It’s not your fault. Most people get caught up in the legal mindset of patents and miss their true business purpose.
Most people view patents solely through the legal lens – but if all you see is a legal oddity, then this is all patents can ever be for you. Unless you break through, you’ll remain stuck in the world of ineffective patents.
Like everyone else.
But here’s the key: it all starts with changing your perspective. If you want patents to be a genuine game-changer for your business, there’s one change you need to make: your perspective.
In reality, patents are business tools: assets that support growth, attract attention, and provide business leverage – all without ever setting foot in a courtroom.
The paradigm shifts completely. Shift how you see patents, and you unlock their true potential. When integrated into your business thinking, they can open doors you didn’t know were there.
So how do you make this shift? It comes down to a set of essential principles — business-first ways of thinking to align patents with your business strategy.
And that’s my purpose: to share 20 essential business principles to help you make better decisions about patenting AI.
Let’s dive in.
Principle 1. Patents Are Business Tools
Patents can be powerful business assets. Their real value lies in enabling commercial strategy – not as a certificate on the wall or in going to court.
Like any business asset, patents should be put to work. (Neither a truck nor a patent is useful if it just sits there). Done right, patents can increase investor or acquirer interest in your business, attract collaborators, provide leverage in negotiations, create marketing buzz or enhance technical credibility.
Even without courts, patents may deter competitors – like a lock on a door. But to be useful, your patenting efforts must align with your value proposition and broader strategy.
Principle 2. Effective Patents Require Strategic Planning
They aren’t merely a follow-on from technology development. A patent’s value stems more from its alignment with your core value proposition than from the technological advancement it covers.
A strategically-patented simple idea often holds more value than an advanced innovation with poor alignment to your business.
AI companies should integrate patent thinking early, by asking: What supports our business goals? What would acquirers or investors care about? What’s our key differentiator? Where are technology bottlenecks?
For success, business strategy drives patenting – not technical fascination.
Principle 3. The Bar Is Lower Than You Think
Patents don’t require groundbreaking innovation. Many cover simple technical improvements. Apple’s Slide-to-Unlock and Amazon’s One-Click are famous examples of patents that were quite effective for their owners.
Effective patents more often protect small, practical enhancements rather than game-changers. Recognizing this can uncover overlooked opportunities for your technology to support your business goals. Simple innovations that play an important role in your differentiators are often strategic opportunities.
Principle 4. There’s a Strategic Compromise.
To get a patent, you must disclose how your innovation works, and then this description is published 18 months later. That’s the trade-off. You cannot patent a concept and keep it secret.
Understanding this compromise – what you disclose vs. what you get – is essential for making informed decisions about which innovations to patent. Besides financial costs, there are also strategic costs to consider.
Principle 5. Not All Patents Are The Same
Some patents are effective; many are not. The difference lies in their scope and focus – their words.
Two patent experts could draft very different patents for the same idea, depending on the instructions you give them. The patent wording makes all the difference.
A patent’s beating heart is its claims – numbered paragraphs at the end of the document. Think of the claims like a recipe: one small change can dramatically impact the outcome. The difference between good and terrible chocolate chip cookies can be as small as a single ingredient or instruction.
That’s why strategic planning, and having a clear idea of your business objective for the patent, are so important. This preparation helps the patent expert hit your target.
Principle 6. No Patent Can Prevent Copying or Stop Competitors
No single patent – not even a strong one – can do those things. Competitors may copy inadvertently, or simply take the risk. A patent is not a fortress, but more like a lock on your door – many may be deterred, but not all.
As well, litigation is expensive, especially for startups, and few have the resources to go to court – another reason why seeking patents only for ‘protection’ is often suboptimal.
Instead, having more realistic and business-focused expectations provides a much greater likelihood for impactful patent outcomes.
Principle 7. Most Patents Miss Their Potential Business Value
Effective patents don’t just cover ideas or technology – they cover solutions to problems customers care about. A shift in focus is essential to obtaining effective, business-relevant patents.
Most patents fall short by focusing narrowly on technology or product features. But those can often be worked around. Instead, you want to focus the claims on real, customer-facing problems your technology solves – the kind that competitors will also need to address. That’s where the business value of patenting lies.
Principle 8. Detectability: The Hallmark of Effective Patents
There’s no patent police. You must detect infringement yourself – which is only possible if the patented feature is externally visible.
Much in AI is not externally detectable, and cannot easily be reverse-engineered. But some things are: Novel use cases, visible design elements, user interfaces, hardware elements, or the way outputs reflect inner workings may all be detectable. If it can’t be seen or inferred, a patent typically won’t be an effective asset.
For undetectable inventions, keeping as trade secrets is often more effective.
Principle 9. The ‘Goldilocks’ Time for Filing a Patent
File too late, and you may lose rights because someone else filed first. But filing too early may mean your patent isn’t aligned with your final product. Once patents are filed they can’t revised, even after a pivot. In other words, the ideal filing time is an optimization.
For startups that haven’t found market fit, it’s probably too early to file because you may not understand the problem, or the full solution. Many experts recommend either waiting until after finding market fit to file (in Canada and the US, using their 1-year grace periods), or filing early and then filing again as improvements are made.
Choose a strategy that fits your goals, budget, and risk tolerance.
Principle 10. Patenting AI is Different than Other Technologies
One size doesn’t fit all. Effective patenting in AI diverges significantly from other technologies.
