Inventor's Guide to Trademarks and Patents, The

Evaluation Team Roles and Responsibilities

The evaluation team consists of several types of team members. These roles can rotate from member to member as the team sees fit; however, for most participants, several unique skills will be developed over time using this approach.

The evaluation team leader establishes the agenda and ensures regular meetings are conducted to keep the patent evaluation queue manageable. Generally speaking, keeping patent reviews to a minimum of 15 minutes, and no more than 25 minutes is a best practice to develop. The point here is that allowing fewer minutes, as opposed to more minutes, enforces with the inventor(s) to be to-the-point in presenting their ideas. This practice forces clarity in thinking.

The inventor ...