Before You Launch: An IP Checklist for Product and Engineering Leads

Launch week is the worst time to think about patents, and it is also the moment when it matters most. Once a feature ships, gets demoed at a trade show or shows up in a technical blog post, your filing options can change. The rules differ by country, and the details are for your patent counsel, but the practical lesson is simple: look before you publish.

Here is the checklist I suggest product and engineering leads run about four to six weeks before a release.

The checklist

1. List what is new in this release. Not features from a marketing view. The technical methods that did not exist in the last version.
2. Mark what the public will be able to see. Anything visible in the product, documentation, API reference or a teardown counts.
3. Find every planned disclosure. Launch posts, conference talks, academic papers, investor demos, customer pilots and open source releases.
4. Flag the items that are both new and visible. Those are the ones to bring to counsel first.
5. Decide on the hidden ones. New methods that stay on your servers may be better kept as trade secrets. Write down the reason.
6. Agree on a sequence. If counsel recommends filing first, align the launch calendar so the filing comes before the public moment.

Common gaps

• The engineering blog post that goes out a week before the official launch.
• Customer pilots run without a confidentiality agreement.
• Slides from an internal demo that get shared with a partner.
• Open source releases that include more of the core than intended.

Make it routine

The teams that handle this well add one line to their release template: "IP review done, date, reviewer." It costs an hour per release and prevents the uncomfortable conversation later.

If your release is close and nobody has looked, our Codebase Invention Audit can review what is shipping and prepare summaries for counsel. Our post on sharing work publicly covers the communication side.

This article is general business information, not legal advice. Idea Partnership does not practice law. Consult licensed patent counsel about your situation.