By: Josh Sloat

Illustration: Declan Wrede

10 Years of AIA and the PTAB
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Listen in as we discuss the impact of the AIA and the PTAB with inventors gathered as part of the "Decade of Stolen Dreams" rallies, happening in front of regional USPTO offices all across the country, marking the 10 year anniversary of the passage of the America Invents Act – an event described by advocacy groups as the worst event in U.S. patent history.

The inventors and entrepreneurs at the rally we attended, all from diverse backgrounds with very different stories, have one thing in common and that is their shared belief that the AIA and the PTAB – with its eye-popping 84% invalidation rate – have crippled innovators and created a Decade of Stolen Dreams, ruining the lives of countless inventors and shutting down numerous start-ups, in favor of Big Tech and multinational corporations.

In this episode, we break down the AIA and PTAB through a wide array of personal perspectives from inventors, patent practitioners, and even a former USPTO patent examiner. We explore its origins, core problems, and proposed solutions. We also provide some very practical tips that inventors should consider now to help future-proof their patents, should they ever find themselves on the receiving end of an IPR.

Inventors are not only the real engine of our economy, but they’re also the reason we do what we do here at Aurora. This is a complex issue, with high stakes, involving the people who matter most to our business and what the world will look like for our kids, so we can’t think of a better use of a podcast episode than to lend a voice and hopefully shine a light on the key issues and some potential solutions. 

I am joined today by an exceptional group of industry experts, founders, and inventors including:

• Ashley Sloat: President & Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora Consulting
• Dan Brown: Professor at Northwestern, owner of 40 utility patents, elected to the National Academy of Inventors, and serves as the inventor rep on the Patent Public Advisory Committee. 
• Bob Schmidt: Founder, Chairman and CEO of 5 companies including Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies and Cleveland Medical Devices, Co-Chair of the Small Business Technology Council, and has 40 patents to his name
• Louis Carbonneau: Founder & CEO of Tangible IP, one of the largest patent brokers in the world
• Kip Azzoni Doyle: Inventor of the CardShark WalletSkin and the author of the upcoming book, “Blood in the Water, America’s Assault on Innovation”
• Tariq Najee-ullah: 10 year patent examiner, former NASA engineer, and current Principal at Patent Insider

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. 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.

If you’re an agent or attorney and would like to be part of the discussion or an inventor with a topic you’d like to hear discussed, please reach out.

If you haven’t listened to our episodes on patent searching or patent monetization, we highly recommend you also give them some ears. In this episode, we talk a fair amount about importance of searching prior art and how it’ll help if you ever find yourself facing the PTAB. It tees in wonderfully with the context and strategy bits Shelley and Louis cover in the prior episodes. Be sure to check 'em out. 

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

By: Josh Sloat

We could not be more thrilled to be welcoming Kristen Hansen to the Aurora family! Kristen joins us this month, starting her role as ​a Patent Strategy Specialist. Kristen is the perfect blend of wicked patent strategy smarts, deep technical expertise, startup-focused business acumen, and all-around great human. She exudes all of the essentials that have come to define the Aurora DNA. We love working with her and know that she will be a tremendous asset to both Aurora and our clients. 

Patent Strategy. Kristen is a USPTO-registered patent practitioner with over 15 years of experience focusing on developing U.S. and international patent portfolio strategies for individual, university, and corporate clients. Many of these clients include THE tech giants and Fortune 100s in the areas of software, IoT, machine learning, consumer electronics, electronic circuits, optics, medical devices, wearable devices, virtual and augmented reality technologies, telecommunications, semiconductor devices, and business methods.

Software Expertise. In a world where software is dominating the technology landscape, it's essential to have someone with deep software patenting experience in your corner, ensuring protection for your most central and valuable IP. In a prior role, Kristen focused the majority of her time managing portfolios for companies like Google, Apple, SAP and Twitter, where she drafted and prosecuted mission critical patents in the areas of AR/VR implementations, browser inventions, operating system interaction, IoT, machine learning, search algorithms and techniques, mobile and desktop app implementation, business methods, and web store algorithms.

Business-driven IP. Kristen understands complex technologies, knows what moves business, and is a world class communicator. As a result, she can comfortably communicate with inventors at a detailed level and can disseminate technical details of such communications to non-technical audiences. Kristen uses her technical knowledge and legal training to develop patent portfolio strategies that are closely aligned with each client’s business objectives.