By: Josh Sloat

Willful infringement is a patent law concept that applies when someone infringes a patent knowingly or with reckless disregard for the patent holder’s rights. It goes beyond accidental infringement, often involving a deliberate choice to use protected work despite awareness of the rights holder. With unintentional infringement, the infringer can still be required to pay damages, negotiate a license, or face an injunction to halt the infringing activities. If the infringement is deemed willful, however, this can lead to significantly increased damages, sometimes up to three times the original amount! 

This is something that patent holders need to be keenly aware of – both offensively and defensively. If found for infringement, is simply knowing about the competitor’s patent enough? What if it turned up in search results when examining prior art for your own invention? On the other side, if you’ve discovered that a competitor is infringing on you, what steps should you take to ensure that they’ve been clearly put on notice? The answers to these questions could mean millions. 
​

​Unfortunately, like with a lot of things in the world of patenting, the answers aren’t always as obvious as we’d like them to be. The black-and-white statute from the 1952 Patent Act that governs enhancing damages doesn't actually have any limits or conditions on it. Eventually, as the panel will discuss – and for any regular listener, this might sound familiar – the Supreme Court came along and added its own conditions, but with the kind of we’re not really going to be helpful level of specificity we’ve come to expect from the high court. Looking at you, Alice. 

But in fairness, this is an inherently complicated issue and one that, as you’ll see today, gets at the heart of one of the fundamental tensions of the patent system – disclosure for exclusivity. You get exclusive rights by disclosing your invention so that other people can improve upon it, and society benefits. Not hampering innovation with exclusive rights depends on being aware of the inner workings of the inventions of others. But the patent system is supposed to reward competition — not copying. So designing around is fair competition. Accidental overlap is unfortunate but civil, and has normal remedies. But deliberate disregard is something else entirely. So understanding when infringement crosses the line from mistake to misconduct – and penalizing accordingly – is really key to the whole system. 
​

While the missteps can happen very early in the process, how they shake out in the wash happens much further down the road and in the courtroom, so we’ve enlisted the help of a litigation expert to co-host this episode alongside Patently Strategic regular, David Jackrel. This excellent pairing helps frame the conversation from the perspective of pre-prosecution considerations all the way to how judges and juries have been ruling on cases involving potential willful infringement. Tamany Vinson Bentz is our guest co-host today. Tamany is the founder of California IP Law, where she currently focuses on developing customized IP portfolios for businesses of all sizes. Prior to managing her own firm, she spent 20 years as a litigator in big law as a partner at both Venable and DLA Piper. 

Tamany and Dave lead today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, delving deeply into all things willful infringement. Along the way, they discuss:

• Willful infringement prior to two 2016 SCOTUS cases.
• How the SCOTUS cases shaped assessment of willful infringement.
• How this has been playing out in more recent cases, and what has and has not been viewed as willful or egregious.
• And some practical tips on how and where to communicate notices if you feel like your patent rights are being infringed.

​

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
​

In this month’s Mossoff Minute, Professor Adam Mossoff discusses Apple’s predatory infringement practices that have once again been put on full display in the most recent chapter of its long-running patent infringement dispute with PanOptis. 

Related Episodes

• Crafting Quality Patents. The ability to collect enhanced damages also depends a lot on the quality of your patent.
• Patent Wars. More in-depth discussion around predatory infringement and some of the reform bills mentioned in this month's Mossoff Minute.
• Dealing with Rejection. Prosecution-related patent rejections come up in today's discussion. This episode breaks down the types of rejections and how to both avoid and overcome them. 
• Patent searching. An overview of prior art, patent searching, and practical tips from an industry expert.

Related Reading

• Patent Anatomy. This episode hits on the specification and claims, and the importance of what’s captured in each for making sure your patent actually covers your invention.

Transcripts​
We're providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities.

​Slides
For the visual learners out there, we also like to make our presenter slides available for your reference.​

By: Josh Sloat

Patent abandonment is the premature relinquishment of patent rights for an invention. Abandonment can happen voluntarily for various strategic and cost reasons, but can also happen silently and unintentionally. It can happen before the right is even granted in the case of public disclosure – and we’ve covered this a lot. But it can also happen after the patent has been granted at many key points in its otherwise useful life and window of exclusivity. Like with other property rights, securing your patent isn’t the end of the line in maintaining that property right. Like property taxes for land and annual registration for automobiles, patents have deadlines and fees that, if not properly managed, can lead to loss of that right. And in all cases – whether abandoned intentionally or by accident - the invention becomes part of the public domain, and the rights holder's exclusivity window to prevent others from using, making, and selling the invention is terminated short of the otherwise expected 20–year term. 
​

Fortunately, with careful management, the problem can be avoided entirely. And for many unintentional cases, if caught quickly enough, there are remedies for reviving your rights. To help unpack all of this and conquer your fears of abandonment, Albert Du, Patent Strategist and Chief Mindfulness Counselor at Aurora, leads today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, delving deeply into all things patent abandonment and revival. Along the way, Al and the panel:

• Provide a general overview of the utility patent lifecycle to help better frame key points at which abandonment can occur
• Discuss the types of abandonment and the statutes governing each
• Break down when and how to revive an abandoned patent
• And as always, offer countless practical pointers to keep in mind before, during, and after patent prosecution to help avoid what can at best be a costly legal process – and at worst, a complete loss of patent rights. 

