STEP 01
Tell us where to send it
Name, company, title, and work email first, so your summary can be routed and delivered correctly.
learn.schellip.com5-minute check · 11 questions
How to patent your idea — and what could forfeit your rights first.
Most founders lose patent rights not at the patent office, but before they ever file — by disclosing, demoing, or selling too early, or by never papering who owns the invention. This check tells you whether your idea is patent-ready and what to lock down before a deadline you can't undo passes.
How it works
Eleven questions. Five readiness areas. One clear next step.
STEP 02
Answer 11 questions
Quick multiple-choice on your invention, who built it, what you've disclosed, and your timeline.
STEP 03
See your profile
A five-area readiness profile with color-coded zones and your most time-sensitive issues.
STEP 04
Get the summary
Your profile and prioritized actions render inline and are queued for email follow-up.
The five areas
Where patent rights are won or quietly lost.
Patentability and what to file are professional judgments — this check doesn't make them for you. It surfaces the readiness gaps and the timing traps that most often cost founders their rights before they ever talk to a patent attorney.
A · Novelty & prior art
Is it new enough to patent?
An invention has to be new and non-obvious over what already exists. A real prior-art picture shapes whether — and how — to file.
B · Disclosure timing
Have you started a clock you can't stop?
Public disclosure, sale, or an offer for sale can trigger bars to patenting. The U.S. grace period is limited, and most other countries have none. Timing is often the whole game.
C · Ownership
Who actually owns the invention?
Founders, employees, contractors, and AI-assisted work all raise ownership and inventorship questions that need to be documented before filing.
D · Invention records
Can you show how you got here?
Dated development records — and, for AI-assisted work, the human contribution — support inventorship and defensibility.
E · Protection strategy
Patent, trade secret, or both?
Not everything should be patented. The right mix of provisional filing, full application, and trade-secret protection depends on your product and budget.
What you receive
A profile that tells you what to do before you file.
- Readiness score across five areas, color-coded by urgency
- Your three most time-sensitive actions, ranked
- Plain-English notes on disclosure bars and the grace period
- A summary delivered through the approved follow-up workflow
- Optional consultation with Jeff — a patent attorney — in two clicks
Jeff Schell
Managing Partner, Mountain West · Whiteford Taylor & Preston · Patent Attorney · AI Advisor
Jeff Schell is a registered patent attorney and Managing Partner of Whiteford's Mountain West practice. A former two-time founder and venture investor, he helps Colorado technology companies protect inventions and build IP that holds up in financing, partnership, and sale.