What does “Your Strategy First® mean?
Have you heard of the saying “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail“?
In Abraham Maslow‘s The Psychology of Science, he says “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
This is a form of cognitive bias that a lot of specialists who are experts succumb to. Combine this with a business model based on hourly billing, and it becomes a deadly combination that incentivizes professionals to sell services to clients that don’t serve their business interests, such as filing patents for inventions that are not valuable, not patentable, or unenforceable. We believe in transparency and do not hesitate to set correct expectations, even if it means that we have to deliver the bitter truth to some clients, that their invention is not patentable. By being transparent we reduce uncertainties on patentability, timelines, and costs.
If you have interacted with anyone from team Metayage, you would have been told that we will act as your “in-house IP department”, or your “extended IP department”, right?
Let us take the time to dwell on the reasons why we say this and how it will benefit you.
Most big organizations and corporates invest resources in building an Intellectual Property department because they know the value of protecting and building their Intellectual property portfolio and assets. While SMEs, Universities, Individual Inventors, and Startups are also aware of the importance of having a dedicated Intellectual Property Rights department, most of them cannot set aside the funds and efforts required to create and maintain an in-house IP counsel. Through experience, we recognize this gap and requirement and we have been consciously trying to bridge that gap for our clients and truly act as their In-house IP department at a fraction of the cost and effort it would have taken if they had an in-house IP department.
At Metayage, we are a team of 8 registered patent agents from different technical backgrounds, including computer science, electronics, mechanical, biotechnology, and chemistry. In addition, we have several technical experts, patent analysts, and attorneys-at-law. We have expertise across different technology domains. Just like an in-house IP department, we strike the right balance of understanding complex inventions and the importance of the invention to your business. To date, our success is 90% with 132 granted US patents and 221 Granted Indian patents.
Filing a patent application is a daunting task and can overwhelm most people. The process is not straightforward forward which can leave many with questions and confusion. This means that most inventors will have innumerable questions before, during, and after filing a patent application. Just as an In-house patent team would patiently answer all your questions, address your concerns, and guide you through each step, we do the same. A client once said this about us – “At each point, we asked team Metayage stupid questions. But they said, the questions are not stupid, and answered all of them”.
When your IP department is in-house, it is taken for granted that they are part of the ‘team’ and are automatically expected to work towards a common goal. We put in a similar effort with our clients. We understand their Invention, research the market, and counsel our clients in tweaking their Inventions so as to maximize their benefit and protection. We have handheld our clients through negotiating with Investors, and discussions with patent counsel of customers on Freedom to Operate. and even handheld them through the process of getting their companies acquired and IP assets transferred. If the client needs help with technology transfer or licensing, we provide them with the support they need. If they need to conduct a session for their team to educate and inspire them to innovate and patent, we do just that! If need specialized help with legal, fundraising, mentoring, company secretarial, accounting, taxation, investments, etc, we refer them to experts that we know and trust. We work just as though we are on the same team!
We do not claim to be perfect, but our intention is in the right place and strategize in a manner that will help you achieve your goals. At Metayage, by choosing the tagline ‘“Your Strategy First®” and obtaining a registered trademark for it, we have made it the foundation and core value that we implement with our clients.
If you are an SME, a University, an Individual Inventor, or a Startup and you are in need of an extended in-house IP department, drop us an email at [email protected]