Most founders don’t struggle with whether to protect their IP — they struggle with where to start. Cost concerns, uncertainty about what’s actually protectable, and the fear of being either too early or too late all combine to create a kind of patent paralysis that keeps good innovations unprotected.
In their recent webinar, Blueshift IP founding partner Robert Plotkin joined Joel Melby and Trevor Skene of IP Miners to walk through a systematic way to break through that paralysis, sharing their joint expertise from years of collaborating with startups and growing tech companies.
A few key takeaways from the conversation:
The real question isn’t “is our product patentable?” It’s “what have we built that may be patentable?” The protectable IP often isn’t the product itself — it’s the technical problems solved along the way to deliver it. One fintech client came in thinking they had a single patentable product; the team’s discovery process uncovered five distinct, independently protectable innovations inside it.
Not everything worth protecting should be patented. Once innovations are identified, they get run through a strategic filter: Is it truly patentable? Does it matter to your business strategy? Will it actually keep competitors at bay? From there, the right protection tool — patent, trade secret, copyright, or trademark — depends on the innovation itself.
For software and AI companies, patent eligibility comes before drafting. Software often sits in a fuzzy area between abstract ideas and patentable technology. Evaluating eligibility upfront avoids sinking time and money into an application that was never going to survive examination.
The process is sequential by design. Discovery and prioritization (IP Miners) feed directly into eligibility evaluation and drafting (Blueshift IP) — so nothing is wasted, and every dollar invested goes toward innovations with both legal and business merit.
Whether you’re deciding whether to patent a product you’ve just launched, unsure if your software is even eligible, or facing investor pressure to show IP fast — there’s a starting point that fits your situation.
Watch the full webinar below: