Frequently Asked

A patent attorney is a licensed professional qualified to draft, file and prosecute patent applications and provide broader legal advice, including litigation, unlike a US patent agent who can only handle the technical patent work. Most patent offices permit self-represented filing, but self-drafted claims are a common source of weak or unenforceable protection, so most inventors get at least an attorney review.

A medical device patent protects a novel, non-obvious and useful invention related to diagnosing, monitoring or treating patients, following the same core patentability standards as any other utility patent. Medical device patents often run in parallel with regulatory approval, FDA clearance in the US or CE marking under the EU Medical Device Regulation, and Europe excludes methods of medical treatment from patentability.

Patent monitoring is the ongoing tracking of new patent filings and grants, typically to watch competitor activity or detect potential infringement of your own patents. Patent watch services alert you automatically when filings match set criteria. A related but distinct check, freedom-to-operate search, verifies whether a product would infringe someone else's active patents before launch.

Defense tech patents follow the same core patentability requirements as any other patent, novelty, non-obviousness and usefulness, with regulatory overlays layered on top. Export control regimes like ITAR and the EU Dual-Use Regulation can restrict who accesses technical details, and government funding under the Bayh-Dole Act or UK MOD DEFCONs typically grants the government certain use rights.

A good starting point for inventors covers documenting the invention in writing, running a basic prior art search, understanding provisional versus non-provisional filings, and knowing when to bring in professional help. There's no formal credential required to be a legal inventor, only that you conceived a novel, working solution, whether independently or as part of a team.

Patent strategy for startups means prioritising a small number of high-value inventions for protection, filing an early priority application to lock in a filing date cheaply, and using trade secrets for anything that doesn't need public disclosure. Since most countries use first-to-file with no grace period, filing speed matters more than waiting for a finished product.

A prior art search looks for evidence that an invention was already known before the filing date, through earlier patents, publications, products or public demonstrations. Free tools like Google Patents, USPTO Patent Public Search and WIPO's PATENTSCOPE cover most major databases. Professional searches go further, checking non-patent literature and international filings that keyword searches alone typically miss.

Filing a patent means submitting a completed application, an invention disclosure, drafted claims and a specification, to a patent office such as the USPTO or EPO, along with government fees. Examination then takes 18 months to 3 years in the US, or 3 to 5 years in Europe. Most applicants use a patent attorney or an AI-native platform with attorney review to draft it.

Lightbringer is an AI-native patent firm, a Swedish company founded in 2023 that combines purpose-built AI with its own expert patent attorneys to handle IP strategy, drafting, filing, prosecution and portfolio management in one platform. Since launching in 2024, it has helped more than 200 deep tech companies across 17 countries file and manage their patents globally.

Patent portfolio management is the ongoing process of tracking, maintaining and strategically developing a company's full collection of patents and pending applications. It covers deadline tracking, deciding which inventions to protect going forward, and periodically pruning patents that no longer justify their maintenance cost. Portfolio management software typically replaces spreadsheets once a portfolio grows past a handful of patents.

Intellectual property is a category of legal rights protecting creations of the mind: inventions (patents), brand identifiers (trademarks), creative works (copyright) and confidential business information (trade secrets). Each type protects something different and has its own registration process, term and enforcement rules. Most businesses rely on a combination of several types rather than just one.

Yes, software and AI can be patented, but only when claims are tied to a specific technical improvement, such as a novel model architecture or data processing method, rather than an abstract idea running on a generic computer. The same standard applies to physical AI and robotics: claims must describe a concrete technical mechanism, not the general goal of "a robot that does X.

International patent filing means seeking protection beyond your home country, either by filing a single PCT application, which preserves the option to enter over 150 countries for up to 30 months, or by filing directly under the Paris Convention within 12 months of a priority filing. There's no single global patent; protection only exists where a patent has actually been granted.

IP management software tracks patent and trademark filings, renewal and maintenance deadlines, filing status and costs across a portfolio, replacing manual spreadsheet tracking. Dedicated docketing tools focus purely on deadlines; analytics platforms like PatSnap focus on competitive intelligence; and AI-native platforms like Lightbringer combine portfolio tracking with AI-assisted drafting and mandatory attorney review in one workflow.

A utility patent lasts 20 years from the filing date in virtually every country, provided maintenance or annual renewal fees are paid on schedule. A US design patent lasts 15 years from grant, and EU/UK registered designs up to 25 years. Once a patent expires, whether naturally or from a missed fee, the invention enters the public domain.

The three main US patent types are utility patents, which protect how something works, design patents, which protect appearance, and plant patents, for new plant varieties. Utility patents last 20 years from filing; US design patents last 15 years from grant. Patents differ from trademarks, which protect brand identifiers, and copyright, which protects creative works, since each covers a different kind of protection.

A US utility patent typically costs $10,000 to $20,000 or more through a traditional law firm, once attorney fees, USPTO fees and prosecution are included, with European totals in a similar range. USPTO fees alone run about $2,000 for large entities, $800 for small entities and $400 for micro entities. Flat-fee AI-assisted platforms reduce this by cutting attorney drafting hours while keeping attorney review in place.