Your Strategic
IP Partner

Your Strategy First®

Our Purpose

The world judges us based on what they can see and touch. However, at Metayage, we believe in the true value and power of Intangible assets. The entrepreneurial journey of an innovative startup founder can be extremely challenging, especially when very few believe in your inventive ideas, and most people tell you that your ideas are worthless. At Metayage, we act as a friend, well-wisher, mentor, and a strategic IP partner to nurture your idea and protect it by getting you patents that certify that your invention is unique and inventive, and give you exclusivity. We partner with you at each stage of your journey, right from idea, prototyping and launch, fundraising, scaling up to exit.

Our Services


Metayage acts as an extended in-house IP department and also doubles up as an external IP firm

Our services encompass the entire IP life cycle right from IP Identification to Monetization

International Patent Protection

We get speedy patent grants in all major markets around the world seamlessly.

IP Due Diligence

We provide clarity on patent portfolio quality, and identify red flags and provide recommendations on reducing risks due to infringement of third-party IP rights.

Patent Intelligence

We provide actionable intelligence based on patent data for Competitive Intelligence, Freedom to Operate, and Invalidating patents of competitors.

International Trademark Protection

We enhance your brand value by registering your valuable brand names, logos, and product names as trademarks in key markets.

International Design Protection

We give you an edge over your competitors by protecting your product's unique aesthetic features in major markets worldwide.

Strategic IP Partner

We act as your extended IP department and conduct IP Audits, prepare patent intelligence reports and update your IP Strategy periodically.

Why Metayage

IntellectualProperty.

Case Studies

PI Ventures

Conducted patent due diligence on Freedom to Operate and Patentability prior to Venture Capital Investment in deep tech startup.

Saankhya Labs

Prosecuted and conducted patent valuation that includes 25 granted US patents, and patents in India, Europe, Japan, and South Korea.

Niramai

International patent portfolio in the US, EPO, India, Japan, Canada, China etc. 9 US patents granted.

Numerify

17 US patents granted, related to AI driven data warehousing and analytics for Business Intelligence.

Kernel LABS

Acted as an in-house patent counsel for their portfolio companies such as Omnivor and Trusted Key (acquired by Workday, Inc).

What Our Clients Say About Metayage

Frequently Asked
Questions

Patents have an impact on the R & D, Finance, Marketing, HR and Legal departments of a company. For R&D, it protects their investment and maximizes ROI. For Finance, it increases the valuation, generates royalties and increases profits. For Marketing, it strengthens the branding, differentiation, and competitive advantage. For HR, it enables a culture of innovation, and helps to retain top technical talent. For Legal, it mitigates IP infringement risks and secures the company's valuable assets.

Since patents are territorial/country-specific, the selection of countries/jurisdictions to apply for a patent should be based on which countries are major markets, and which countries the product is likely to be made or used in. Other considerations include, the country of incorporation, likelihood of success in securing patents, ability to enforce successfully, timelines, and costs.

An IP Strategy is a systematic roadmap to align a company's business goals with Intellectual Property related initiatives. The IP strategy depends on what stage the company is in, its short and long term goals, its competitive position within the industry, etc. IP initiatives such as IP Audits. Patent intelligence, Freedom to Operate, IP protection, IPR enforcement, IP licensing and IP valuation are conducted at different stages depending on the company's IP Strategy.

The extent and scope of disclosure in a patent application should be sufficient to successfully obtain patent protection while also preserving key trade secrets to the extent possible. To obtain a patent grant, a patent application must satisfy novelty, non-obviousness, subject matter eligibility requirements, and enablement. For enablement, every element of every patent claim should be described in sufficient detail to enable a person of average skill in the technical field that the invention relates to, to make and use the invention without undue experimentation.

Especially before launching a product in new markets, but preferably even during the R&D stage, conduct a Freedom To Operate (FTO) search in those countries where you intend to launch your product. This helps to identify patents owned by third parties that your product might potentially infringe. Once these patents are identified, analyze the claims of these patents based on the specification to determine their scope of coverage. Then you can reverse engineer your product to avoid infringement, or even look at opposing or invalidating third party patents that pose a significant threat to your business.

Typically the relationship with an IP firm starts fairly early in the journey, during R&D and product development. At this stage, your company will typically not have an in-house IP department or even an in-house IP counsel. Hence, the right guidance on an IP strategy that aligns your company's requirements with IP initiatives is crucial. Transparency and clarity in communication will help you make informed decisions. Expertise and track record in successfully obtaining IP protection is another key metric to consider. Last but not least, expertise in multiple jurisdictions is critical if you want to build an international patent portfolio

Latest Blog & Articles

View All Blogs

04/Aug/2022

5 lies you’ve been telling yourself to delay patent protection

I am too busy – The truth is that if it is important and valuable enough everyone finds time for it.

24/Jan/2021

What are the patent trends in China as compared with India?

Over the past decade, the volume of patent filing in China has seen a dramatic rise.

01/Apr/2023

What are the challenges in obtaining patent protection for software-related inventions?

Software inventions are increasingly important today because they enable automation, speed, connectivity, innovation, and effective data management. Businesses who innovate using software gain competitive advantage

Metayage
What do we mean by, “In-House IP services”? | Metayage

What do we mean by, “In-House IP services”?

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 ip@myipstrategy.com

Metayage