​

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
​

To further explore the topics discussed, see the following past episodes and resources:

Related Episodes

• Public disclosure and the on-sale bar
  
• International patents
  
• Software patents
  
• Patent Prosecution Highway
  
• Continuation practice

Related Reading

• Provisional patents
  
• Patent filing timeline
  
• How long do patents last?

Transcripts​
We're providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities.

​Slides
For the visual learners out there, we also like to make our presenter slides available for your reference.​

By: Josh Sloat

​What are your options for protecting inventions across Europe? In this month’s episode, we’re taking a journey across the pond with a discussion on European Patent Practice. This episode is part two of a series we’re doing on International Patenting and follows Ashley’s exceptional Travel Guide to Foreign Protection from earlier this season. 

Even in a globalized economy, patents are still nationalized documents. For example, a U.S. patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing the claimed invention within the United States. It has no bearing on activities in Europe, Canada, Mexico, China, or anywhere else in the world. To restrict activities there, you will typically need a patent granted in each relevant country. This can boil down to filing and prosecution on a per-country basis. However, those seeking protection in Europe do have some additional options for a single application granting protection in multiple nations.
​

To help navigate the very complicated European landscape, we reached out to a good friend of Aurora’s—Dr. Will Doherty of Albright IP. And we’re so glad we did. In this episode, Will puts on an absolute masterclass on European patent practice.

Beyond being a great teacher with a sharp sense of classic British humor, Will is an experienced Chartered British Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney, and IP Litigator. As a Patents Director at Albright, he prepares, files, and prosecutes patents with great success in a wide range of technical sectors globally, in addition to handling patent infringement matters. Will is a member of and regulated by IPReg, the independent professional regulatory body in the UK for Patent and Trademark Attorneys. He is also a long-standing member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys in the UK and the European Patent Institute. Will’s academic background is in Chemistry, with a doctorate in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. 
​

Along the way, Will and the panel discuss:

• European patent process, EPO participating countries, key players in the system, and how it all compares to USPTO and PCT processes. 
• Strategic considerations around filing in individual countries vs. using EPO, translation implications, cost considerations, fee timelines, filing timeline implications, market alignment, and rights enforcement.
• Interplay with newer Unitary Patents and the Unitary Patent Court.
• Key practitioner takeaways, including some insightful claim drafting tips for medical-type applications, which are viewed very differently in Europe than in the U.S.

​

In this month's Mossoff Minute, Professor Adam Mossoff is discussing an issue that could cause huge problems in Europe and for the global innovation economy, more broadly. 

​Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
​

To further explore the topics discussed, see the following past episodes and resources:

• International Patents Part 1. Our introductory episode on International protection exploring the intricacies and nuances of ensuring your patent rights are protected everywhere they matter.
• Why Patents Exist. Focuses on the genesis of the U.S. system. Will does this beautifully for today’s story on the other side of the Atlantic.
• Patent Prosecution Timeline. Detailed prosecution timeline outlining the duration from filing to issuance, including ranges for PCT, Paris Convention, and national examination.
• License to File. Explores Foreign Filing License Risks and Strategies.
• Foreign Filing License Requirements, by Country. Many countries, including the US, require inventors to receive special permission to file with patent offices outside of the inventor’s – or invention’s – country.

Transcripts​
We're also providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities.

By: Josh Sloat

Our very own Dr. Ashley Sloat will be teaming up with Mallory King of ​Breathe Brand Protection for a talk at Northwestern Michigan College's (NMC) upcoming 10th Annual Conference. The talk is titled "Policy Implications for Colleges at the Crossroads of Artificial Intelligence and IP Law" and examines the evolving landscape of intellectual property (IP) in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It covers how AI impacts copyright and patent law, infringement risks, and AI's effects on IP across various educational disciplines. The presentation concludes with guidance for institutions on establishing AI policies and best practices for academic integrity and innovation.
​
Date: October 14, 2025 from 1:20p to 2:15p ET.
Location: HS116 (Health Science building) on NMC’s main campus.

