Innovar, L.L.C. Innovative Patents and Technologies    OUR PATENT PRACTICE Innovar, L.L.C. handles U.S., PCT International and foreign patent preparation and prosecution. We work with a network of foreign associates to handle a worldwide practice. We also conduct patentability, infringement and state-of-the-art searches in the chemical arts and offer patentability opinion services. We provide patent portfolio strategization and management services to improve the networth of your company by coordinating the company's intellectual property assets with its key business objectives. We can review your patent portfolio to identify gaps in patent coverage. We can identify potential weaknesses in your patent(s) and will work to overcome any potential problems we identify. All this while reducing cost and improving efficiency! HOW THE PATENTING PROCESS WORKS Patent preparation and prosecution is a three-stage process involving: 1) preparation and filing; 2) prosecution; and 3) issuance. The entire process takes about 12-36, with an average of about 19-20 months. After issuance, the maintenance stage comes. Here's a typical case history of the process for a conventional application when a new client approaches us regarding an invention they have made. Preparation and filing: We conduct a free initial consultation with the client to determine if there are any conflicts and confirm that we are able to handle the application. We discuss the in's and out's of the patent process and discuss why one would or would not want to obtain patent protection. The client is made aware of the potential costs involved. We then review the technical disclosure with the client in detail to explore the extent of their conception and help them identify all of the applications and features of their invention. We determine whether or not the invention is patentable by conducting a patentability search and optionally preparing a written patentability opinion. The client decides whether or not to pursue patent protection. If so, a first draft of the application is prepared. The client is encouraged to prepare drawings if possible to help reduce their costs. The first draft is then sent to the client for review and approval. After receiving their feedback and incorporating their changes in the application, a second draft is prepared and sent to the client for review and approval. Generally after review and approval of the second draft, the application is in form for filing. So, the application is then filed. Prosecution: This stage occurs over the next about 11-35 months. It involves a number of steps including filing of an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), reviewing of office actions and references, filing of responses to office actions and more. Most important among these are the steps relating to office actions. An office action (OA) is a document prepared by the examiner handling the application in the Patent Office. The OA includes the examiner's comments regarding patentability of the invention, and the first OA is almost always negative, meaning the examiner has rejected the claims of the application for one reason or another. We review the OA and draft a letter to the client suggesting an appropriate response. After the client agrees to the general content of the response, a first draft of the response is prepared and sent to the client for review and approval. The response is filed with the Patent Office after being finalized. Prosecution generally involves two to three office actions and corresponding responses. At some point, agreement is reached regarding the patentability of the invention as claimed, so the claims are indicated as allowable. Issuance: Once the claims have been allowed, the patent is granted/issued as long as the issue fee and publication fee have been paid and the formal drawings have been filed and approved. Maintenance: A patent filed now has a maximum term of 20 years calculated from its filing date (or priority date). In order to keep the patent enforceable, periodic maintenance fees are paid about every 3.5 - 4 years. The longer a patent is maintained, the higher the maintenance fees. PATENT PORTFOLIO STRATEGIZATION AND MANAGEMENT Once a company has a patent, it has to decide what it will do with it. However, many companies fail to reconcile the scope of their patent coverage with their business plan. Working with the company, we develop a strategy toward exploiting the company's patent(s) thereby increasing the overall value of the company's intellectual property assets. Of course, several of Innovar's clients have patents that other firms have helped them acquire. We help those clients review their patent portfolio to identify gaps in patent coverage and weaknesses in the patent portfolio. For example, we will review a patent to identify problems that may exist in its claims or specification and, where possible, suggest and apply remedies to correct those problems. PATENT AND LITERATURE RESEARCH We provide some of the most comprehensive on-line patent and literature search services available. We subscribe to databases worldwide in order to obtain the most comprehensive searches possible. Where necessary, we even contract our associates to perform hand searches of patent and literature records. Patentability Search and Opinion. Part of obtaining a valuable and enforceable patent is understanding the scope of the patent and scientific or trade literature prior to preparing an application. Our patentability searches are broad in scope and encompass the many different applications and potentially independently patentable features of the inventions we handle. If we say an invention is patentable, we truly believe it is. Our track record in obtaining strong and broad patent coverage for our clients speaks for itself. State of the Art Search and Review. Most companies are relatively well versed with the technologies, activities and products of their competitors. However, access to worldwide patent and scientific literature is typically not readily available. And if it is, it is not easily searchable. If you are interested in finding out more about your competitors than they know about you or if you need to know as much as possible about a particular technology, then our state of the art search service is your answer. We scour the wealth of on-line literature databases to uncover relevant and important information. We then provide a summary of the literature in an information packed yet comprehensible report. Freedom to Operate Search. Non-infringement, or freedom to operate (FTO), means that a company is able to practice a technology without infringing another company's patent(s). The company is literally free to operate in a particular area. The first step in determining this is conducting a comprehensive FTO search of the patent literature in the country(ies) in which the company is interested in conducting its business. As part of the search, we conduct a preliminary review of the claims of the patents identified during the search to determine which of these might present a problem. We then draft a summary of the search and detail some of the key aspects of the relevant patents. With the FTO search results in hand, a company is then able to approach an attorney to prepare a FTO opinion. The FTO opinion, and not the FTO search, would let a company know which patents it would or would not infringe if it were to practice its proposed technology.