Patent Protection for Your Most Valuable Space Tech Inventions
By: Steve Sponseller
Space technology companies invest considerable time and resources creating new systems. Those new systems often include valuable inventions that solve new problems faced by devices that are launching and operating in space. It’s important for your company to protect its investment of time and resources by considering patent protection for your most valuable inventions.
There are several benefits to building a strong portfolio of patents:
Competitive Advantage – Prevents others from copying your unique systems and proprietary features.
Attract and Retain Key Employees – Many people want to work in an innovative environment where their inventions are celebrated and rewarded.
Attract Investors – Many investors see patents as a way to protect their investments in tech companies.
Increase Company Valuation – Patents are business assets that can increase the value of your company.
Patent protection is important for many types of space-related technologies, such as launch vehicles, satellites, spacecraft, lunar vehicles, orbiting factories, and more. These technologies may include hardware components, software algorithms, or a combination of both.
In one example, Vaya Space has been awarded multiple patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its vortex-hybrid propulsion technology.
In some situations, space-related devices are similar to earth-based systems, but they include new inventions because the operating environment in space often requires solving different problems. For example, a wide variety of vehicles operate on the surface of the earth and within earth’s atmosphere. But different designs and components are necessary for similar types of vehicles to operate on the lunar surface due to extreme temperatures, high levels of airborne particles, and other factors.
Although existing earth-based vehicles represent known technology, the new space-based vehicles contain new inventions that solve problems related to in-space operation. For example, motors, steering systems, tires, and other components need new designs to operate successfully in space. The inventions contained in those novel designs should be considered for possible patent protection.
In other examples, robots, computing systems, and data communication systems are common on earth, but developing similar systems to operate in space pose new problems that require innovative solutions. These innovations are potential candidates to safeguard via patents.
How to Proceed in Obtaining Patent Protection
For companies developing space tech systems, here’s a 3-step system to help you identify and protect your most valuable inventions.
Identify all inventions developed by your team.
Evaluate the identified inventions based on criteria that’s unique to your company.
Protect the highest value inventions to build a strong portfolio of patents.
Each of the three steps are explained below.
Identify All Inventions
You can’t build a valuable patent portfolio if you don’t initially identify all of your inventions. It’s important to identify every invention so you can properly evaluate all of the innovations developed by your team.
Many of your team members may be creating valuable inventions but not realize it. So, you need to train your team how to recognize inventions. When I worked as an engineer, I didn’t understand the threshold for an invention and what innovations might be patentable. This topic is not often taught in college. Your company should take steps to educate your team about the identification of inventions.
Consider the following activities to help identify all inventions created throughout your team:
Provide examples of valuable inventions in your organization and throughout the space tech industry.
Encourage all team members to submit inventions for consideration.
Conduct “invention mining” activities to be sure you identify all inventions in a new project.
Schedule regular brainstorming activities and invention contests to cultivate new inventions.
Celebrate and reward team members who submit invention disclosures to remind everyone about the importance of inventions to the company.
Encourage disclosure of inventions by providing a fast and straightforward process for team members to submit their ideas. If you make the invention submission process too difficult or time-consuming, you may miss out on important inventions. By keeping the process simple, you may be surprised by the gold nuggets of invention hidden in the minds of your team members.
Here’s an example of a patented invention by OQ Technology that extends the battery life of orbiting satellites:
Evaluate Your Inventions
To develop a valuable portfolio of patents, space tech companies need to evaluate and prioritize all of the identified inventions. Don’t make the mistake of randomly patenting inventions. Instead, develop criteria that is unique to your company and use that criteria to evaluate the inventions developed by your team.
Example evaluation criteria may include:
The potential lifetime value of an invention to the company.
The time and cost to develop and produce the invention.
Whether the invention is consistent with the company’s short and/or long-term goals.
Whether the invention provides a competitive advantage as a “must have” feature.
The defensive value of the invention.
This is an initial list of evaluation criteria. Most companies develop a list of 12-15 factors that are considered when evaluating each invention for patent protection.
For space tech companies, it’s also important to consider when the invention is likely to be included in an actual product. For example, if the invention is 15-20 years from implementation, paying for U.S. patent protection has little value because U.S. patents expire 20 years from the application filing date. If the implementation takes 15-20 years, the company will have a short period for enforcing the patent.
Space-related projects often include collaboration between multiple companies. Thus, space tech companies should consider whether there is value in licensing or cross-licensing a particular invention. For example, is there value in an issued patent for licensing (to generate revenue) or cross-licensing (to gain access to technology developed by other companies). Additionally, an issued patent may encourage other companies to invite your organization to join them in jointly developing new systems that include both companies’ patented technology.
Protect the Right Inventions
To maximize the value of your inventions, you must build a strong portfolio of patents that includes your most valuable inventions. Protecting the wrong inventions is a waste of resources and provides a false sense of security. Building a portfolio filled with low-value patents typically provides little value to the company.
If you have successfully completed the first two steps discussed above (Identifying all inventions and Evaluating those inventions), you should have a prioritized list of inventions. The highest priority inventions are the best candidates for patent protection that will build a high-value patent portfolio. If you didn’t complete the first two steps, you may not be protecting your most valuable inventions.
Based on your patent filing budget and strategy for patent protection, consider the highest-ranked inventions for preparing patent applications.
Your team of talented people works hard to create cutting edge products that include many inventions. You can encourage your team members and protect their critical inventions by identifying, evaluating, and protecting their most valuable ideas.
By building a strong patent portfolio, your space tech company can enjoy a competitive advantage, attract and retain key employees, attract investors, and increase company valuation.