Uncommon Wealth Podcast

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Episode 36

Trademarks and Patents as Tools for Protection and Residual Income with Matthew Leaper

Uncommon Wealth Partners
Uncommon Wealth Partners
Trademarks and Patents as Tools for Protection and Residual Income with Matthew Leaper
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The world of trademarks and patents can be very confusing. Our guest on our latest podcast is going to remove that confusion.

If you are an entrepreneur, business owner, or inventor, you run into questions about trademark and patents all the time. What does common law cover when it comes to trademarks? How much does it cost? What kinds of brand and product essentials should be trademarked?
Patents are a whole different ballgame. But a patent, especially a provisional one, may not be as big a hurdle as you might think.

On this episode, we talk with Matthew Leaper, a true expert in trademark and patent law. He answers all the above questions and more and talks us through the various ways to monetize your intellectual property once a trademark is received and a patent is approved.

Matthew Leaper is an attorney with Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh, one of Canada’s premier intellectual property law firms. Matthew works with innovators to refine and protect their ideas, having learned best practices from some of the best intellectual property firms in the U.S. and Canada. He has worked to zealously serve some of the most IP-oriented, innovative companies in the world.

From these experiences and capabilities, he has developed subject matter expertise in numerous technical areas, and become highly skilled at generating value from that expertise. He has worked closely with inventors and business managers to draft patent applications. These cover a wide range of technologies including diagnostic sensors; energy efficiency technologies; laser technologies and applications; manufacturing methods; medical devices and implants; non-invasive surgical technologies; and software applications, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.


What You Will Learn in This Episode:

    • How trademarks protect brand identity
    • Tools to research trademarked names through TESS
    • The cost and process of registering a trademark
    • When to go the “free” route and when to register a trademark
    • The scope and limitations of a patent
    • The strategies to understand in filing a provisional patent
    • How prototyping fits into patent development
    • Why some products can be protected by both trademarks and patents
    • How the geographic scope of your patent can affect your licensing strategy
    • Intangible values of having a patent
“The nice thing about trademarks is that you have some level of protection under common law just by virtue of being active in the marketplace. This prevents others from using that exact name.” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “Compared with a trademark, a patent has a much more rigorous examination process upfront, so it can be a lot more expensive.” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “It costs very little to file a patent, $60 right now in the USA. Creating a perfectly crafted application is where you are going to spend some money.” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “There are three basic doors to patentability. One is utility. How useful is this? Second is novelty, how unique is this invention? Third is obviousness. For instance, could anyone put two common items together and approximate this invention? Those are… Share on X “Prototyping can be optional if you can describe the invention in such a way that a person of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the invention based on your written descriptions and pictures.” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “For complex inventions, like a medical device, you could have a patent or a portfolio of patents that you sell to bigger fish with the resources to develop them and get them through the FDA and other regulatory hurdles.” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “At some point in the process, you have to decide how far-reaching you want the patent to be. Do you want just national rights, or do you want to pursue a more global strategy?” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “When you go to monetize your intellectual property, you're trying to find people who are making a product like yours already, have the manufacturing capabilities and would benefit from access to your intellectual property rights.” – Matthew Leaper Share on X “I've seen a lot of inventors start out in the garage and with some good counsel, they're able to truly profit from it. On the flip side, I've also seen people spend tens of thousands on the patent process, and not survive litigation, or just miss the… Share on X