The word “patent” is rarely paired with “fun,” but one game-loving Cincinnati attorney is about to change that.
Vance VanDrake, partner and intellectual property, patent, trademark and venture attorney at Ulmer & Berne, recently released his book, “The Patent Game,” to help entrepreneurs and business leaders increase their “IP IQ.” Unlike many textbooks before it, Vance’s book is designed to entertain while educating readers about patents. The Patent Game, now a book and podcast, makes IP strategy digestible and actionable through a gamification approach.
We sat down with Vance, a self-proclaimed board game nerd, to try our hand in the high-stakes game of patent strategy.
Cincy Inno: You say patents are “dynamic” and “exciting.” I'm intrigued … VanDrake: That does seem a bit counterintuitive! Patent law has a reputation as being incredibly dry and administrative — like going to the DMV to get your driver’s license or a property deed recorded. In reality, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. It lends itself surprisingly well to gamification, and that’s the approach I’ve taken with my book to make it accessible and memorable.
Like any game, there is a board, rules on the "back of the box," players and pieces to move around the board. Patents must be secured country by country, so like a game of Risk, players need to choose territories carefully to maximize value and to not become overextended. What people take for granted in all games is that it’s a resource constraint that leads to fun and creativity, whether it’s money in Monopoly, time in Boggle, land in Risk, sheep in Settlers of Catan or your dignity in Dungeons & Dragons (just kidding about that last one ... ). Patents have their own constraints — some financial, some timing-related — and some rules-based, but within that framework there is an enormous opportunity to be creative to accomplish the company’s objectives.
This particular game can seem complicated and esoteric at first, but once you learn the pieces and how they move, the permutations and combinations seem nearly endless.
CI: What’s one lesser-known way a patent can drive business value? VanDrake: There are so many! Each strategy in the second half of my book comes with a practical example of value being created in a unique way. One incredible tool that’s not commonly known is what’s called the "Patent Prosecution Highway."
Foreign patent protection can get expensive, so many companies will forgo that option completely because of resource considerations. But the patent offices from many countries got together and agreed that, if patent claims were allowed in one country, that they’d pick that application up for review much faster and likely grant those same claims. Why do extra work when someone else has already done that? For patent applicants, this can be a great way to get fast and less expensive foreign patent protection that might have seemed out of reach.
CI: Who did you write "The Patent Game" for? VanDrake: Anyone with an innovation that wants to change the world. This might be an entrepreneur seeking funding, a Fortune 500 company developing something internally or a garage inventor working nights and weekends on a passion project. The first half of the book teaches patent basics using game analogies and the second half of the book is a “choose your own adventure” of sorts to guide the innovator or business leader to one of 18 different strategies. Finding that strategy, when working with your patent attorney, will save an immense amount of time and money, and you’ll feel more competent participating in the process.
CI: Why turn patents into a game? VanDrake: I turn everything into a game. I’m an admitted board game nerd and I love to connect the dots. It’s part of the reason I’ve been so drawn to innovation and entrepreneurship in particular. I love my job and that’s partly because each company’s situation is a bit like a puzzle or Rubik’s Cube. Or at least, that’s how I view it.
Solving those puzzles, especially when the technology is ground-breaking, is incredibly rewarding. And, like most people, I’ve sat through pretty horrible patent presentations that made me want to stick a fork in my eye. There are a lot of painfully boring resources out there that look suspiciously like dry textbooks. I’m not trying to force people to go to law school — I want them to get what they need to feel competent talking about the subject.
CI: I hear there’s a patent podcast, too. Can you explain what listeners can expect? VanDrake: Yes! Episode 1 is now live at www.thepatentgame.com, and we’ll be syndicating on all platforms here in the near future. Our first series is called, "The Basics," and, as the name suggests, we take on each aspect of the patent process in pieces to help you build a foundation. Episode one is on provisional patent applications, about which I get a lot of questions and there is also a ton of misinformation.
My co-host and I have a good time hopefully bringing an educational and mildly entertaining (I’m still a patent attorney after all) format for delivering the info. We all learn differently — I ravenously “read” most of my books on Audible — so we wanted to make the info accessible to everyone.
Ready to roll The Patent Game die? The book is now available for pre-order at www.patentgame.com; the podcast is available across podcast-streaming services.
Editor's Note: Responses were edited for Inno style.
