This is Business. This is War!

Charles Ankner, CP

Founder and Owner, SAINT™ Brand Cannabis

I'm in the patent business; just one skill and ability of this cannabis related patent owning multifaceted industrial diamond in the rough.

I'm not a patent attorney nor agent; I'm a freelance engineering IP analyst and SPY. I was an international corporate engineer, manager, and "patent paralegal" at KARL STORZ for fifteen years, and you can take the dog out of the IP, but you can't take the IP out of the dog.

Before that, eight years at Raytheon building and testing radar jammers; and before that - eight years in the USAF - testing and evaluating new radar jammers prior to acceptance into active inventory.

Ah, but the good old days at KARL STORZ. I learned much from Sybil. And trust me, Dr. Frau Storz remembers me well - and she always will.

Back to my "millions"... With my not being an Officer of the Court, nor a registered patent agent; but having the tacit knowledge and skills of both - I freely weld the lance ("free-lance") to get the job done.

For those who can read between legalize lines, a grin has just appeared on their face.

There are approximately 42,000 practicing US Patent Attorneys, Agents, Examiners - representing over 330+ million Americans, let alone the rest of the global citizenry. That's an elite group.

I'm an industrial weapons dealer, and a combat trained patent law killer, and I had many diverse and arcane responsibilities and duties while "in country". Under the indirect supervision of licensed and practicing Patent Attorneys - I crushed infringers and acquired broad and strong claims to "expand the empire".

The funny thing with patent and trademark law - we're all "in country", all at war. And most don't even have a clue.

I'm fresh from battle; and indeed, patent law is commercial warfare.

So - let's peacefully chat about cannabis, patents, and disruptive innovation.

Term in claims / No. Pats Granted / No. Published

cannabis 504 / 1437

THC 995 / 1129

tetrahydrocannabinol 396 / 909

cannabinoid 613 / 1944.

Those numbers have doubled since 2015. USPTO Data as of the 2 July 2020

Folks need to understand that the disruptive impact of cannabis is and will be very widespread.

Conglomerates, bankers, investors, con-men, corrupt politicians, and many others rue the day when industrial cannabis reasonably, legally, and federally arrives.

And just as other international industries, such will and are expending great effort and resources to prevent such an "evil day". When you think industrial cannabis, think extremely disruptive innovation.

Such notions frighten the living crap out of many oligarchs. Getting a picture of the "battle space" now?

Gratefully, three granted patents are mine U.S. 9,585,867 , 9,622,426, 10,631,479. Lord willing, divisionals, continuations, continuation-in-part, and further standalone applications are to come. All protect some very "Disruptive Innovation". [2023 update – I have several new “family filings”. What a ride thus far: https://patents.google.com/?inventor=charles+ankner&oq=charles+ankner&sort=new

I believe they are pioneer in their respective fields of art; and on multiple direct ballistic trajectories from the fringe - to the mainstream.

Now, by far most patent litigation brought worldwide is in the US; so, that data is very important. Do you know how to avoid it - the briar patch, interpret them - the patents?

If not, it is like a signed death sentence for your company in a language you can't understand - scientia, iure definita. Commercial execution with no chance of clemency or pardon.

Each filed and granted patent can be a strategic and tactical commercial weapon- and this industrial world is in a deadly global IP arms race.

Even expired and abandoned patents can be defensive weapons, used to invalidate a patent asserted against you. Fewer things bring more joy to a corporate patent para-lawyer than to find a prior-art citation that simply guts a patent asserted by some troll patent attorney.

Here's the scene –

Some troll threatens to bring suit with a very narrowly claimed, poorly researched, and poorly prosecuted letters patent- unless you pay X amount of money.

The countermeasure - "simply" find that invalidating citation and the once lethal patent gun becomes a water pistol.

The counter-countermeasure - send the defeated troll to your direct competitors, keeping the protective invalidating prior-art citation information to yourself. Tricky huh? I paid attention in the airborne electronic warfare trenches. Deceive Deny Defeat.

You must understand, patent law is the most arcane and complex of the legal disciplines; and the most industrially and commercially deadly - besides tax evasion and other criminal activity.

I once had a new department coordinator ask, and ask only once, "Why is this such an adversarial part of law?".

We turned to our new supervisor, a highly experienced German Patent Attorney, who with malice aforethought barked in reply - sharp thick Bavarian accent and all,

"Dies ist Geschäft. Dies ist Krieg!" - rhythmically pounding his fist into his other hand.

So, verstehen zivile??? Sadly, he turned out to be all talk, and a coward.

Now, don't miss the portfolio forest for the patent trees. Look at the overall number of cannabis related patents and applications - only in the hundreds - and many are duplicates.

The modern cannabis industry is wide open for patents. I just came out of the medical device industry (video endoscopy), which has tens of thousands of patent citations one must "know". The analysis was and is mind-boggling - I plowed fifteen years’ worth.

