Before you decide to visit a patent attorney, you should educate yourself. Whether you are a newbie or a guru, our tools can help you know more so you can be better prepared. You can learn about patents related to your invention for just $99. Compare that to the average $250/hour your lawyer will charge you.

Although subtle, there is a keen difference between invention and innovation. Utility represents this distinct difference between innovation and invention. Albeit important, inventors generally spend their fortunes on their ideas whereas innovators create fortunes from their ideas. Our goal is to help you become more than an inventor. Since innovation is generally considered the actualization of an invention, and we claim as a promise to innovate continuously, are we hypocrites? If we don't listen to you and develop tools, reports, and lenses that have meaning to you, indeed we would be. Only you can decide that for yourself. However, our commitment to you is to continue innovating tools and services that help you rationalize IP asset class. While previous analytical tools focused on finding data, our tools are built to help you both find and then undertand what you found. Our data and technologies are only vehicles to help us deliver on our promise — we create actionable business intelligence from patent documents.

Although most inventions will be concerned with the rights a patent grants during its monopoly or in-force period (from the date the patent issues until it expires (20 years after the filing date)), the law actually recognizes five "rights" periods in the life of an invention. (1) Invention conceived but not yet documented: When an inventor conceives of an invention, but hasn't yet made any written, signed, dated, and witness record of it, the inventor has no legal rights whatsoever, only the potential for acquiring rights. (2) Invention documented but patent application not yet filed: After making a proper, signed, dated and witnessed documentation of an invention, the inventor has valuable rights against any inventor who later conceives of the same invention and applies for a patent. An inventor who documents the building and testing of the invention has substantially greater rights than one who merely documents conception. During this period the invention may also be treated as a "trade secret" this is, kept confidential. This gives the inventor the legal right to sue and recover damages against anyone who immorally learns of the invention, for instance, through industrial spying. (3) Patent Pending - Patent application filed but not yet issued: During the patent pending period, including the one year period after a provisional patent application is filed, the inventor's rights are the same as they are in period 2 above for the most part. Otherwise, the inventor has no rights whatsoever against infringers, only the hope of a future monopoly, which doesn't commence until a patent issues. Most companies that manufacture a product this is the subject of a pending patent application will mark the product "patent pending" in order to warn potential copiers that it they copy the product, they may have to stop later if and when the patent issues. The PTO by law must keep all patent applications preserved in secrecy until the application is published or the patent issues. The patent pending period usually lasts from one to three years. (4) In-force patent - patent issued but hasn't yet expired: After the patent issues, the patent owner can bring and maintain a lawsuit for a patent infringement against anyone who makes, uses or sells the invention without permission. The patents in force period last from the date it issues until 20 years from its filing date, provided maintenance fees are paid. Nearly every patent is guaranteed an in-force period of at least 17 years. In order to assure this 17-year term, the patent will be extended, if necessary, to compensate for delays resulting from failures by the PRO in processing the patent application. Also, once the patent issues, it becomes a public record or publication that can block others who file later from getting patents on the same or similar inventions, that is, it becomes "prior art" to anyone who files after its filing date. (5) Patent expired: After the patent expires (20 years after the filing date, or sooner if a maintenance fee isn't paid), the patent owner has no further rights, although infringement suits can be brought for any infringement that occurred during the patent's in-force period. An expired patent remains a valid "prior art reference" (as of its filing date) forever. IPStreet.com's patent search tools and resources will help you better understand if your idea is patentable, the duration of a patent and complex patent analytics.

During development, IP Street was very fortunate and grateful to have early partners that signed on to use our tools, often in beta form. Through timely and constructive feedback, our partners were instrumental in helping us develop features that evolved from "interesting and cool" to "nice to have" to "got to have". Below is a sampling of some of the enterprise partners who understood our vision very early on. They became annual subscribers and were afforded the benefits of having direct access to our development team, enabling us to design more relevant tools and allowing them to enjoy influence in design priorities. They include: Alibaba, Amazon, Lee & Hayes, PAML, T-Mobile. Thank you to all of our enterprise partners.

Joseph Schumpeter, known as the Prophet of Innovation, describes the importance of inventors in his Theory of Economic Development. Inventors are the "fiery-spirits" that disrupt the status quo with their vision of doing things 'better, faster, cheaper.' In the process, their inventions represent "the heroic intervention of individual men (or women) who appear as leaders toward new economic shores." We believe that intellectual assets, commonly taking the form of patented technology, are the least-understood and most-relevant resources to stimulate economic development through innovation. To make this happen, intellectual property (IP) needs to be more comprehensively understood so that better business decisions can be executed. This is why we are in business. An invention must have economic utility to benefit society. Some times, inventions are way before their time. However, most of the time, the business execution to commercialize the invention fails. In fact, those that conceptualize the invention rarely reap the rewards of the innovation's ultimate success.