This post originally appeared on the Louisiana Technology Park blog.
A New Orleans-based startup is working to simplify the complex and expensive process for securing a patent, a significant hurdle that can discourage inventors from bringing their products to market.
PatentDive’s proprietary visual-based software tool significantly reduces the time and cost of drafting a U.S. patent application, which can be a burden for inventors and small companies with no background in patent law or patent-application strategies. They often struggle with properly describing their inventions in enough detail to pass muster with strict patent officials and secure a patent that lets them market their product.
Founder and CEO Eric Leininger outlined the challenges that inventors encounter when applying for a patent and offered entrepreneurs an introductory course in drafting a patent application during a recent Tech Park Academy event at the Louisiana Technology Park.
Ideas to Implementation
An inventor and entrepreneur, Leininger has more than a decade of computer programming experience, holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Tulane University and is a USPTO-registered patent agent.
The rules and regulations for obtaining patents are quite complex, Leininger says, and overcoming this lack of understanding requires inventors to invest in one-on-one educational training with a patent professional. But working with a patent professional can be both costly and time-consuming. “Most entrepreneurs have more ideas than time,” he says.
The PatentDive application lets users create highly detailed applications, or disclosures, with a simple drag-and drop interface. Users can then quickly upload, dissect and label drawings and models of inventions. The software easily break downs an invention into its component parts and uses, then automatically generates patent documents. Once complete, users receive a USPTO-compliant application in PDF form.