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Patent Delegation Runbook

Scope: This runbook is the canonical procedural contract for upstream FCC ecosystem repositories (FCC itself, ice_ext, the 10 constellation vocabulary projects, and future ecosystem additions) when registering a new invention-disclosure and progressing it toward counsel handoff.

Owner personas: - PCT (Patent Claim Tracer) — owns the cross-ecosystem claim matrix. - IHL (Innovation Handoff Liaison) — orchestrates FCC → PHOENIX (ai-coe-docs) mirror coordination. - IEA / IPEA (IP Evaluation Analysts, JV governance + governance) — evaluation readiness. - GCA (Governance Compliance Auditor) — enforcement routing. - FA (Forensic Auditor) — ecosystem-wide evidence sweeps.

Related quality gate: QG-IP-CONS (IP Consolidation) from the PHOENIX 58-gate registry.

Workflow (8 Steps)

Step 1 — Discover the Invention

A contributor identifies a novel architectural pattern, algorithm, or process that may warrant IP protection. Triggers include:

  • Novel cross-subsystem interaction (e.g., dual-bus routing per v1.4.2 LaneRouter).
  • Novel workflow composition (e.g., R.I.S.C.E.A.R. 10-component persona discipline).
  • Novel integration pattern (e.g., Zachman-classified Model Management Service per POLARIS).
  • Novel detection/reconciliation heuristic (e.g., SHA-256 vocabulary parity).

Output: brief invention sketch (~1 page) posted to the owning repo's invention-disclosure backlog.

Step 2 — Author Invention Disclosure

Use FCC's canonical template at docs/patent/disclosure/invention-disclosure-form.md. The disclosure MUST cover:

  • Problem statement + prior-art hypothesis
  • Claimed novel contribution (single-sentence)
  • Architectural context (cite UML/ADR evidence)
  • Zachman cell assignment (row × column)
  • R.I.S.C.E.A.R. persona alignment (which persona owns the invention)
  • Inventor(s) + affiliation

Output: <repo>/docs/patent/disclosure/<invention-id>.md committed to the owning repo.

Search USPTO, WIPO, and Google Scholar. Document findings in two files:

  • <repo>/docs/patent/prior-art/landscape.md — high-level landscape summary + relevance rankings
  • <repo>/docs/patent/prior-art/search-report.md — per-search terms, databases, hits, and triage notes

Gate: landscape.md must enumerate at least 5 nearest-neighbor filings with citation IDs (US/EP/WO numbers).

Step 4 — Draft Provisional Specification + Claims + Abstract

Author three companion files:

  • <repo>/docs/patent/provisional/specification.md — full written description (12-30 pages)
  • <repo>/docs/patent/provisional/claims.md — independent (3-5) + dependent (10-30) claims
  • <repo>/docs/patent/provisional/abstract.md — 150-word abstract

Independent claims must cite architectural evidence (UML figure IDs, ADR numbers, code path references). Dependent claims elaborate specific embodiments.

Output: provisional tree ready for FTO analysis.

Step 5 — Run FTO-lite Analysis

Freedom-to-Operate lite — a structured landscape review of related filings that may block commercialization. Document under <repo>/docs/patent/fto/<invention-id>.md with sections:

  • Landscape summary (adjacent filings)
  • Risk assessment (blocking / narrow / non-blocking)
  • Design-around recommendations (if blocking filings exist)

Gate: FTO-lite is advisory only; final FTO clearance remains with counsel (Step 8).

Step 6 — Extract UML Context Diagrams + Re-render as USPTO Figures

Source: <repo>/docs/architecture/uml/ (FCC v1.3.7 established the 4+1 UML views + C4 context pattern).

Re-render each relevant diagram as USPTO-style FIG.1, FIG.2, ..., FIG.6 with:

  • Simple linework (no color fills, no gradients)
  • Numbered element labels (120, 122, 124, ...)
  • Captions referenced from the specification prose

Output: <repo>/docs/patent/drawings/fig-01.svg through fig-06.svg + a drawings/README.md mapping figures to claim citations.

