David Ebrahimzadeh's phone number sits in the footer of his website. That detail matters.
Patent Portal launched last month with the kind of press release that tech journalists see weekly: AI-powered this, streamlined that, revolutionary the other thing. The USPTO processed 598,085 patent applications in 2023, and Ebrahimzadeh says his new venture will help inventors navigate that bureaucratic labyrinth using artificial intelligence. Fair enough. The patent system could use disruption.
But click through to the actual site, and something doesn't add up. Where most software companies in 2026 showcase dashboards, feature lists, and pricing tiers, Patent Portal offers strategic consulting language and a contact form. The February 24 announcement promised "AI-powered" prior art research and application preparation. The website reads like a boutique advisory firm that happens to mention technology.
It's the kind of disconnect that makes you wonder what's actually being sold.
Credentials and Context
To his credit, Ebrahimzadeh brings genuine experience. He holds two recently issued U.S. patents—a remotely controllable seatbelt system (US 12,466,355 B1) granted this past November 11, and an automotive emergency evacuation system (US 12,479,387 B1) from November 25. He published "The Patent Playbook: From Idea to Approval" in December and runs Corniche Capital, a private equity firm focused on real assets.
That's proper founder-market fit. The man has been through the patent process himself, multiple times, and recently. He understands the pain points. Which makes the current positioning all the more puzzling.
Where's the Product?
Patent Portal's website lays out a four-step methodology: Technical Assessment, Strategic Positioning, Architecture & Protection, Commercial Alignment. The copy targets "complex, safety/infrastructure-critical industries" and emphasizes human expertise—"operators, engineers, strategists." Fair play. But where's the software?
Modern SaaS platforms, even enterprise-focused ones, show their cards. Feature matrices. Customer testimonials. Pricing pages, even if they say "Contact us for enterprise." Patent Portal offers none of that. The primary call-to-action throughout the site is, essentially, "call us." The footer notes the company is "powered and secured by Corniche Capital" and built on Wix, which is fine for early-stage ventures but hardly suggests a sophisticated technical infrastructure.
No dashboard screenshots. No product demo. No user interface at all, actually.
For a company positioning itself as an AI-first patent tool? That absence speaks volumes.
An Increasingly Crowded Space
The competitive landscape makes Patent Portal's positioning even harder to parse. Perplexity launched its Patents search tool last October—natural language queries, free tier, the whole nine yards. Clarivate rolled out AI Search in Derwent Innovation in December 2024, indexing 160 million patent records. LexisNexis dropped PatentSight+ Protégé in September 2025. IP.com's InnovationQ went live with semantic search in November 2024.
Then you've got the drafting-focused startups. DeepIP raised $15 million Series A funding in March 2025 to scale AI patent writing tools. PowerPatent markets GenAI-assisted drafting directly to patent attorneys, complete with SOC 2 compliance badges. Solve Intelligence, which went through Y Combinator, built an in-browser patent editor. Even open-source options like PQAI offer free AI-powered prior art searches.
Most of these platforms share something Patent Portal conspicuously lacks: visible products. They have UIs you can screenshot. Feature sets you can compare. Pricing you can evaluate, even if it requires a sales call. Patent Portal gates everything behind intake forms and consulting language.
Reading Between the Lines
Perhaps there's method here. The USPTO published guidance in February 2024 clarifying that only natural persons—not AI systems—can be named as inventors, even when algorithms assist in the creative process. Updated guidance in November 2025 reinforced that standard. Patent Portal's emphasis on human-led strategy might be deliberate positioning, a way to avoid suggesting automated, push-button patent filing.
If so, that's defensible. The USPTO handled roughly 1.32 million pending applications in fiscal 2024. First-action pendency ran about 20.3 months. Total pendency hit 26.1 months. Navigating that system requires more than software. It demands judgment, strategic framing, domain expertise—the messy human stuff that doesn't automate easily.
Maybe Patent Portal is simply betting on high-touch service over scalable tooling. Plenty of companies operate in that space. But then why lead with "AI-powered platform"? The word "platform" in 2026 carries specific freight—APIs, integrations, data pipelines, self-service capabilities. What Patent Portal currently offers looks more like IP consulting that happens to use AI tools internally.
The Transparency Problem
As of late February, no independent coverage of Patent Portal exists beyond the GlobeNewswire press release and a syndicated mirror on Sina Hong Kong's finance portal. The company's own "Recent Press" section shows unrelated corporate posts. No detail on which AI models Patent Portal uses. No explanation of what data sources power its prior art searches. No articulation of how its technology differs from the dozen competitors already in market.
For a launch targeting founders and small businesses—audiences that evaluate SaaS tools by features, pricing, and user reviews—that opacity creates friction. Investors and operators in legal tech will certainly notice.
The founder's recent book suggests long-term commitment to this space. Early-stage products sometimes launch as services-heavy operations before productizing workflows into software. It happens. But right now? The positioning feels aspirational at best.
Questions Worth Asking
Inventors and founders evaluating IP strategy should approach Patent Portal with clear expectations. What does the AI actually do? How does pricing compare to traditional patent attorneys or competing self-serve tools? What does the deliverable look like? What's the turnaround time?
Until those answers surface publicly, Patent Portal occupies uncomfortable middle ground—too consultative to compete with true self-serve platforms, too opaque to evaluate as a strategic partner. That's a tough place to build from.
The Bigger Picture
The patent system genuinely needs better tools. With over half a million applications filed annually and pendency measured in years, there's real demand for smarter, faster ways to protect innovation. Whether Patent Portal becomes part of that solution hinges on a simpler question: Can it clarify what it's actually building, and for whom?
Right now, that phone number in the footer might be the most honest thing on the site. It tells you this is a company you'll need to call to understand. In 2026, for an "AI-powered platform," that's not exactly a feature.
