Tasty IP, Limited

ABOUT ME

my biography

My name is Nick, and I’m a patent lawyer. I like building beautiful things. And patents are no exception. I never considered a patent to be a purely legal instrument. It’s a story. How you found the problem. How you found the solution. How you’ll save the world. Whether you’re starting a new story or continuing your epic, let me tell you mine.

I started my career as a software engineer. I love programming. I still do it today. But I felt boxed because I was removed from the written word. I missed reading, writing, and being persuasive. So within a year, I started the evening program at law school. I gave up four years of evenings and weekends, gaining a discipline that I could have never found on my own. And for the next 9 years, I worked as a patent lawyer at a Fortune 500. But I still wanted to build my way. And here we are, building beautiful things…my way.

TRANSLATION

my two languages

sourceBack off and try again — the way I would write it.

async function send(request) {
let wait = 100;
for (let tries = 0; tries < 5; tries += 1) {
const reply = await post(request);
if (reply.ok) return reply;
await sleep(wait);
wait *= 2;
}
throw new Error('gave up');
}

What can we build for you?

LAWYERING

MY SERVICES

STRATEGY & LICENSING

Don't patent because filing feels productive. Patent when the claim chart maps to revenue, to a standard, or to a competitor you can actually stop. I help you pick the fights worth having.

Never patent without purpose. If you don't have a strategy, I can help. If you have a strategy, but you are not receiving the results you wanted, I can help. Whatever your strategy, I will see that your patents have purpose.

COUNSELING

You need a decision, not a memo. I'll lay out the branch points, the risks I can quantify, and the ones I can't — then stand by while you ship the call.

The law may be black and white, but the world is gray. You are here because you have an important decision to make. My job is to give you as much information as I can such that you can make that important decision. And I will be here, waiting for you at the next, important decision.

LITIGATION SUPPORT

Litigation is a team sport with a claim-construction problem at its center. I've lived that problem from the inside — I can read the charts, the code, and the expert reports without a translator.

Patent litigation is not a war fought with a single lawyer. You will want the right experts and attorneys supporting your case. After working in-house for more than a decade, I have the mental adaptability and experience to make your litigation a success.

STANDARDS EVALUATION

A claim chart is a map from patent language to a standard. Wrong map, wrong money. I read both the claims and the specs — 4G through Wi-Fi 7 — and tell you whether the mapping holds.

We review standards-based claim charts that map a patent to a standard. Getting that mapping right takes claim construction and a working knowledge of the standard itself. Supported standards include 4G, 5G, NB-IoT, LTE-M, 5G Multimode, H.264, H.265/HEVC, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 7.

More services

PATENT PREPARATION

The application is the ask. Soft claims die on contact with prior art. I write the invention the way I'd want it to survive the examiner — and the defendant.

By applying for a patent, you are effectively asking the government to grant you the right to exclude others from claimed invention. That is a big ask. You want someone to write up your idea, not just accurately but also persuasively. Before you receive, you have to ask...persuasively.

PATENT PROSECUTION

US-only is one strategy; worldwide is another. I've walked cases through the US, EU, China, Japan, Korea, India, and forty more offices. Tell me the map — I'll run the filings.

Maybe you're only interested in the US. But your invention may need to be filed in several countries to have adequate protection. I have prosecuted cases in the US, EU, China, Japan, Korea, India, China, Russia, Brazil, Taiwan and forty additional jurisdictions. Let me help you reach your goals, in the US and around the world.

INVENTION EVALUATION

Patent-eligible ≠ valuable. If it's trivial to design around or impossible to detect, the paper isn't an asset. I pressure-test the idea before you spend the next three years on it.

You may have an idea that is awesome. It's even patent eligible. But it's worthless because it's too easy to work around or it's completely undetectable. Whether you're in the early phases or years into prosecution, having a holistic review of the invention may help you make the tough business decisions.

PORTFOLIO PRUNING

Budget is finite. Some cases are ballast. I find the ones that won't earn their keep so you can fund the ones that will.

Every single company is on a fixed budget, even if that budget is millions. You may have patents in your portfolio that are not going to yield a return on your investment. I can identify lower value cases such that you can shift your spend toward higher value ones.

OPEN SOURCE REVIEW

GPL in the wrong place gifts your product away. I've walked thousands of lines looking for that landmine — and for the clean way to keep shipping.

Open source is great. What isn't great is inadvertently agreeing to give your code away by using open source. I've reviewed thousands of lines of code for compliance with GPL, MIT, Apache, and BSD. Let's find creative solutions to ensure you keep what you built.

PRIOR ART SEARCH

The best prior art starts with understanding the tech, not the keyword list. Tell me what it does; I'll go find who did it first.

Whether you filing a new patent or trying to invalidate an existing patent, finding the best prior art is key. And finding the best prior art begins with a solid technical understanding of the subject matter.

GET STARTED

MY CONTACT

Tell me what you’re building. Keep it non-confidential — I’ll write back personally.

tasty IP