What to bring to your first IP conversation

Most first calls go one of two ways. In the good version, the person has thought about five things beforehand, and by the end of thirty minutes we can tell them whether it is worth filing, what kind of protection fits, and roughly what it would cost. In the other version we spend the whole call reconstructing what actually happened, and we have to book a second one. The difference is not how technical you are. It is whether you have the five things below in front of you.

You do not need to send us anything before the call. Just have it to hand.

The five things worth having ready

1. The problem, in a few plain sentences. Not the invention. The problem it solves, who has it, and what they do about it today. A surprising number of inventors have never said this part out loud, and it is the first thing a patent examiner, a licensee or an investor will want to hear. If you can explain it to someone outside your field, you are ready.
2. What you changed, compared with what already exists. A drawing on paper, photographed on your phone, is better than three paragraphs. It does not have to be neat. If the improvement is small, say so plainly; small improvements are protected every week, but only when we can point to exactly what is different and why it matters in use.
3. Who has seen it, and when. A journal paper, a conference poster, a thesis submitted to the library, a product listed online, a demo day, a LinkedIn post, a video. Dates matter more than most people expect, because a public disclosure before filing can take a patent off the table, and the grace periods in Indian law are narrower than the ones people hear about from abroad. Tell us honestly. We are not judging; we are working out what is still possible.
4. Who was involved. Co-inventors, a guide or supervisor, students, a funding agency, an institute whose lab or equipment you used, a client who paid for the work. And any form you signed at admission or on joining, if you can find it. Ownership questions are the ones that hold up a filing at the last minute, and they are much easier to sort out before the application goes in than after.
5. What you actually want. To publish without losing the option to file. To license it. To start a company around it. A certificate that counts for accreditation or a promotion. To stop someone who has copied you. Each of these points to a different route, and sometimes to not filing at all, so it helps to say it at the start rather than the end.

One or two extra things, depending on who you are

What happens on the call

It runs about thirty minutes, and it is free. For patent questions you will speak with someone from Pooja Menon's patent team; for trademarks, designs and institutional work, with Dhruv or one of the senior consultants. We ask questions, we do not pitch. At the end you will hear one of three things: this looks worth filing and here is what it would involve; wait, and here is what to do first; or, sometimes, do not file this, and here is why. We say the third one more often than people expect. It is cheaper for you and it is why people come back.

If a filing does make sense, you get the government fee and our fee separately, in writing, before anything is signed. There is no obligation after the call.