Law360, New York ( May 29, 2015, 8:28 AM EDT) -- There is no way to make a patent invulnerable to challenge in an inter partes review, but there are ways to make a patent less appealing as a target for IPR and also less susceptible to a finding of unpatentability in an IPR. The authors of this paper have extensive experience in IPR as well as in patent prosecution, which gives us a unique perspective as to how our actions in procuring patents affect a client's ability to defend those patents against a validity challenge in IPR. We provide the following practice tips for fellow prosecution practitioners as well as for in-house counsel and client representatives who are consumers of prosecution services. The following practice tips describe actions that can be taken when a patent is drafted and prosecuted to make that patent stronger in the face of a potential IPR challenge. Spending a little more money and effort up front to draft a better patent application may pay off in real dollars when it comes time to enforce the patent....