Using An Invention Checklist Badly

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”1449″ img_size=”600×300″ onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://ipeducation.patenteducation.org/courses/patents-340-invention-rating-checklist/”][vc_column_text]This is a transcript from a section of the course “Patents 340 – Invention Rating Checklist,” which is available here at IP.Education.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_text_separator title=”Download the Checklist”][vc_single_image image=”997″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://ipeducation.patenteducation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2016/06/Invention-Rating-Checklist-IP.Education.pdf”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_text_separator title=”Get the Book”][vc_single_image image=”20″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://investinginpatents.com”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Do Not Use The Checklist Badly

The checklist is just a tool – a guide – that gives you some objective measures for evaluating inventions.

The elements in the checklist are important and they distill lots of hard fought lessons into a handful of critical elements.

But scoring high on the checklist does not guarantee success.

Many people have asked if the total score is meaningful.

For example, many people assume that BlueIron will finance patents that score over some number – let’s say 30 – on the checklist total score.

This is not how the checklist is designed.

It is not designed to tell you that your invention meets some minimum score for patenting.

It is designed to help you think through – and improve – your invention.

Protecting inventions is a very difficult task that is more art than science.

Do not overthink the elements.  There are plenty of exceptions to all of the rules.

Lots of inventions might fail on one or two elements, but they still might have significant value to your company if they were patented.

The checklist leaves out the intangible reasons why you might get a patent.

For some companies, just having a patent gives a sense of prestige and value, even when the patent is completely unenforceable.

This is OK.  The patent still meets a business need.

Using this checklist does not make you a patent expert, but it is one step in getting there.

What I am trying to say is that the checklist is not the end all, be all of patents.

It is merely a tool, a framework, for helping you make objective evaluation of inventions.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]