In fields like hardware or pharmaceuticals, patenting is often the only way to protect the intellectual property exposed in the physical product. But AI product technology usually isn’t accessible the same way, and it’s publishing in a patent that would create the first exposure.
Patenting in AI requires balancing protection, disclosure risk, and business value. A blanket “patent everything” approach doesn’t work in AI – a more thoughtful strategy is needed.
Principle 11. Effective Patenting Requires ‘Why, What and When.’
Effective patenting stems more from strategic alignment of the patent to the business goals. To do this, we need to ask 3 questions:
- Why do I want a patent? Your purpose affects your focus. If you don’t aim your arrow, you’re unlikely to hit the target. Understanding ‘why’ is how you aim.
- What will achieve that goal? In real estate, location is paramount. In patents, it’s all about the what’s in the claims. Effective patents cover solutions to customer problems, not just technology, because this is the ‘location’ where customers (and competitors) want to be.
- When is the best time to file? As we saw in Principle 9, timing can significantly impact the effectiveness of your patent. Your answers to ‘why’ and ‘what’ will also help you determine the optimal timing.
Principle 12. Effective Patents Need Participation and Perseverance
Patenting needs you – the business expert – not just patent experts and inventors. Delegating the entire process to the other two is a common mistake.
You must stay engaged, especially after filing during the examination process, where changes to the patent’s claims can make or break the patent’s effectiveness. Fatigue and shortcuts at this stage unfortunately ruin the outcome all too often.
Principle 13. Cutting Corners Results in Weak Patents
Not all patents are the same – effective patents require a proper investment of time and money.
Rushed or underfunded patents often do more harm than good. They disclose your innovation publicly without real protection, waste resources, and create false confidence.
That doesn’t mean you must spend recklessly. Collaborate with your patent expert on how to manage costs without sacrificing quality. Time and effort invested in clarity, preparation, and strategic focus pay dividends in patenteffectiveness.
Principle 14. Granted Patents Can Be Invalidated.
Patents are not invincible. Even after grant, a patent can be challenged in court or through re-examination. It may be invalidated if it’s no longer seen as novel (based on new information), or if its claims are determined to be unclear.
The potential for invalidation holds significance for both patent owners and competitors. For owners, it underscores the importance of well-drafted, strategically planned patents. For competitors, it opens opportunities to challenge patents.
Having realistic expectations for your patent is essential. Also, having multiple patents, such as for a core concept and some significant improvements, provides for more robust resilience, in case one is weakened or invalidated.
Principle 15. Using Your Patented Concept Can Infringe Other Patents.
Surprisingly, having a patent doesn’t give you the power to use it – there is no guaranteed ‘freedom to operate’ with a patent.
That’s because patents provide a ‘negative’ right – to stop others, but not necessarily to proceed yourself. For example, if your patent builds on a prior patent, using your concept could infringe the prior patent.
Understanding this subtle but critical legal point is key to forming effective patent strategies in overlapping innovation spaces.
Principle 16. You Can Influence the Speed of the Patent Process.
Yes, the patent process can be slow – but this doesn’t necessarily diminish the value of patents in AI. Here’s how to compensate:
AI patents should focus on long-term customer pain points, not just current technology – sometimes referred to as ‘future-proofing’ a patent. As technology changes, effective patents hold their strategic value better.
You can speed the process up to about a year, using the U.S. Track One process. But on the other hand, a slower process spreads costs over time, easing cash flow.
And even before grant, a well-planned application creates value – representing future value to investors, uncertainty for competitors, and a basis for partnership.
Principle 17. Big Companies Have Different Patent Goals.
Big players often pursue quantity for defensive purposes, creating huge portfolios to deter litigation. They also think defensively by patenting first, so others can’t get the patent to stop them.
Small companies, by contrast, must be strategic. Each patent must align with business goals, support the value proposition, and be enforceable. As startups grow, their strategies can evolve – but early-stage companies should generally avoid blindly copying big-company tactics that don’t fit their needs or resources.
Principle 18. What You Think About Patents Isn’t Always the Point.
When it comes to patents, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Investors and acquirers value strong, effective patents, and a patent also reveals your commitment to building a durable advantage.
And even if you’re not dealing with copycats just yet, patenting takes time, and waiting until you need one will be too late. Best to think ahead.
Principle 19. You Get to Decide Who Uses Your Patented Concept.
A patent doesn’t mean you must stop others – it simply gives you the right to choose.
Many open-source codes and models are covered by patents, which is why the MIT license, for example, includes a patent license provision.
Patenting strategies can also support marketing efforts (clients tend to like patented stuff better), and bolster technical credibility within the industry.
And if you’re the one with the patent, others can’t get it to use against you.
In short, there are many strategic business reasons to patent that don’t require courtrooms or judges.
Principle 20. Monitoring Competitor Patents Provides Business Intelligence.
Competitor patents are a rich source of insight. They can reveal R&D directions, market positioning, future threats, and potential collaborators. Monitoring also helps avoid conflicts, and spot whitespace in the market. Free online tools are readily available with access to global patent data.
Wrap-Up
If you truly want patents to be a game-changer for your business, you must change your perspective on patents – from a fixed, legal mindset to a growth-oriented, business mindset.
These 20 principles help you to begin to see patents in context of everyday commerce – enabling you to apply your business intuition and common sense to all aspects of your AI business, including patents.
For an more in-depth discussion of each principle, download the full white paper here:
https://www.scaleai.ca/about-us/publications/essential-business-principles-for-patenting-in-ai/