Step 7 — Submit Cross-Repo PR to ai-coe-docs (PHOENIX)

The owning repo's disclosure, prior-art, provisional, FTO, and drawings are mirrored into PHOENIX under ai-coe-docs/docs/patent/<codename>/. Coordination is owned by IHL (Innovation Handoff Liaison), who:

  • Verifies owner approval + counsel acknowledgement before initiating the PR
  • Preserves the patent-tree structure (disclosure, prior-art, provisional, utility, fto, drawings)
  • Canonicalizes drawings to the UML-to-USPTO FIG.N pattern
  • Enforces confidentiality tier (private-repo inventions stay private on the mirror until counsel clears FTO)
  • Records the handoff in docs/ecosystem/ice-ext-patent-coordination-v<release>.md (or repo-specific equivalent)

Gate: IHL never writes to PHOENIX without green gates on owner approval and counsel acknowledgement.

Step 8 — Counsel Review (Owner-Gated, Outside Plan Scope)

External counsel reviews the full tree (disclosure + prior-art + provisional + FTO + drawings) and issues clearance for:

  • Provisional filing — clear to file provisional patent application
  • Defensive publication — clear to publish without filing (preserves freedom of others to practice, blocks future filings against practicing parties)
  • Hold — specific revisions needed (design-around, claim narrowing, etc.)

Counsel clearance status is recorded in the Patent Claim Matrix (docs/governance/patent-claim-matrix.md) by PCT.

Review Gates

Gate Owner Check
R.I.S.C.E.A.R. persona discipline PCT + IPEA Invention is tied to a persona with all 10 R.I.S.C.E.A.R. components populated
Zachman cell assignment PCT Invention has explicit row × column placement
QG-IP-CONS quality gate GCA PHOENIX 58-gate registry's IP Consolidation gate is green
Confidentiality tier IHL Private-repo inventions carry explicit confidentiality: private tag
Evidence citations PCT Every independent claim cites UML fig ID, ADR number, or code path
FTO-lite advisory IPEA FTO-lite doc present; risk classification recorded
Counsel acknowledgement Owner Owner provides written counsel-ack before any PHOENIX write

Counsel Handoff Checklist (10 items)

Before initiating Step 8, verify:

  1. Invention disclosure committed under docs/patent/disclosure/<id>.md
  2. Prior-art landscape + search-report committed
  3. Provisional specification + claims + abstract committed
  4. FTO-lite analysis committed with risk classification
  5. UML diagrams re-rendered as FIG.1-6 (SVG + PNG)
  6. Zachman cell assignment recorded in the disclosure
  7. R.I.S.C.E.A.R. persona ownership recorded in the disclosure
  8. Patent Claim Matrix row populated by PCT
  9. PHOENIX mirror handoff record present under docs/ecosystem/ (authored by IHL)
  10. Owner + counsel acknowledgement evidence captured in the coordination record

Appendix: Directory Structure Template

Every ecosystem repo registering an invention should follow this layout:

<repo>/docs/patent/
├── README.md                   # index of inventions in this repo
├── disclosure/
│   ├── invention-disclosure-form.md   # canonical template (copy from FCC)
│   └── <invention-id>.md              # per-invention disclosure
├── prior-art/
│   ├── landscape.md                   # aggregated landscape
│   └── search-report.md               # per-invention search log
├── provisional/
│   ├── abstract.md
│   ├── claims.md
│   └── specification.md
├── utility/                           # utility-patent conversions (post-provisional)
│   └── <invention-id>-utility.md
├── fto/
│   └── <invention-id>.md              # FTO-lite analysis
└── drawings/
    ├── README.md                      # figure-to-claim mapping
    ├── fig-01.svg
    ├── fig-02.svg
    └── ...

Cross-reference: docs/governance/patent-claim-matrix.md holds the canonical cross-ecosystem ledger; PCT owns it and IHL uses it to drive PHOENIX mirror handoffs.