Joining the patent family
Being the CEO of a small company can be challenging; managing the company's intellectual property (IP) is yet another strategic task for him/her. Nature Technology Corporation's chief executive, Clague Hodgson, explains how inovia became a welcome addition to his IP management and patent filing processes.
Nature Technology Corporation (NTC) is a small but successful bio-engineering technology company. Based in Nebraska, USA, NTC provides the pharmaceutical and industrial biotechnology industries with outsourced solutions for design, research, process development and manufacturing of Biologics.
The company currently has 23 issued patents, with 12 more in development and 5 at the international stage, yet astonishingly doesn’t use domestic patent attorneys or outside counsel. All of NTC’s patent specifications are drafted by its in-house scientists.
"There are only 10 of us here, so each person wears a few hats," explains Clague.
International rescue
As with many small businesses, the cost of legal counsel can become a barrier to innovation. Training the scientists to draft patents and keeping their domestic filing in-house has enabled NTC to keep costs to a minimum. It wasn’t until a number of the company’s patents had reached the international stage that Clague considered outsourcing. He needed to find a way to keep both cost and administration at a manageable level, without jeopardizing the safety of NTC’s patent portfolio.
Clague had received inovia’s product literature, which prompted him to investigate further: “I don’t normally respond to direct mail”, says Clague. "But I did to this one. I had a portfolio that needed to enter the national stage and didn’t know all of the international agents."
Because inovia provides an automated cost calculator, Clague was able to obtain instant and accurate costs estimates.
"I particularly like inovia’s online estimates, which can be adjusted to accommodate the coverage we can afford. This allows us to develop international patenting strategies over time" adds Clague.
A reliable source
inovia has a global agent network. This was important to Clague, as it is to many patent owners, because he needed the assurance that inovia was proven (with 750+ clients) and could be trusted to get the job done.
"We like the convenience of having inovia’s multiple international agents working for us around the world, without having to develop relationships on our own. In particular, it saves us the expense of having a patent law firm act as a go-between, when what we need is to manage the process with a web-based provider."
inovia is consistently helping companies like NTC to leverage their resources, yet without forcing them to compromise on quality.
"I’m sold," concludes Clague, "Regardless of whether your company has its own internal legal counsel or not, you should take advantage of inovia’s excellent foreign filing products. Their agents are efficient and cost-effective, which means I don’t have to lose sleep at night."
