Patent strategy and portfolios
Patentability, disclosure timing, ownership, filing sequence, portfolio priorities, and coordination with product and commercial plans.
Patent services overviewCognivito | Patent & IP Law
Patent and IP counsel for innovators building something that matters.
Cognivito helps inventors, founders, and technology companies decide what to protect, when to file, who should own it, and how the IP plan supports the business.
Federally funded R&D? Visit Federal Innovation Counsel.
Attorney-authored service information by Stewart Myers, Oregon attorney and registered patent attorney · Last reviewed
General information only. An inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship. Do not send confidential or time-sensitive information before conflicts are checked and an engagement is accepted.
Stewart Myers
Oregon attorney
USPTO registration
Registered patent attorney
Direct attorney involvement
Defined scope and practical advice
Primary practice
Patent services connected to the product, market, and next financing decision
Short answer: a useful patent strategy is more than filing a document. It identifies the commercially important invention, manages disclosure and filing timing, develops claims around the competitive advantage, and keeps later filings aligned with how the technology evolves.
Provisional applications
Early U.S. filings developed around a complete technical disclosure and the later nonprovisional strategy—not a placeholder with a date.
Provisional application guidanceUtility applications
Preparation and prosecution of claims directed to how an invention works, what it does, and the practical combinations worth protecting.
Utility patent servicesDesign applications
Protection for an article's ornamental appearance, evaluated separately from utility protection for functional concepts.
Design patent servicesThe rest of the IP system
Protect the brand, creative work, agreements, and chain of title
Different rights protect different business assets. Patents generally address inventions; trademarks identify the source of goods or services; copyright can protect original expression; contracts and assignments define who owns or may use an asset.
Trademark services
Clearance, applications, prosecution, maintenance, ownership changes, and selected disputes for names, logos, and other source identifiers.
Explore trademark servicesCopyright, licensing, and ownership
Registration, assignments, defined licenses, ownership review, takedown work, and practical questions about who may use or commercialize the asset.
Explore copyright and IP agreementsHow the work begins
Start with the decision, not a generic filing form
Define the asset and trigger
Identify the invention, brand, creative work, agreement, ownership issue, deadline, and business event driving the request.
Confirm fit and scope
Check conflicts, jurisdiction, competence, timing, available records, likely third-party costs, and the work Cognivito is being asked to perform.
Build the legal work around the business
Use the written engagement to set deliverables and develop the filing, prosecution, registration, agreement, or portfolio work in context.
Separate specialty
Federal Innovation Counsel
For federally funded technology companies, Federal Innovation Counsel connects awards, inventions, patent families, reporting records, ownership documents, and commercialization decisions.
Visit Federal Innovation Counsel
Direct lawyer involvement
Technical fluency, patent experience, and practical business judgment
Stewart Myers is an Oregon attorney and registered patent attorney. He began his legal career in Intel's corporate licensing group in 2001, later earned a computer science degree, spent more than fifteen years in private practice, and became a partner at a boutique IP firm before restarting Cognivito in Southern Oregon.
Every matter is evaluated for fit, conflicts, competence, jurisdiction, available capacity, scope, and applicable professional rules before work begins.
About Stewart and CognivitoDirect answers
Patent and IP questions clients often ask first
What does a patent protect?
A U.S. patent can provide a right to exclude others from specified conduct involving the claimed invention. The claims define the legal scope; a patent does not itself grant permission to make or sell a product. Utility patents address functional inventions, while design patents address ornamental appearance. See the USPTO's patent essentials.
Is a provisional application a patent?
No. A provisional application is not examined and does not mature into a patent by itself. It can establish an early U.S. filing date for adequately disclosed subject matter if a corresponding nonprovisional application is timely filed and properly claims its benefit. See the USPTO provisional-application guidance.
What is the difference between a patent, trademark, and copyright?
They protect different things. Patents address qualifying inventions; trademarks identify the source of goods or services; copyright can protect original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. A product may involve more than one category, and contracts may determine ownership or permitted use. The USPTO explains the distinctions.
When should an inventor contact patent counsel?
Before a public disclosure, sale activity, launch, investor presentation without appropriate controls, or other event that may affect filing options. The right timing depends on the facts and countries of interest, so a nonconfidential early conversation is usually more useful than waiting for a deadline.
Does submitting a contact form protect an invention or create representation?
No. A form submission does not create an attorney-client relationship, reserve a filing date, establish confidentiality beyond applicable law, or mean Cognivito has accepted a deadline. Do not include invention details or other confidential information until conflicts are checked and an engagement is confirmed.
Primary sources
Official starting points
These agency resources support the general distinctions summarized above. They do not replace advice about a particular invention, mark, work, agreement, owner, deadline, or filing strategy.
A focused first conversation
Describe the IP asset, the business trigger, and the timing—without sending confidential details.
Cognivito will use that information to assess conflicts, fit, scope, and the appropriate next step.