Patent Services

We will help you as much or as little as you wish, according to the level of help that you need and your budget. We will undertake the work ourselves or we will offer you guidance if you are doing the majority of work yourself. We can also have work reviewed by one of our patent agents to provide maximum benefit at an optimized cost.

We Invent for You

Do you need patents? Entrepreneurs, start-ups and new businesses, particularly those involved with technology or software often require patents to be filed to satisfy the funding partners, whether private investors, angel investors or venture capitalists. Even new ventures within established companies need patents filed for protection and the possibility of future royalty streams to keep the shareholders happy. We invent for you! We participate in brainstorming sessions with you, we observe at technical planning meetings and marketing meetings, or we discuss the project with your in-house experts on an individual basis. What typically then results, either there and then or in the following few days, is a plethora of ideas, several of which are then picked as the most suitable ones for filing patent applications. Any inventions that Valuetech provides as a result of the exercise are assigned to the client.

Disclosure

Valuetech will 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's patent agents or patent specialists 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.

Patent Drafting

We can draft your patent application or we can edit or review your own drafting. 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 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 one of our 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's patent agent 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.