material may be worthy of a patent application. We define precisely what the invention is in a disclosure document, how it differs from existing technology and what its usefulness may be.

Invention Harvesting

This is how we help to identify knowhow within your company which may be patentable. Valuetech can visit the scientists and engineers in your company, reviewing the projects they are working on and the ideas they have, honing in on material which may be patentable and providing a list of potential inventions. It is often the case that patentable ideas are overlooked because they mistakenly seem too trivial.

Patent Search

A thorough patent search is always recommended before filing a patent application, to make sure that you're not trying to patent something which already exists. This applies whether you're filing a provisional application or a regular application. Valuetech has carried out many searches and has often revealed prior art close to the invention in question. This often leads to even more inventive thinking and results in an improved product as well as a stronger patent application.

Patent Drafting

We can make a very good initial draft your patent application or we can edit or review your own drafting. Working together with you we accomplish as much as possible in-house before passing the work onto a patent agent for the finishing touches. We can contribute to the thought process by brainstorming with you, so that as many variations of the invention as possible are covered and included in the patent application.

Patent Prosecution

Typically 2-3 years after filing a patent application you will receive an office action from the Patent Office to which you applied. It is normal for the patent examiner to object in some way to your application. Negotiation with the examiner during this prosecution stage needs special care. It needs to draw on the expertise of the inventors, it needs an excellent eye for detail, it needs creative thought and it all needs to be combined into a delicately drafted argument. We can draw out the best from the inventors and provide the basis for the argument, which is then reviewed and polished by either your patent agent or one of our associated patent agents.

Claims Mining

You may have an existing patent application, which you want to strengthen, or from which you want to file a continuation or divisional application. Valuetech can go through the text of your application with a fine-toothed comb and identify all possible further claims which you may be able to make. These would then become the subject of a further one or more patent applications that we would help develop in conjunction with your scientists, engineers and your patent agent.

Contact

Tel. +1 604 781 4825
Fax +1 815 550 1244
 

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam
© Valuetech 2002-7. Valuetech Intellectual Property: Patents in Vancouver & Lower Mainland BC, Canada
Last updated March 2008.  Valuetech Consulting Inc.