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What Does a Software Patent Attorney Do?

Products and service in our modern economy increasingly rely on creations in software.  Software development is no longer limited to a handful of industries in just a few locations, and has expanded to practically every industry and location across the globe.  If you are in the software development community you may have considered how intellectual property, patents in particular, may be used to preserve the value of your software creations.  We at Berkeley Law & Technology Group (BLTG) have a breadth of knowledge and experience to assist you with determining whether pursuit of patent would be an appropriate approach to preserving value in your software creation, and how to go about such a pursuit.  A software patent attorney at BLTG can work with you and your team to provide cost effective solutions to protecting your software inventions. 

Our software patent attorneys and agents have hands on design experience, have helped our clients in industries including computer science, electrical engineering and finance, and can quickly grasp your technology.  With a clear understanding of your technology, our software patent attorneys can readily describe your invention in a specification to be accompanied with a set of drawings.  Whether your technology is in the area of financial applications, blockchain, neural networks, machine learning or advanced signal processing, BLTG can interact with you and your team to craft a compelling description and drawings to highlight the essential details.  In addition to accurately characterizing your invention in patent documents, our software patent attorneys and agents understand the particular nuances of patent law in relation to inventions to be implemented in software. 

To receive a patent under U.S. Patent Law, an invention (as expressed in patent claims) must be adequately described writing, novel and nonobvious, and set forth particular “patent eligible” subject matter.  In the area of patent eligible subject matter, much has evolved since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the 2014 Alice case in which certain judicial exceptions to patent eligible subject matter (e.g., so-called “abstract ideas”) were emphasized.  In preparing and prosecuting patent applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), our software patent attorneys and agents have a long track record of avoiding the Alice trap to provide our clients with patents directed to software inventions.    

Federal Courts and the U.S. Patent Office have also been active in further defining the requirements of written description support for patent applications directed to software inventions.  With input from you and your team, our seasoned software patent attorneys and agents can capture algorithmic details and specialty hardware details to meet the requirements of written description, and enable a broad enforceable claim scope.    

We understand that patents are a major investment, and we want to help you protect that investment with our deep expertise in this particular area of patent law.  You’ve put in the hard work of developing the software, so let us help you retain proper rights to it.  We can assist you regardless of what stage you are at in the patent process. Contact us today to arrange a consultation and learn more about how we can help.

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