How to Market Your Patent (and Show It Off)

Marketing a patent means making sure the right people understand what it covers and why it matters: customers, partners, licensees, investors, and the people who cheered you on. Start with the free steps (mark your product, build a simple patents page, update your profiles), explain the invention in one plain sentence, and spend money only where it serves a clear goal.

This guide is general information, not legal advice; talk to your patent attorney about your situation.

Start with the goal

What "marketing" means depends on what you want the patent to do:

• Sell your own product. The patent is a credibility signal and a warning to copycats. Your audience is customers and retailers.
• License it. Your audience is companies that could build on it. They want to know what the claims cover and what it could be worth to them.
• Sell it outright. Buyers care about scope, remaining term and clean ownership.
• Recognition. A career milestone, a family story, a line on your résumé.

Pick one primary goal. It decides who you talk to and what you say.

Know exactly what you can claim

The claims at the end of the patent set its legal scope, not the title, abstract or drawings. Before writing a word of marketing copy, read the independent claims and list what they require. Our guide on how to read your patent walks through it.

Then stay inside those lines. Marking or advertising an unpatented article as patented is prohibited under 35 U.S.C. § 292, and "patent pending" is only accurate while an application is pending. Also be honest with yourself: the FTC notes that a patent "doesn't necessarily increase the chances of commercial success." The patent helps most when paired with a product or a buyer.

Free steps that work

1. Mark your products. Put "Pat." and the number on the product or packaging, or use virtual marking: "Pat." plus a free web address that lists which patents cover which products. Marking preserves your right to damages under 35 U.S.C. § 287, and it tells every customer the product is patented.
2. Build a patents page. Your virtual-marking page can double as a showcase. For each patent, list the number, title, grant date, a one-sentence explanation, the key figure and a link to the public record.
3. Update your profiles. LinkedIn has a Patents section, and your email signature, bio, sales sheets and pitch deck all have room for a patent number.
4. Pitch the news. A grant is a story for local papers, alumni magazines, trade publications and industry newsletters. Lead with the problem it solves, not the patent number.
5. Use the drawing. Patent figures are clean, distinctive and already made. Post Fig. 1 with a caption that explains it.

Make it understandable

Most people will never read your claims. Give them one sentence instead:

[Product] that [does what] by [how], so [who] can [benefit].

Then give them something to look at: the drawing, a demo, or a short video. Video travels well on social media and websites; add captions, because many people watch with the sound off. Options range from a phone demo you shoot yourself, to a free instant trailer of your patent, to a PatentFilm short built from your actual claims and drawings (packages start at $249; see pricing). Our guide to patent explainer videos compares the market.

Reaching licensees and buyers

• Build a target list. Look for companies whose products, roadmaps or recent patents sit near your claims. Trade-show exhibitor lists and your competitors' customers are good sources.
• Find the right person. Aim for business development, product or licensing staff. Many large companies have a formal process for outside submissions; ask what it is.
• Send a short package. A one-page summary, the plain-English explanation, the key figure and a short video. See our guide on explaining your patent to investors and licensees.
• Mind the legal line. Talk to your attorney before writing to a company whose existing product you think falls within your claims. A letter that looks like an accusation can have legal consequences.
• Join the community. Licensing Executives Society chapters and university tech-transfer events are where licensing people meet.

Expect it to take time. Few companies say yes to the first email.

Avoid paying for promises

The FTC warns about invention-marketing firms that charge large upfront fees, promise profits they cannot prove, or hand out glowing "evaluations" to everyone. Under federal law, a firm must tell you, before you sign, how many inventions it evaluated over the past five years and how many clients made a profit. The USPTO publishes complaints against invention promoters but does not investigate them, so do your own checking.

Free help exists. Patent and Trademark Resource Center librarians can teach you search tools, and SCORE offers free business mentoring through the US Small Business Administration network.

A simple 30-day plan

• Week 1: Read your claims. Write your one-sentence explanation. Pick your goal.
• Week 2: Mark products. Publish your patents page.
• Week 3: Update LinkedIn and your bio. Pitch two publications and one trade group.
• Week 4: Build a list of 20 target companies and your one-page summary, and get your video or visual ready.

Then measure what worked: inquiries, site visits, meetings. Repeat the channels that produced conversations.

Sources

• 35 U.S.C. § 287, marking and virtual marking (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/287
• 35 U.S.C. § 292, false marking (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/292
• USPTO, Managing a patent: https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/manage
• FTC, Invention marketing scams: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/invention-marketing-scams
• FTC Business Blog, Patent (s)pending: https://search.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2011/09/patent-spending
• USPTO, Published complaints about invention promoters: https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/using-legal-services/scam-prevention/published-complaints/published
• USPTO, Patent and Trademark Resource Centers: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/support-centers/patent-and-trademark-resource-centers-ptrcs
• SCORE, About: https://www.score.org/about/
• LinkedIn Help, Add sections to your profile: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a540837/add-sections-to-your-profile
• W3C WAI, Captions/Subtitles: https://www.w3.org/WAI/media/av/captions/
• LES USA & Canada, About: https://www.lesusacanada.org/about-les/