Defining Success

Expedited Patent Prosecution Brings Fast Protection

A cybersecurity risk management company

Situation

The company wanted to patent its method of analyzing the cybersecurity risk posed to the assets of its clients. The company’s method involved very complicated software and had many moving parts.

Challenge

Since the company’s invention involved a software-based method, the company needed to obtain a patent relatively quickly because software is constantly evolving. In addition, due to some recent Supreme Court Opinions, it has become very difficult to obtain software patents and they are often rejected as being directed to ineligible subject matter under 35 USC 101.

Approach

We thoroughly reviewed the company’s complicated invention, receiving plenty of input from the client team and software engineers. We analyzed the Patent Office’s recent guidance on subject matter eligibility, and developed a strategy to overcome the subject matter eligibility issues. We also developed a strategy to prosecute the patent quickly by taking advantage of the Patent Office’s expedited prosecution avenues. Then we drafted a thorough and detailed application in a manner that incorporated our research strategy, and requested an expedited prosecution from the Patent Office.

Result

We obtained a patent for the company in less than 6 months from the date the patent application was filed. Typically, it can take anywhere from 18 months to several years to obtain a patent. But by requesting (and obtaining) the expedited prosecution and drafting a patent application in a manner specifically to overcome the subject matter eligibility issues, we were able to quickly and efficiently patent the invention in less than 6 months.