Adding value to our clients by protecting what matters.
What we Do
Design Patents
A design patent protects the appearance of a physical or virtual object. We have obtained dozens of them for our clients.
Utility Patents
We draft and prosecute patent applications for clients in Detroit and around the world. Our specialties are electronics, mechanical, software and optics.
Invention solicitation
We help discover inventions. We work directly with engineering teams to understand what they have invented – before they know it.
We do more than file and prosecute patents: We make a difference for our clients.
#StrongPatents.
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Passionate about perfection
Patent Practitioners
Axel Nix
Founder & PresidentAxel founded Smartpat in 2007. He holds a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany. Axel came to Detroit in 2000 for General Motors, and never left. He has been a registered US patent agent since 2006. He has prosecuted patent applications in many different technology areas and is an expert in automotive electronics, infotainment systems, and autonomous vehicles.
Joseph Schreiner
Patent AgentJoseph has been working off counsel with Smartpat since 2016. He is a registered patent agent, fluent in English, German, French and Spanish. Joseph holds a Master of Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master of Arts, Loyola University of Chicago.
We are keeping overhead low to offer our clients better prices
Cost Examples
Design Patent
$1935
Flat Rate: Design Patent Application
- Drafting and electronic filing
- Drawings (up to 7 views)
- Government fee ($380) included
- Assignment
Low Complexity Utility Application
$5900
Flat rate: Low complexity application.
- Drafting specification: Up to 10 pages.
- Drafting up to 10 claims
- Up to 3 drawings.
- USPTO filing fees for a small entity
- Assignment
Medium Complexity Utility Application
$8500
Flat rate: Medium complexity application.
- Drafting specification: Up to 20 pages.
- Drafting up to 20 claims
- Up to 10 drawings.
- USPTO filing fees for a small entity
- Assignment
We write about autonomous vehicle patents and other interesting topics.
Blog
6 May 2019
US National Phase – Best Practices for PCT Applications
by Axel - No Comment
Many of the application we prosecute start out overseas, mostly in Europe. Over the years we have developed best practices when filing a US patent application best on a foreign priority application. Those are documented in our practice tip:
3 February 2018
Design Patent Prosecution: Practice Tips
by Axel - No Comment
We recently looked through dozens of design patents that entered the US under the Hague system and went either abandoned or were allowed after amendment. Based on what we have found we prepared a Practice-Tip: US Design Patent Prosecution. The practice tips highlights five common issues that lead to the rejection of a design patent application […]
15 January 2018
US Design Applications based on Hague Agreement: 80% Failure Rate
by Axel - No Comment
On May 13th, 2015, the USPTO began accepting Design Patent Applications filed by foreign applicants under the Hague Agreement. WIPO promises four advantages of using the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs: Simplicity and economy. The system was to enable design owners to obtain protection for their designs with a minimum of formalities and […]
5 October 2017
Intel seeks patent on resolving moral conflicts in autonomous cars
by Axel - No Comment
US patent application 20170285585 published today. The title of the application sounds promising: “TECHNOLOGIES FOR RESOLVING MORAL CONFLICTS DURING AUTONOMOUS OPERATION OF A MACHINE”. And the introduction is even more promising. It explains that compute systems (such as those used in autonomous cars) can experience a moral conflict for which the hard-coded rules do […]
9 September 2017
What to do with the battery of an electric car during a crash?
by Axel - No Comment
Bosch is presenting an interesting concept in US patent application publication 20170253114 which published earlier this week. In essence, the Bosch engineers are concerned with the relatively large mass of the battery in an electric vehicle. Which makes sense: The kinetic energy of an object is directly proportional to its mass. So if 30% of an […]
8 September 2017
Difference in thinking
by Axel - No Comment
Reading patent applications related to autonomous vehicles reveals interesting differences in thinking. On the one hand are the Silicon Valley players which at times seem to reinvent what the car manufacturers and their tier 1 suppliers have already invented years ago. And on the other hand the traditional OEMs are solving problems that the newcomers […]
Located in the heart of Detroit.
Where patents matter
400 Renaissance Center
Suite 2600
Detroit, MI 48243
USA
Phone: (313) 889-5000
Email: contact@smartpat.us