This year’s conference, Reimagining Learning and Work: The Transformative Impact of AI, promises to be extra special with more than a dozen community leaders joining to share their insights. Classes are cancelled and most offices are closed so faculty and staff can attend this day-long professional development event. You can view the entire conference schedule here and the session summary guide here.
​

Mallory King is the owner of Breathe Brand Protection, PLLC, a boutique law firm specializing in brand protection legal services, including trademarks, copyrights, and contracts. Mallory is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners protect, defend, and navigate their intellectual property rights. Mallory grew up around the corner from NMC’s campus and is thrilled to be presenting at the conference this fall. 
​

Ashley is a USPTO-registered patent practitioner with a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Michigan. She specializes in building and managing patent portfolios for startups and emerging growth companies across a wide range of technologies, including Artificial Intelligence. Ashley partners closely with engineering and executive teams to align IP strategy with business goals—maximizing portfolio value while minimizing legal costs. She is a frequent host of the Patently Strategic Podcast, serves on the Board of Directors for 20Fathoms, and was named to Traverse City Business News’ 2024 40 Under 40. Ashley leads Aurora Patents, serving clients nationwide and internationally.
​

For more great education with Ashley and Mallory, also be sure to check out this pop culture-fueled Patently Strategic Podcast episode that breaks down high-profile Supreme Court cases as a vehicle to get a deeper understanding of copyrights and trademarks and some of the sharpest corners you should be aware of when managing your own brand protection. 

By: Josh Sloat

Strong patents don’t happen by accident — they are the result of smart strategies from the very start. Join MichBio’s IP & Legal Affairs Committee members, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora, and Kristen Pursley, Intellectual Property Attorney/Registered Patent Attorney at Dobrusin Law Firm, for an engaging session on how to maximize the value of your patent applications.

This webinar will cover practical approaches to:

• Building stronger claim strategies
• Navigating continuation and divisional practice
• Writing effectively for different audiences — examiners, investors, and partners
• Avoiding common misconceptions about provisional applications

Whether you are preparing your first application or refining a broader IP strategy, this session will provide actionable insights to strengthen your intellectual property portfolio and ensure long-term leverage for your innovations!

Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (EDT)

Since 1993, MichBio has been driving bio-industry growth in Michigan by providing access to resources and information critical to success, advocating for policy decisions that support the long-term viability of the life sciences, and connecting the people, companies, and ideas necessary to create the next generation of bio-innovation. Ashley is a proud member of MichBio’s IP & Legal Committee, where she helps shape the legal frameworks supporting innovation.
​

Join us tomorrow in Novi with Lawrence Technological University and Centrepolis Accelerator for a look into the future of U.S. manufacturing! More than 450 industry leaders, corporate innovators, hard-tech startups, and investors will gather to discuss the importance of US reindustrialization and how innovation in both product development and operational efficiencies is critical to enabling the competitiveness of domestic manufacturing. Areas of focus will include supply chain innovation, defense and national security tech, and AI and smart manufacturing. 

Date: September 30, 2025
Time: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location: Suburban Collection Showplace
Address: 46100 Grand River Ave, Novi, MI 48374

By: Josh Sloat

We’ve all seen patent numbers on physical products. Much like their copyright and trademark cousins, these designations are far from cosmetic. And instead serve a statutory requirement to provide public notice about your protected intellectual property. In the case of patent marking, not only does it reduce the risk of infringement because you are informing potential infringers of the patent's existence, but the notice also marks the point in time from which you can go back to for collecting on awarded damages. As the panel will discuss in today's episode, American patent law operates on a simple principle: mark your products with patent numbers, or watch your damages disappear.
​

Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategy Specialist at Aurora, leads today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, delving deeply into the Do’s and Don’ts for patent marking – both physical and virtual, for US and abroad. Along the way, Kristen and the panel discuss:
​

• Patent Marking basics
• Legal requirements for patent marking
• Benefits and best practices for marking
• A real-life case cautionary tale 
• Implications for worldwide marking

In this month’s Mossoff Minute, Professor Adam Mossoff celebrates the accomplishments of Acting USPTO Director Coke Morgan Stewart. Her tireless efforts over the past months are helping to light the path back toward reliable and effective patent rights for innovators across the country and in the global economy.

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
​

Transcripts​
We're providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities.

​Slides
For the visual learners out there, we also like to make our presenter slides available for your reference.​

By: Josh Sloat

Whether you’re a founder looking to take the next fundraising steps beyond bootstrapping, an aspiring angel investor looking to understand the risks of seed investing, or even a practitioner hoping to get a better grasp of how this all works hand-in-hand with patent strategy, this month's episode of the Patently Strategic Podcast provides an incredible springboard into the high risk, high reward world of strategic fundraising for early-stage startups!
​

