You know you're in the IP Zone as a team when...

You're in the IP Zone when all involved in forming the final invention disclosure understand the requirements for MPEP compliant filings. You’re in the IP Zone when the lead inventors are engaged in approving the final claims in the patent draft for the preferred embodiment, not just patent counsel. TSM’s universal language and guiding principles are your pathway to get everyone on the same page with these critical points of understanding.  

When everyone on the team learns and applies the IP SAVVYS/TSM playbook for drafting airtight utility patents, you’re final application will have properly scoped claims aligned with an unambiguous specification…and the specification will be de-risked from fatal office action rejections. It will be definite, not ambiguous, and it will capture the essence of your "ah-ha" inventive step in the first claim.

Getting there is informed by a critical understanding of each team members patenting role and their respective goals and objectives. These can sometimes seemingly be conflicting, but they don't have to be if each team member makes their respective contribution to the patenting tasks. If you put Schwartz on your shoulder by understanding and integrating The Schwartz Method into your product development lifecycle, you will all get into the IPZone together and enjoy the benefit of improved patenting outcomes. Here's how:

• Best way to start: Get the FULL Starter-Kit(includes the complete book)…assign it as reading to your team - then review lessons learned.
• Ensure that your lead inventors understand how a complete invention disclosure must include at least one clearly formed unambiguous and definite “layman’s claim” that they understand.
• This single transformation in "group think" will change all of your patenting conversations on your “pathway to patentship”…the sequence of steps you will need to move through the final draft review, approval, filing, successful prosecution, and notice of allowance . 
• Your patent counsel, or you,  will be able to complete and approve the final draft without hesitation. If you're using outside counsel or have internal billing with in-house counsel,  the patenting tasks, and associated overhead or outside invoices will be readily understood and tied to pre-authorized, substantive matters.
• You will submit claims on only the true/winning preferred embodiment, the single and most important step you will take to avoid adding new matter if filing provisional and converting to non-provisional within the year, eliminating the risk of loosing your first filing date as well as avoiding ugly and expensive scope related rejections during prosecution at the patent office.
• When you discuss TSM filings with your Examiner, seeking a Notices of Allowance (NOA), you will emerge from the fray with a clean File Wrapper (FW).

Use TSM every step of the way to secure your biggest cost reductions…saving greater than 70% of your previous patent spend…When you adopt TSM and our Big Bang Theory (BBT) of invention formation, you will win the race by integrating TSM into your product development life-cycle.