Last Modified on October 30, 2026
Hi everyone, I’m J.D. Houvener, your host of the Bold Today’s Show, where you, the inventor or entrepreneur, get your daily inspiration so you can go make the world a better place. Welcome, it is a Monday, happy Monday everybody, hope you’re all doing good this week. I’ve got something special for you to think about. The last two weeks we’ve talked about the Super Soaker and in weeks before we’ve talked about all the hard work that goes into doing patent searching and getting the patent rights granted. This week I want to talk about some of the fun activities that can happen once you reach that level, and what I’m talking about is making sure you’re growing your business, right?
A lot of the main goals of our clients are to start and grow businesses, and if that’s your goal, you’re gonna enjoy this week’s session. But for those of you that are just technologists, don’t tune out yet. There’s a couple of sections this week that are going to be applicable directly to you. What I want to talk about today is a question I get a lot from inventors where it’s the David versus Goliath scenario. You’ve got your patent rights granted, but you know what, in the big Amazon or a big Facebook or Microsoft says, you know what, this little guy is not going to touch me, I’m gonna go ahead and do exactly what his patent says and telling the little, you know, David, hey come get me, and there you are, the small inventor. What do you do now?
We’ve got three main options, right – two are sort of not so great. The third one, the one introduced today, is quite compelling. So, the first option we’ve always told our clients is that what we can do is potentially work on a contingency, right, and not all firms will do that. Sometimes our firm, well, depending on the merits of the case, we would be willing to do the work, meaning all the patent validity infringement seeks and assists, and perhaps even a trial work at a contingency rate. More details on that at a later time.
The second option is to actually look to sell or license the right to sue, right? You might think of a competitor to this Goliath would say Amazon, right? Think of eBay. eBay may be interested in suing the lights out of Amazon. Maybe already in a lawsuit today. So, you can sell your rights to eBay to then take on Amazon that may be infringing your right.
The third option that we’re going to be talking about this whole week is this idea of patent insurance. So, before the infringement happens, starting at the point when you first file your application, you can secure and open up a policy. It’s called IP infringement insurance, and it’s a policy that does exactly that. It will provide insurance benefit if there is indeed an infringement of your patent claims. So, we’re talking about that and a few other areas of what’s called IP insurance in this whole world, patent-specific, and trade secret-specific insurance models. They can protect you even before you get your patent granted.
I’m your host J.D. Houvener of the Bold Today Show. If any of you have any questions about this or patents in general, what I want you to do is go visit our website at boldpatents.com. We have tons of information there, free resources, books, and all the good information resources and flowcharts we have to walk you through that on a free 30-minute consultation as well. Have a great day, everybody. Go big, go bold.
The Four Types of IP Insurance
IP Infringement Policy
An IP infringement policy is for the patent owner who wants to be able to afford the legal fees to enforce their rights against infringers once the patent is granted. The conversation can start as soon as your provisional or non provisional application is filed, because you then have an identifiable asset with an application number. You speak with an insurance broker, who walks you through the options. The premium depends on how much coverage you want, and some industries are more costly to cover than others because there is more discovery and customers are harder to identify further up the supply chain. As with any insurance, you also choose a deductible.
Patent Defense Policy
A patent defense policy is the opposite of an infringement policy. It is for a business that does not hold a patent. Suppose a patentability search shows that something similar was already published and your attorney does not recommend filing, but you still want to sell your product. The question is whether you are likely to be sued, and that is normally answered with a freedom to operate opinion, which is extensive, expensive and time intensive. A defense policy offers protection instead. If you are sued for infringement, the coverage helps you hire legal counsel to defend, starting with attacking the validity of the accused patent or arguing that you are not infringing. It gives a business owner the ability to stay in business and afford the litigation.
Collateral Insurance Policy
A collateral insurance policy lets an inventor put a valuation on an invention, even while the patent is still pending. These policies are more straightforward once a patent has issued, because the claims are identified, but they can be issued on pending applications. Inventors use them to get a loan instead of giving up equity to a seed investor, angel investor or venture capitalist. The insurance company uses the invention as collateral, so if the business fails, the worst outcome is that you forfeit rights in the invention to that company. The insurer first evaluates the quality and merits of the invention.
Trade Secret Misappropriation Policy
A trade secret misappropriation policy is designed to safeguard against the loss of trade secret information. If information your company treats as a trade secret is leaked or disclosed, for example when an employee leaves, you risk losing the benefits of trade secret status. Pursuing legal action under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act or in state court can be challenging and costly, and this policy can cover those legal fees. This type of insurance is relatively new.
