Practical perspectives on IP strategy, licensing, and patent enforcement by Kai-Erik Elers. Browse the summaries by topic and follow the links to read the original posts on LinkedIn.
Ex Parte Reexamination Explained
Ex parte reexamination is another U.S. route for reconsidering patentability based on specified prior art. This post introduces the paper-based process and compares its participation, cost, and strategic features with inter partes review.
Prioritizing Your Patent Portfolio
A small share of patent families may account for much of a portfolio’s business value. This post uses the Pareto principle to explore strategic definitions of value, evidence gathering, ranking, and decisions about further investment.
Inter Partes Review: The 2025 Debate
Changes discussed in 2025 prompted debate over access to inter partes review. This post explores contrasting stakeholder perspectives on efficiency, cost, court overlap, and the consequences of stricter screening for patent challenges.
Inter Partes Review Explained
Inter partes review offers a U.S. administrative route for challenging patent claims using specified prior art. This post introduces the process and explores its potential advantages, procedural limits, and relationship with court litigation.
Reverse Engineering for Patent Investigations
Reverse engineering can provide technical evidence for a patent infringement assessment. This post explores product access, specialized teardown skills, economic justification, and the close collaboration needed between engineers and patent counsel to map findings to claims.
Patent Citations as Competitive Intelligence
Later patent applications can reveal who is developing technology near your own inventions. This post explores citation monitoring as a source of competitive intelligence and potential investigation leads, while distinguishing those signals from proof of infringement.
Giving Inventors Room to Discover
Unexpected experimental results can lead to valuable inventions when researchers have time to investigate them. Drawing on a semiconductor development experience, this post explores curiosity, flexible schedules, and psychological safety as conditions for discovery.
Patents as Financing Collateral
Patent-rich start-ups may still struggle to obtain loans because IP valuation and liquidation are challenging. This post explores intellectual property as collateral and compares approaches to IP-backed financing across several markets.
Investigating Process Patent Infringement
Manufacturing processes can be difficult to investigate when the end product reveals little about how it was made. This post explores evidence challenges and U.S. mechanisms discussed in relation to enforcing process patents.
Global IP Trends in WIPO’s 2024 Report
WIPO’s 2024 indicators provide a snapshot of global intellectual property activity. This post highlights patent filing patterns, Finland’s performance, international applications, and women’s participation in invention, drawing on the report’s historical data.
Freedom to Operate Before Commercialization
Third-party patents can restrict commercialization regardless of how research was funded. This post explores the role of freedom-to-operate analysis in identifying barriers before substantial investment and supporting more informed research and financing decisions.
Patent Value Across Jurisdictions
Patent value depends partly on the practical ability to enforce rights in each market. This post explores geographic filing choices, litigation economics, and how licensing can create value even where enforcement is challenging.