International patent filing strategies from a
U.S. perspective:
various routes and considerations
by Matt Niederman

The global patent scene

An international patent strategy plays a defining role in how these intellectual assets are maintained and monetized over time. Timely planning enables you to manage workloads and costs while minimizing commercial and legal risks.

Whether working with industry juggernauts or individual innovators, many U.S. inventors begin by focusing on their domestic market, where the patent system is familiar and commercially significant, to secure their primary revenue base. As any organization expands, however, Intellectual Property (IP) tends to move with deliverables across borders through manufacturing, supply partnerships or market entry, making international patent planning a necessary extension of an initial filing strategy. These preparations can start with a few simple but important questions:

  •  Where will your organization’s products or services be sold, manufactured, sourced or distributed?
  •  Are there crucial foreign markets with high revenue or strategic potential?
  •  Who are your primary competitors and where are they filing?
  •  Is the invention central to your business or strategy, or is it a niche or adjacent technology?
  •  Are you using the invention as a barrier to entry for competitors?

At the same time, filing internationally raises a set of practical questions. You must decide:
  •  which filing route to take
  •  how to approach prior art searching
  •  how to sequence filings
  •  how to allocate budgets over time

These undertakings are interconnected and influence the strength and enforceability of your resulting patent portfolio. 

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