Preparing to Defend your Patent

When you find yourself defending a patent in a court of law, there are a couple of key pieces of evidence that can help make your case for you. As you prepare for court and meet with attorneys, be sure to have all of the documentation you need to defend your ideas.

Lab Notebooks

Your lab notebooks are one of the most important pieces of evidence you can introduce to defend your patent. You should have taken skillful, meticulous notes that were kept in chronological volumes. Be sure to have these ready for meetings with your lawyers to help build your case.

Team Project Reports

These reports show your progress throughout your research and development, and can back up some of the data in your notebooks, specifically the dates and times that certain phases of work were started or completed.

Records of Failures

While your recorded failures should be kept in the same notebook as your successes, they deserve separate mention. Notebooks that are full of “wins” can seem unbelievable, to some, in a court of law. Showing that your work had failures, as well as successes, can lend credibility to your research and work for you when you find yourself defending a patent.

Your patents are the result of your blood, sweat, and tears. In order to ensure that you win any litigation, you should always start any research project under the assumption that you will have to prove the work is yours, and that the work is real, in a court of law. Your lab notebooks, project reports, and successes and failures will all help you in court.