For patent law firms
New continuation work in your clients’ pending families
When a competitor launches a product, we check whether your clients’ pending applications may support claims covering it. You receive a cited support analysis and draft claim language for your review. Your firm decides and files.
The window closes quietly
- A client’s parent application issues, and nobody checked what competitors shipped while it was pending.
- Small and mid-size firms rarely have a system that watches competitor launches against pending specifications.
- Since January 2025, waiting has a price: a continuation filed more than 6 years after the earliest benefit date carries a USPTO fee.
What you receive
- 1
Pending family table
Every member of the family from USPTO continuity data, with its relation, filing date and status. Pending members are marked, so you can see which can still serve as a parent.
- 2
Deadline and fee dates
The last day to file a continuation, any allowance or issue-fee risk on the pending parent, and the dates the 6-year and 9-year continuing application fees start.
- 3
Support chart with ¶ citations
Each proposed claim element next to the as-filed paragraphs that may support it and the product’s public documentation. Support is graded strong, moderate or weak. Weak rows are shown, not hidden.
- 4
1–3 draft claims
Candidate claim language for your review, written to the supported features. You edit it, adopt it or discard it.
- 5
Risks and limits
Where support is thin, where the parent may issue soon, and what we could not confirm from public sources.
Example
| Last day to file a continuation | The parent’s issue dateOr the day before abandonment. In a report this is a date taken from the USPTO record. |
|---|---|
| Last day without the continuing application fee | Mar 2, 2026The 6-year anniversary, or the next business day if it falls on a weekend or Federal holiday. |
| 6-year fee applies from | Mar 3, 2026$2,700 large entity, 37 CFR 1.17(w)(1) |
| 9-year fee applies from | Mar 3, 2029$4,000 large entity, 37 CFR 1.17(w)(2) |
How a review works
- 1
You send published numbers
Application, publication or patent numbers for the families, plus links to the competitor products you have in mind. - 2
We check the family
We pull continuity and the as-filed specification from the USPTO, confirm which members are pending, and compute the dates. - 3
We map the support
Product features from public documentation are matched to as-filed paragraphs. Every citation is checked against the text. - 4
You review and decide
You get a written report by email. Your practitioner decides with the client whether and what to file.
Single review
One pending family against one competitor product. Use it when a client forwards a launch, or you spot one yourself. Report by email within 48 hours.
Portfolio review
Any number of pending families, against the competitors you name or ones we find. We check each family for pending members and dates, map support for every competitor product, and report the families that show a credible match first. Families with no credible support are listed as such.
Reports can carry your firm’s name
The citations, source notes and dates stay in. Your practitioner reviews it and adopts it before it goes out.
Patentative is not a law firm
The work stays yours
- Your practitioner decides
- Reports are prepared for review by a registered patent practitioner. Any claim language you use becomes your work, under your judgment.
- We don’t file or advise
- Patentative is not a law firm. We don’t prepare or file applications, communicate with the USPTO, or say whether to file.
- Your client stays yours
- We never contact your client or the company that makes the product. The report goes to you.
- Published numbers only
- Send only published numbers and public product links. If confidential or unpublished material arrives, we delete it unread.
- No conflicts data needed
- We don’t ask for your client list. Each request names only the families and products to check.
- Every citation checked
- Each cited paragraph is matched against the as-filed text before the report goes out. Thin support is labelled, not hidden.
Questions from law firms
Does Patentative replace our prosecution work?
No. We surface potential continuation opportunities and send you a cited support analysis and draft claim language. Your practitioner reviews it, decides with the client, and drafts and files whatever is filed. Each opportunity is new continuation work for your firm.
Who is responsible for the claims that get filed?
Your firm. Patentative is not a law firm and is not registered to practice before the USPTO. Our draft claim language is illustrative and prepared for review by a registered patent practitioner, who exercises independent judgment and adopts, edits or discards it.
Is it proper to write continuation claims aimed at a competitor’s product?
Yes, if the specification supports them. The Federal Circuit has said it is not “in any manner improper” to amend or add claims to cover a competitor’s product learned of during prosecution (Kingsdown v. Hollister, 1988). The new claims still need written-description support in the original filing (PIN/NIP v. Platte, 2002).
What do you need from us?
Published application, publication or patent numbers, and public links to the competitor products. Nothing unpublished or confidential, and no client list. A portfolio review can cover as many families as you like.
Can we send the report to our client under our firm’s name?
Yes. On request we deliver the report without Patentative branding. The citations, source notes and dates stay in it, so your client sees how each statement was reached.
Are our communications with you privileged?
No. We are not a law firm, so communications with us are not privileged. That is one reason we work only from published numbers and public product information.
What does it cost?
Pricing depends on the number of families and products. Contact us and we will quote it by email before any work starts. The first reviews are free.
Have a client family and a competitor launch in mind?
Send the published application number and a link to the product. We check whether the as-filed specification may support claims covering it, and email your firm a cited report within 48 hours. The first reviews are free.