You can use your patent offensively to request licenses from competitors or defensively to reject requests for licenses from competitors.
The rights granted to inventors under the Patent Act include the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling your invention throughout the United States. Practically speaking, this means that you can use your patent offensively to request licenses from competitors (either through negotiations or litigation) or defensively to reject requests for licenses from competitors. You can’t stop your competition from infringing your patent rights, but you can sue them, and you may even be able to recover triple damages in court.
Sometimes inventors apply for patents because they need to publicly disclose their idea. For example, you may have a software invention that your sales force needs to demonstrate, describe, and offer to sell. When you file your patent application, you have “patent pending” status and do not lose any of your pending rights by publishing and offering to sell your invention. In this case, it may be easier to file for a patent, rather than try to have each and every prospective customer sign a nondisclosure agreement.
And sometimes inventors apply for patents to prevent their competition from getting patents. If some of your inventions are patentable and some are not (because, for example, they have been on sale for more than a year), you could disclose the non-patentable inventions in a patent application for another invention. When your competitors try to patent similar inventions, your unpatentable but now published inventions may end up being found by the USPTO as prior art and may render your competitors’ pending applications unpatentable. In other words, you could actively try to publish ideas that you don’t want your competitors to patent.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: In the summer of 2025, Clocktower Intern Mark Magyar used artificial intelligence (AI) software to shorten over 100 Clocktower articles by 17%. The shortened articles are included as comments to the original ones. And 17 is the most random number (https://www.giantpeople.com/4497.html) (https://www.clocktowerlaw.com/5919.html).]
* Many Reasons To Get A Patent
Patents can be used both offensively and defensively. Offensively, you may request licenses from competitors—through negotiation or litigation. Defensively, you can reject their requests. You can’t stop others from infringing, but you can sue, and courts may even award triple damages.
Sometimes patents are filed because inventors need to disclose their idea. For example, if your sales team must demonstrate a software invention, a filed patent gives you “patent pending” status and lets you publish or offer to sell without losing rights. This can be easier than chasing NDAs from every potential customer.
Other times, patents are used to block competitors. You can disclose non-patentable inventions (e.g., those already on sale over a year) within an application for another invention. Once published, those disclosures may count as prior art, making it harder for competitors to patent similar ideas. In short, you can publish strategically to keep others from locking up the field.