Filing a Patent
- Thread starter overmaars
- Start date
Uninformed
5,000+ Posts
It is possible but probably ill-advised. For what market is the invention intended? How broad of a patent do you want? Are you interested in international rights? Are you going to develop the product yourself or license it to a larger company for development and sale?
overmaars
1,000+ Posts
For what market is the invention intended? Retail Healthcare - it's an improved efficiency distribution method for an existing health care product. I have a concept, specs for design as well as market feedback and a sales strategy.
How broad of a patent do you want? I don't know how to answer this question.
Are you interested in international rights? Possibly
Are you going to develop the product yourself? No
Or license it to a larger company for development and sale? Yes
How broad of a patent do you want? I don't know how to answer this question.
Are you interested in international rights? Possibly
Are you going to develop the product yourself? No
Or license it to a larger company for development and sale? Yes
Uninformed
5,000+ Posts
From those answers, you should be able to file a provisional patent. It will give you some time to market your idea. It shouldn't cost too much for a provisional. Call The University of Texas technology transfer office and see who they recommend as a patent attorney based on your product description. Also look at ATUM. It might have some good resources for you.
UT office of technology commercialization
3925 West Braker Lane, Suite 1.9A WPR (R3500)
Austin, Texas 78759
Telephone: 512-471-2995
Fax: 512-475-6894
Email: [email protected]
And PM me as I am curious to know who they recommend. As far as cost, you should be able to speak with the patent attorney and get a rough estimate and be able to get some good feedback in the process. Let me know if you need additional assistance.
UT office of technology commercialization
3925 West Braker Lane, Suite 1.9A WPR (R3500)
Austin, Texas 78759
Telephone: 512-471-2995
Fax: 512-475-6894
Email: [email protected]
And PM me as I am curious to know who they recommend. As far as cost, you should be able to speak with the patent attorney and get a rough estimate and be able to get some good feedback in the process. Let me know if you need additional assistance.
Gone through this, though the company I work for paid for all the cost and it was pretty expensive. I think one area you can save a lot of cost is writing the the patent for yourself, we always have the lawyer write it up to make it as broad as possible. The provisional is a good idea to get it started but it starts a timer so be aware of that when you start it.
Uninformed
5,000+ Posts
You have bad estimates. You should not need to pay that much until you start filing internationally and have translation charges. And a provisional patent is inexpensive, less than one-tenth of your quote. Call UT. I know who they use to use, but I don't know who they currently use. All the people I know in Texas are specific to chemical engineering and biotech. If you have any questions, let me know. I hold several patents and have advised some of the tech transfer offices around the country.
Below is a list of patent attorneys in Texas.
The Link
Below is a list of patent attorneys in Texas.
The Link
You'll have a tough time finding a patent lawyer to do your patent for less than 5-7.5k especially if that lawyer is in a firm. Foreign filing costs much more than 10k in any significant jurisdictions other than Canada.
A provisional is not a bad idea but a year has generally proven not to be sufficient time to get an invention on a "paying basis."
Finally it is rare indeed that you can license a paper idea. A more successful strategy is to make and sell the invention even if on a tiny scale. If it's a profitable idea you will attract competitors/licensees.
sorry to be a Debbie Downer. Look at it this way if you never get a product off the ground a patent won't make a ****. Probably better off focusing efforts and resources on the product.
Buena Suerte.
HOOKEM
A provisional is not a bad idea but a year has generally proven not to be sufficient time to get an invention on a "paying basis."
Finally it is rare indeed that you can license a paper idea. A more successful strategy is to make and sell the invention even if on a tiny scale. If it's a profitable idea you will attract competitors/licensees.
sorry to be a Debbie Downer. Look at it this way if you never get a product off the ground a patent won't make a ****. Probably better off focusing efforts and resources on the product.
Buena Suerte.
HOOKEM
MaduroUTMB
2,500+ Posts
A provisional will run $2k, while a full patent will run $15-25k depending on how much research they have to do.
Uninformed
5,000+ Posts
You can spend that much on a provisional or you can spend half that. It depends on how you do it.
As for a provisional, I can throw one together pretty easily. I have done it multiple times. The USPTO has some good info on provisionalsThe Link . Remember though that I have managed them and have a fair amount of knowledge about the process. I would not recommend you doing it based on what you have stated previously.
Biotech and medical and physics based inventions are pretty complicated and there is a lot of prior art. I have no idea how complex the poster's idea is (nor do I know if it is patentable). I have seen simple inventions done for a lot less than maduro's numbers. A good example is a novel breast pump that is now being sold in stores in the US that cost about $7500 to file in the US.
However, once international filings are necessary, the price goes way up. In general, the price varies greatly, but some costs are pretty fixed, like a patent search costs from about $1000-$2500, filing is about $500. So with a best case scenario, you can spend probably about $5000. However, the price can easily go up to the $25,000 range.
And be careful with the attorney you choose - all attorneys are not created equal. Not only does the attorney have a great effect on whether you are granted a patent on technical grounds, the attorney also has a great effect on how broad of protection you can obtain, and whether you lose a patent for non-technical reasons, like missing a filing date.
