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There’s that sensitive time in the life of a young company when an entrepreneur has a fresh idea and is working to shape the raw concept into something patentable. In the ensuing months, the inventor is shadowed by the risk of a slip-up that will allow the great idea to flit away to be claimed by someone else.
Edward Ahn went through that stage of innovation and caution. Ahn was founder of Angstrom Medica Inc. of Woburn, which was acquired in 2007 by Pioneer Surgical Technology, where he is now vice president of product development. Ahn’s work at Angstrom Medica led to a half-dozen patent applications, most of which are in process, with one already issued. His intellectual property centers on using nanotechnology, a device called Nanoss, that can remodel into human bone.
His advice to other inventors centers on “compartmentalization,” hiring a lawyer as soon as possible, and filing early and often.
“I think what I did right was that I patented relatively frequently with a lot of provisional patents to protect our rights,” he said, noting the importance of priority dates and the growing need to patent more finite elements of a product rather than just the completed product.
He suggested that inventors approach a patent using what amounts to a project plan, evaluating the methods and pathways and identifying how they can measure the success of their invention.
“You have to put your arms around a patent, what it is, how I can make it and how I know when I have achieved it,” he said. “You can use it as both an offensive and defensive tool. Patent the core technology, patent the ways of making it and document the processes.”
Two situations that could lead to problems such as someone claiming to be a collaborator on a patent are social environments where conversation turns to what an inventor is doing and collaborations. That’s where compartmentalization comes in. In social situations, inventors should limit what they reveal so that another person doesn’t have enough information to reduce an idea to practice. When working with partners, compartmentalization means giving the collaborator specifics on what they need to provide — for example a component of a test tool — without getting a good view of how their contribution will be used in a finished product.
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