To help us with the specifics, we’ve enlisted the assistance of Charlie Pascal. Charlie is the founder and principal attorney at Pascal Advisory LLC, where he’s spent the last decade focused primarily on working with early-stage tech and life science companies to navigate the legal complexities of everything from the pre-incorporation cocktail napkin stage to helping founders pick teams and build a board, on through our focus today, which is advising on all of the funding rounds from friends and family on through venture capital. Much like Aurora does with many of our early-stage clients, Charlie functions as what you can essentially think of as fractional general counsel for companies that aren't yet ready or able to engage full-time in-house legal counsel.
​

Charlie and the panel discuss:

• The various routes and rounds of fundraising available to early-stage companies.
• How patents can play into each and how differences in business models can significantly impact patent strategy. 
• As a founder, what goes initially into projecting a budget for fundraising needs, and later, how to think about valuation.
• How to get the most out of your patents when it comes to valuation and approaching investors.
• And great pro tips on some surprising sharp corners related to things like preferred stock, down rounds, the investor payout waterfall, and the very commonly used and freely downloadable SAFE equity agreement created by Y-Combinator.

​

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
​

To further explore the topics discussed, see the following past episodes and resources:
​

• What Investors Want in Patents for key insights from an investor on how angels and VCs think about your patent portfolio and what it means in terms of reflecting the soul of your invention and its place in the market
• Government Grants and Patent Rights for a deep dive into the sometimes sneaky IP ownership strings that come attached to commonly sought grants like SBIR and STTR. 
• Key Considerations for IP Diligence for current and aspiring angel investors.

Transcripts​
We're also providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities.

By: Josh Sloat

Please join us June 5th online with our good friends at MichBio for an essential talk on prenuptial patenting! ​You have your big idea and now it’s time to breathe it into existence, but you need some help with the development. Like many others, you may turn to the aid of an engineering firm or dev shop. This relationship is a marriage of sorts. But it’s a marriage that is designed to inevitably end in divorce. How cleanly, smoothly, and successfully this separation goes depends on the steps that you take before it officially begins. 

In this talk, Dr. Ashley Sloat will lead an exploration into responsible engagement with engineering firms, or what we affectionately refer to here as “Prenuptial Patenting”. Ashley will walk you down the aisle and explore everything you need to know to experience marital bliss and an amicable divorce with your engineering partners. This talk covers the full life cycle from vetting partners to post development concerns and everything in between – with particular focus on relationship complexities like IP ownership, assignment from engineering firm inventors back to you, and how to avoid the traps of viral IP.
​

Since 1993, MichBio has been driving bio-industry growth in Michigan by providing access to resources and information critical to success, advocating for policy decisions that support the long-term viability of the life sciences, and connecting the people, companies, and ideas necessary to create the next generation of bio-innovation. Ashley is a proud member of MichBio’s IP & Legal Committee, where she helps shape the legal frameworks supporting innovation.

By: Josh Sloat

In today’s global economy, the importance of international patent protection cannot be overstated. Your invention could be conceived of with a workforce distributed across several continents. Your manufacturing could happen in Asia or India, while your products are shipped into and distributed from ports in the target markets of the largest economies across the globe. Would be competitors and infringers could be next door neighbors or perhaps across the pond. But as you’ll learn today, there is no such thing as an International Patent – no one global patent that protects you everywhere. Instead, patents are jurisdictional property rights. For example, a U.S. patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing the claimed invention within the United States. It has no bearing on activities performed in Canada, Mexico, China, or anywhere else in the world. To restrict activities there, you will need a patent granted in each of those countries.
​

​So, how do you choose where to file? How long do you have to decide? What pathways exist for filing internationally? How do you pursue international protection in an intentional, strategic, cost-effective manner that won’t break the bank? And what should you be thinking about now, while drafting your patent to set yourself up for the greatest odds of success once on the international stage?
​

Dr. Ashley Sloat, Aurora’s very own international patenting tour guide, leads today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, traveling from the U.S. to Europe, Africa, India, East Asia, Australia, and everywhere in between, exploring the intricacies and nuances of ensuring your patent rights are protected everywhere it matters. Along the way, Ashley and the panel discuss:

• Reasons for pursuing international protection.
• How to choose locations with a cost-effective international strategy.
• Foreign filing deadline and strategy pointers.
• The most common pathways for foreign protection including, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Paris Convention, the European Patent Convention, Unitary Patents, and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization.
• Things you need to be thinking about well in advance, in terms of drafting your patent and the international dangers of public disclosure.
• And even some considerations for how political happenings like tariffs, trade wars, and Brexit can impact your patent strategy.

​
Ashley is joined today by our always exceptional group of international IP experts, including:

• Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
• Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategy Specialist at Aurora
• Marie Smyth, Patent Agent at Brake Hughes Bellermann LLP
• And making their Patently Strategic debut, Albert Du and Dr. Tiffany Miller – the two newest additions to the Aurora family.

​

In this month’s minute, Professor Adam Mossoff discusses Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick's remarks at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and what this positively signals for the near future of innovation policy.
​