Doing a quick search, I would say this guy's numbers are pretty accurate (although I wouldn't trust his service): The Link
As for a provisional, I can throw one together pretty easily. I have done it multiple times. The USPTO has some good info on provisionalsThe Link . Remember though that I have managed them and have a fair amount of knowledge about the process. I would not recommend you doing it based on what you have stated previously.
Biotech and medical and physics based inventions are pretty complicated and there is a lot of prior art. I have no idea how complex the poster's idea is (nor do I know if it is patentable). I have seen simple inventions done for a lot less than maduro's numbers. A good example is a novel breast pump that is now being sold in stores in the US that cost about $7500 to file in the US.
However, once international filings are necessary, the price goes way up. In general, the price varies greatly, but some costs are pretty fixed, like a patent search costs from about $1000-$2500, filing is about $500. So with a best case scenario, you can spend probably about $5000. However, the price can easily go up to the $25,000 range.
And be careful with the attorney you choose - all attorneys are not created equal. Not only does the attorney have a great effect on whether you are granted a patent on technical grounds, the attorney also has a great effect on how broad of protection you can obtain, and whether you lose a patent for non-technical reasons, like missing a filing date.
Doing a quick search, I would say this guy's numbers are pretty accurate (although I wouldn't trust his service): The Link
The OPs invention sounds like software or a business method, which will require some extra attention in preparation and will likely have a lengthy and expensive prosecution. A schlock jock could probably do it under 10k but I wouldn't want to have to enforce it. And some may differ but every patent I write is intended to be enforced, I don't see the utility in anything less.
I'm also curious about the assertion that 10k is adequate initial capital for a small company. That's pretty thinly capitalized in my mind.
HOOKEM
HOOKEM
I'm also curious about the assertion that 10k is adequate initial capital for a small company. That's pretty thinly capitalized in my mind.
HOOKEM
HOOKEM
Uninformed
5,000+ Posts
I wouldn't let these guys scare you. It is possible to do without legal guidance. Given you have not done it before I would start with a provisional patent application. There are numerous how to guides available that won't cost you much. Go to the uspto.gov website and do a keyword search of titles and abstracts to find patents dealing with aspects of your invention. Read them and become familiar with the language used in patents. Also look for patents that may be prior art worth referencing or that may already have claimed your idea.
The language in the claims, description, abstract, background, summary of invention and the drawings all came from the application. If you can do all that in a technically precise way, you have a shot at doing it yourself. Once you get the provisional patent in place you can shop the idea around. From the responses you get you will figure out the best way to proceed.
As for my background I have been granted 6 patents and am finishing up a new one. For the first 6 I was with a company and they paid an attorney, but except for some suggested changes to technical language they didn't change much of what I had written. Unless you find an attorney who is truly an expert in your field of invention, you will have to do most of the initial draft anyway. For my latest patent I am doing it my own, and I can't conceive of any reason why I would need an attorney. Having said that I will say that I sometimes write sections of the Texas Administrative Code and such as part of my job, so while not being an attorney I have a good grasp of legalese, beyond that of the average person. That said I have a friend who is a patent attorney who has offered to read it over for me.
Put most of your effort into developing precise claims as that is what defines your invention. Start with the simplest aspect of your invention and build on it. Be certain in your mind that there isn't a simpler approach someone can use that can make your invention worthless. Don't leave loopholes. But also don't get too hung up in more complicated aspects of your invention that don't add value, this is particularly true if you only intend on licensing the invention. If you plan to manufacture, include everything applicable to the device you will be making. You only get 20 claims included in the base price and if you have many more than that the claims probably don't have value, or you may be combining multiple inventions that should be patented separately.
The language in the claims, description, abstract, background, summary of invention and the drawings all came from the application. If you can do all that in a technically precise way, you have a shot at doing it yourself. Once you get the provisional patent in place you can shop the idea around. From the responses you get you will figure out the best way to proceed.
As for my background I have been granted 6 patents and am finishing up a new one. For the first 6 I was with a company and they paid an attorney, but except for some suggested changes to technical language they didn't change much of what I had written. Unless you find an attorney who is truly an expert in your field of invention, you will have to do most of the initial draft anyway. For my latest patent I am doing it my own, and I can't conceive of any reason why I would need an attorney. Having said that I will say that I sometimes write sections of the Texas Administrative Code and such as part of my job, so while not being an attorney I have a good grasp of legalese, beyond that of the average person. That said I have a friend who is a patent attorney who has offered to read it over for me.
Put most of your effort into developing precise claims as that is what defines your invention. Start with the simplest aspect of your invention and build on it. Be certain in your mind that there isn't a simpler approach someone can use that can make your invention worthless. Don't leave loopholes. But also don't get too hung up in more complicated aspects of your invention that don't add value, this is particularly true if you only intend on licensing the invention. If you plan to manufacture, include everything applicable to the device you will be making. You only get 20 claims included in the base price and if you have many more than that the claims probably don't have value, or you may be combining multiple inventions that should be patented separately.
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