One of the most challenging assignments for a scientist or engineer in a cutting edge technical field is working effectively with a patent attorney. The world of the scientist or engineer is quantitative and precise. The world of the patent attorney is inherently imprecise ‐‐ the medium of the patent attorney is words where the medium of the scientist and engineer is mathematics. For each to do her job well, there must be a meeting of the minds. When the invention is in an esoteric field, such as tribology/surface metrology, it is especially important for the inventor to assist the attorney in understanding the novel features of the invention.

The extra effort of the inventor in assisting the attorney in fully understanding her invention will be rewarded with a higher quality patent. Few patent attorneys are trained in tribology/surface metrology. Much of the material is inherently mathematical and must be translated into English for the attorney. So, how might an inventor approach this problem of communicating the novel features of her tribology invention to her patent attorney?

Click here to access Donald Cohen and Danny Padys' white paper.