Chang Robotics says broad patents help it win trust, contracts, and future licensing

MatthewChang · x · 2026-07-25

Matthew Chang argues that engineering teams can build real IP by treating patents as a company asset, not a legal afterthought.

Chang Robotics says it has broken its own record, getting 3 patents approved about 4 months after filing; he says the usual approval cycle is around 12 months.
The company now files about 1 patent per month, and Chang expects that to rise to 2–3 per month over the coming years.
He says the team spends 3 years assembling the right people to make the strategy work.
Why patents matter, in his view:
They create authority with customers, who see the USPTO record and take the company more seriously.
They help protect exclusivity in contracts with customers and vendors.
They set up a future licensing business.
They create a framework for long-term revenue.
In the quoted exchange, he pushes back on the idea that patents are useless: he says broad, conceptual patents can still be strategically valuable, especially when combined with a team built specifically to support them.

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