Cannabis innovation is one of the most ancient; and, yet newest fields of art.

I can only equate the current cannabis intellectual property landscape to being lawfully granted mineral rights to huge portions of the Moon. The commercialization will harm no one, and the profits are out of this world. Without patents and trademarks, your little company rocket may fly around the far side, but you'll never land - let alone mine the Moon. Basically, patents are someone simply saying "MINE!", and governments granting and enforcing that Constitutional Right.

SO BE FOREWARNED: if you infringe your competitors patents, your little rocket will most likely explode on the pad; or even silently drift off into deep space - with all hands lost.

There is only one way to "get to the Moon" - avoid infringing patents. To actually "mine the Moon"- you must prudently secure your own broad and strong - letters patents.

When I was a corporate patent law dog, I had two main duties:

1) make sure we didn't infringe the patents and trademarks of our competitors, and

2) ensure the acquisition and enforcement of our own patents and trademarks.

I did have a 3rd primary duty - "Keep it off my boss' plate!", but that is whole other story.

Please forgive the pride; I did all three tasks very well. And primarily my Global VP bosses were primarily clueless of my duties. Only our outside patent counsel and Dr. Storz had any idea of my function - and also the fully licensed, thoroughly and internationally experienced US Patent Attorney who "took my place".

Starting at that company, when I "advanced" from manufacturing to "the second floor" - three people were assigned my former duties. Three full time engineers were either laterally transferred or hired within six months of my "promotion". Last promotion I would have in sixteen years - before I resigned.

Getting the picture? It was industrial combat.

For a time, an organization may survive without a broad and strong patent portfolio.

HOWEVER; it will surely die if it either unintentionally or willfully infringes the patents of direct competitors. A competitor doesn't even have to win an infringement suit, just filing the complaint and forcing you to defend yourself is commercially - devastating.

I've "seen it" many times; and caused such a few times.

Have you ever heard of Computer Motion Incorporated? Probably not.

They lost an infringement suit brought by Intuitive Surgical- now by far the world's largest surgical robotics company. All was lost because of four patents owned by Intuitive that Computer Motion didn't "avoid". Their infringing technology, along with all of Computer Motion's technology was assimilated into Intuitive’ s - just like the BORG® of STAR TREK® fame.

Computer Motion is gone and forgotten, except by the former owners and employees - if even by them. Dr. Wang and his investors had to start over with InTouch Health®.

Very harsh, but very true.

And don't miss the semi-hidden truth here, Computer Motion infringed (stole) the inventions of Intuitive, not the other way around.

Computer Motion were the BORG®, the "bad guys", and just like in the NEXT GENERATION® - the BORG® lost - in perpetuity.

I am an independent intellectual property spy and assassin; using my powers for good -so, … listen up.

What ARE these deadly instruments of commercial warfare? What is a letters patent?

A patent may be defined as a government granted time limited monopoly on an invention, in exchange for fully disclosing how the invention works. After the legal monopoly has expired, typically twenty years, the invention (technology) enters the public domain for all to use - thus moving the "state of the art" forward. Quid pro quo.

An in-force patent is a legal instrument used to legally exclude others from practicing or profiting from an owned innovation (invention).

Intellectual property is just that, property.

It can be improved (built upon via commercialization and/or "child patents" thus increasing the parent patent's breadth, utility, and value), licensed (rented for royalties), assigned, bartered, sold, inherited, lawfully seized by the government, abandoned by the owner; and yes - stolen (infringed).

However, unlike real property, intellectual property by definition must be and is "created" - via human ingenuity. I was always taught to buy land because, "They aren't making any more." I have a few acres.

But; we are making more intellectual property -every day.

Again, let me emphasize, Intellectual Property is "created out of 'nothing'”, and worth untold billions around the world.

So, I'm definitely in the correct two industries; patents and cannabis.

However, as cannabis and patent savvy as I may be; I am amazed how the cannabis industry as a whole has not grasped the importance of intellectual property.

I believe there are several reasons for this myopic world vision, one main reason being: the modern history and nature of the cannabis industry itself.

The cannabis industry is indeed ancient, but for the last century or so - illicit.

It is against public policy to grant patents on that which is illegal. Filing a cannabis related patent application in the 1970s was tantamount to calling Law Enforcement and asking, "Please come over and lock me up, for decades. Please.". And they would - gladly - after a 72-hour psychiatric hold.

Even today, surviving cannabis prohibition laws carry longer sentences than for many violent crimes. A rapist, murderer, or other violent felon is handed six-or-eight-year sentences. Many strictly cannabis related felons have rotted in prison for decades...and still do. Old stoners are paranoid alright, and for very good reason.

