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ENT208TC Industry Readiness

IP Strategy โ€” deep dive

This page supports the Week 8+9 IP Strategy sprint. Use it if you want to do a prior art search or need more background on patent types.

Chinese vs U.S. patents โ€” why you will find both

Section titled โ€œChinese vs U.S. patents โ€” why you will find bothโ€

When you search for prior art, AI tools and databases return many U.S. patents. This is normal โ€” the U.S. database is large, English-language, and well-indexed. A U.S. patent does not protect someone in China; a Chinese patent does not protect you in the U.S.

China โ€” CNIPA (ๅ›ฝๅฎถ็Ÿฅ่ฏ†ไบงๆƒๅฑ€)U.S. โ€” USPTO
Invention patent (ๅ‘ๆ˜Žไธ“ๅˆฉ)2โ€“3 years ยท registration fee ~ยฅ1,000โ€“3,0002โ€“3 years ยท registration fee ~$1,000โ€“2,000
Utility model (ๅฎž็”จๆ–ฐๅž‹)6โ€“12 months ยท cheaper ยท hardware/functional innovationsNo equivalent
Useful for your projectFiling in China if you commercialise herePrior art research only

Important: The figures above are official registration fees only. Attorney and agent fees are additional โ€” often several times higher, especially in the U.S. Total cost for a U.S. invention patent with professional help can exceed $15,000.

For most student teams: you will not patent. This section is about deciding which alternative protection fits your product.

If someone on your team already has a patent โ€” that experience is useful here. Use it.

The AI prior art workflow โ€” two steps

Section titled โ€œThe AI prior art workflow โ€” two stepsโ€

Use any AI tool that includes web search โ€” DeepSeek, Kimi, ChatGPT, or Claude. Web search matters because you need real links to patents and products, not invented ones.

Do not skip Step 1. It sets the AIโ€™s role and prevents generic output.

Step 1 โ€” paste this as the System Prompt (or first message):

Act as a Technical IP Analyst. Your goal is to help an engineering team
perform a 30-minute Prior Art scan.


Use simple, professional English suitable for an EMI context.


Search for both Chinese (CNIPA) and international (USPTO/WIPO) patents
and products.


Focus on Utility Models for hardware and Trade Secrets for code.


Do not provide generic legal disclaimers. Provide specific, technical
comparisons.

Step 2 โ€” fill in the blanks and send this as your request:

I am building [one sentence: what it does and who it is for].
My core technical approach is [how it works โ€” e.g. ultrasonic sensors
connected to a Raspberry Pi].


Tasks:


1. Prior Art: Find 3 existing patents or commercial products that use a
   similar technical approach. For each: name, one-sentence description,
   and a link.


2. Technical Gap: Based on those 3, what is one incremental difference
   my project has? (e.g. cheaper materials, different sensor placement,
   specific user group)


3. Sprint Comparison: Create a table comparing Chinese Utility Model
   (ๅฎž็”จๆ–ฐๅž‹) vs. Trade Secret for this specific project. Compare on:
   Cost, Speed to obtain, and Protection Strength.


4. Strategy: If we have 0 RMB and 4 weeks left, give one reason to
   open-source this instead of hiding it.

Do not paste the AI output directly into your documentation. Write one paragraph in your own words. That is what โ€œstrategic reasoningโ€ means in the rubric.

What to write in your Technical Documentation (1 page)

Section titled โ€œWhat to write in your Technical Documentation (1 page)โ€
  1. Prior art โ€” 2โ€“3 similar products or patents, with links or patent numbers
  2. Your differentiation โ€” one or two sentences on what your approach does differently
  3. Patent decision โ€” yes or no, and why (cost, time, novelty strength)
  4. Alternative protection โ€” if not patenting, which strategy and why

This maps directly to the IP Strategy section in the Technical Documentation template.

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