Filing a patent: Use attorney or DIY?

Vipergrün · 09-12-2013, 12:37 PM

Subject says the jist of it.

I can use something like Legalzoom.

There are DIY books out there.

I could hire a patent attorney.

What say ye Pelicans?

Thanks!
-Brad

island911 · 09-12-2013, 01:03 PM

What do you want the patent for?

That is, there is a trend to obscure the invention in the patent description. Then you just wait for someone else to come along... See Patent Trolling
Funny- I can't recognize one of my patents by the description. Which is crazy, considering that the purpose of the patent is to disseminate the idea publicly.

The right pat attorney will up your chances of getting a patent. (even if it's something that shouldn't get a patent)

porwolf · 09-12-2013, 02:43 PM

My patent attorney, a long time ago, told me a patent is just an invitaion for a law suit. You get the patent you pay for. Depends how big your invention gets. If not much interest for it exists you can probably do it yourself. Then you can claim "Patent Applied For", whether it is any good or not. I understand it takes years before the Patent Office takes a look at it and decides on it.

Dantilla · 09-12-2013, 06:00 PM

File a Provisional Patent. That gives you a year of protection (Patent Pending) to submit the full package, and can easily be done by yourself, with the caveat that you give yourself an education of basic patent law first.

Then you have a year to either hire a patent attorney or submit the full application yourself.
Your idea will remain "Patent Pending" for a few years until the patent office even looks at it. There will be a few challenges and responses back and forth before a patent is issued.

"Patent Pending" is a nice place to be- Protects your idea, but the full patent is not available for potential competitors to study.

BGCarrera32 · 06:18 PM

If you truly believe you have an idea worth protecting or are intending to make claims on an idea that blocks other patents or competitors *and* you have studied the prior art in the area in which you intend to practice your claims, then spending the money for competent legal advice in the form of a patent attorney should be a no-brainer.

A few thoughts:

- being granted a Patent on anything does not necessarily give you the right to practice that invention. Freedom to operate or "right to practice" needs to be established.
- marking something "Patent Pending" without having filed a provisional is illegal.
- It may or may not be a "few years" for your patent to be examined and issued, it really depends on the patent classification and the level of activity in that area. It will be a minimum of 1 year from the time you file your provisional, as after 1 year either the provisional expires or you must convert it to a full application.

If you find any of what I said confusing, misleading, etc, then hire a patent attorney.

Vipergrün · 09-12-2013, 06:22 PM

Sweet. Thank you all. Makes sense. Hoping to file a provisional "process" patent. The process seems fairly straight forward. It will be nice to have that year for sure.

-b

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Legal Zoom only does provisional patents. It does make the process fairly easy and cheap. OTOH, my patent attorney charges next to nothing for a provisional patent. I have 3 filed with him right now and am trying to put aside time to finish the real applications.

The good news is that a provisional patent allows you to go shopping for investors. And those investors can help get the real patent filed.

fireant911 · 09-13-2013, 05:13 AM

I have several of NOLO's books in my library. I was at an inventor's conference and asked the same type of question. As I remember, the then Director of the Patent Office was the speaker and he down played this question when I asked about NOLO. During one of the breaks a woman came up to me and stated that the NOLO guides was all she have ever used to obtain her multiple patents and she did everything herself. If nothing else, these can assist in educating you about the process itself.

Patent, Copyright & Trademark - Intellectual Property Law - Nolo.com

nota · 09-13-2013, 06:15 AM

Google patents is a starting point
and a great resource
no point in doing something that is already patented by others

I had a good idea to use a sparkplug+injector to add direct injection to an existing motor
bosch patented it 2 years before me

john70t · 09-13-2013, 07:01 AM

When searching, keep in mind that everything you do on the internet is watched.
This extends to the highest levels of corporate espionage and government.

If your computer has the browser-embedded software of a major search engine and search "heated spoons", then your secret idea is no longer secret.

Keep it vague, and see what is on the market already.