Most of the early cannabis cultivation innovators of the modern community were and are - under the radar...I was. So situated, community knowledge and trade secrets were the only intellectual property protection available. Mistakenly, many old stoners still think this is still the case - financially, it will cost them dearly.

Not so surprisingly, it is the Gen-Xers and the Millennials who are filing cannabis related patent applications today - hundreds of them.

Sadly, the Ed Rosenthals and the George VanPattens, and tens-of-thousands of unknown others who kept the underground cultivation community growing the thriving, are not filing. Why not?

Besides the "wisdom of paranoia" described above; the vast majority of laypersons, those in the maturing legal cannabis industry, simply do not understand what patents are, what they are for, and what protection they can provide.

What patents are:

Patents are a right to exclude. That means you don't need them to go "into business", you only need then to stop others from unlawfully profiting from or practicing your "created” business based on your innovation, your inventions.

Patents clearly teach, and put on notice, others about your property - your intellectual property.

A patent application must meet very strict and rigid requirements related to disclosure and feasibility.

You just can't patent air, well, most of the time. Who invented using nitrogen in vehicle tires? Good question huh?

Patents are intended to protect research and development investments. There are augments for abandoning patent law entirely, dependent on the industry involved and "problem to be solved". Like eradicating or preventing cancers - one would think unrestricted and open collaboration would be the watchword. Not so.

However, for the vast majority of the arts and sciences, without intellectual property protection, spending billions on R&D would be wasted money. As soon as a new technology is brought to market, it would be copied and stolen by competitors - even before being brought to market.

Such an overall system of Commerce could not and will not succeed. Letters patents are a modulator of private commercialization and technological and societal advancement. If not for patents, only the government would be innovating. Imagine that nightmare.

Patents are a very secure investment - in yourself. That last part scares and scars folks. Regardless of the negative ramifications of the America Invents Act, patents offer a "circle of protection" for the small to mid-sized business owner to profit from an innovation, and then direct that gain back into further development, and further patents.

If that legal protection were not available, large international corporations would consume any and all new technology, along with the innovators. If not for the rule of law and intellectual property, we would live and die in a global oligarchy - without a doubt.

Patents are protection from greedy and soulless corporations. An individual may innovate something that greatly benefits humanity and then "donate" it to the public domain. Noble and praiseworthy indeed.

Sadly, the reality of such act is that many and any national or international corporation will and MUST take that altruistically provided innovation - and exploit it for every dime while blocking out all rivals and competitors - including you. A publicly traded company MUST by corporate law and SEC rules exploit any and all lawful means possible to make money for the corporation, i.e the shareholders - and cut your commercial throat in the process. "It is just business".

Patents are armor: Without patents, individuals and companies are naked and unarmed on the global commercial battlefield.

What patents are not - and should not be:

Patents are not intended to be offensive weapons. Indeed, non-commercializing patent holders and their colluding troll patent attorneys are a menace to commerce. I'm convinced that some workable form of minimal commercialization requirement could be enacted before a patent litigant is allowed to file suit.

Possibly, requiring non-exclusive licensing if an owner does not commercialize, at least in part, a patent within a reasonable time would be helpful as well.

Patent trolling is a major problem; but, forcing a start-up inventor to pay exorbitant litigation filing fees in hopes trying to discourage patent trolling, is not a solution. In fact, just one more nail in the coffin of the colloquial garage inventor.

Patents are not greedy on the inventor or owners' part: In actuality, patents are typically a Constitutional Right, just like the right to vote, and the "...right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Patents are not expensive, per se: Especially for a micro-entity status filing inventor. However, unless guided by a seasoned patent practitioner, any resulting grant won't be worth much, or far less than it could have been worth.

Typically, inexperienced inventors and practitioners narrowly describe and claim their innovation- far too narrowly. All the broad and strong claims I've seen sacrificed on the altar of "ignorant and crappy drafting" is ... well, criminal.

A well drafted and prosecuted patent application may cost thousands to grant, but it can protect billions worth of innovation from theft over the twenty-year life. And if you don't put on that patent armor, it will be someone else who controls those billions.

Similar to the Quaker State Man®, "...pay me now, or pay me later.". But in the patent world, someone always pays. Be smart, prudently "get patents".

So, I'm an “expert” on endoscopy related patents - worldwide; and I'm becoming expert with patented and patent pending cannabis related technologies and methods - worldwide.

I've only been in the canna-biz full-time - a short-time. It takes years of full-time work - decades in some fields - to become even fluent in a particular art, let alone become expert.

And with deep sorrow, I must predict that those without this type of knowledge in the "patent arts", will be casualties on the cannabis commerce superhighway; and there will be no "getting well".

Know anyone else in the cannabis industry with a "beautiful mind"... like mine?

You better find one …finding a few … is even better.

~Charles

This is Business. This is War!

This website uses cookies.