Patent Count vs. Patent Value: Patent Strategy in the Age of AI | IPWatchdog Unleashed

In the latest episode of IPWatchdog Unleashed, I speak with Joel Meyer, an IP attorney and innovation strategist with more than 30 years of experience building and monetizing technology portfolios. Drawing on Meyer’s experience with Digimarc and his current work advising startups and emerging technology companies, the conversation explores how another major technological transformation—this time driven by artificial intelligence—is changing not only what companies can create, but how they should think about protecting it.

One recurring theme is the continuing difficulty patent law has dealing with technologies that can be implemented in software, hardware, firmware or some combination of the three. Signal processing and AI illustrate the problem particularly well. We discuss the tendency to characterize functional technological innovations as “abstract,” and whether many of the concerns associated with patent eligibility are more appropriately addressed through Section 112—and, in some circumstances, Section 103. For innovators, the practical question becomes how to describe genuine technical advances with enough depth to withstand those challenges while preserving meaningful claim scope.

AI is also changing the patent process itself. We both express optimism about the ability of AI-assisted tools to improve searching, drafting and quality control, but caution against confusing automation with strategy. An AI-generated application may look and sound like a patent application while functioning primarily as a detailed product specification. Building an asset with long-term strategic value still requires understanding the invention, the prior art, competitive technologies, potential infringers and the different ways the technology may evolve or be implemented.

Those considerations are particularly important for startups and growth companies, where the objective should rarely be accumulating patent counts for their own sake. Meyer advocates identifying foundational innovations early and developing specifications capable of supporting protection at multiple levels of generality as the business and technology develop. At the same time, not every improvement needs to be patented. Trade secrets, know-how and other forms of protection can play important complementary roles, particularly for optimizations that can remain confidential.

That leads to a broader discussion about the role of IP counsel. For emerging companies, effective IP strategy increasingly requires more than preparing and prosecuting patent applications. Counsel needs to understand the company’s technology, market, competitive threats and business objectives. What is the company’s real differentiation? Where is its moat? How might competitors design around the technology? What happens if a much larger platform decides to incorporate the same functionality? Thinking through those questions can influence not merely what gets patented, but what the company develops next.

Ultimately, the conversation is about moving from patent count to patent value—and using IP strategy to preserve business optionality. A young company may not yet know whether its future lies primarily in products, services, licensing, acquisition or some combination of those paths. We discuss why the strongest IP strategies anticipate that uncertainty rather than prematurely narrowing the company’s options, and how AI can give sophisticated IP professionals better information and tools to help innovators build protection around what actually creates competitive value.

More IPWatchdog Unleashed

You can listen to the entire podcast episode by downloading it wherever you normally access podcasts or by visiting IPWatchdog Unleashed on Buzzsprout. You can also listen to IPWatchdog Unleashed conversations on the IPWatchdog YouTube channel. For more IPWatchdog Unleashed, see below for our growing archive of previous episodes.