Patent owners are constantly asking, “How do I know if my patent’s any good?” “How do I write an application that will produce a good patent?” “Is my patent portfolio worth anything?” The author, a U.S. registered patent attorney specializing in the technical areas known as Information & Communication Technologies, has been asked this question dozens of times. He wrote this book specifically to answer the question, “What is a high-quality patent?” The book includes three main sections: • First, a review of basic patent concepts, and of techniques used by professional evaluators to review and rate patent quality. • Second, twenty case studies of more than fifty patents – specific patent claims are shown to be good or bad, resulting in patent sales for millions of dollars, court decisions for hundreds of millions of dollars, or in some cases, complete loss. This section also includes an analysis of the patent portfolios of three high-tech companies, reviewed by quality, by geographic balance, and by balance over time. Each case study or portfolio analysis concludes with a short and pointed list of “Lessons Learned”. • Third, a summary in an easy-to-understand Question & Answer format organized by main topic, followed by a Glossary of more than eighty terms used in patent analysis.

This book is intended for four groups of readers: (1) patent attorneys and agents looking for a concentration of live cases where specific drafting created (or failed to create) valuable patents; (2) entrepreneurs and engineers who until now had no way of judging how good their patents really are; (3) patent brokers, corporate executives, and corporate Board members, contemplating billion-dollar portfolio sales; and (4) investment advisors, equity analysts, and investment bankers working with high-tech companies who need to understand the value of a patent portfolio.