Below are 4 questions to ask a patent lawyer before hiring them to do the job. Let's begin!...Questions To AskWhat's Your Legal Experience?What's Your Technical Experience?Can Your Patent Lawyer Explain Their Work Process?Can You Provide References?
However, patent lawyers are bound by ethics and professional responsibility requirements. Stealing an idea would be a serious breach of duty for a lawyer that can expose him or her to punishments from the bar, and the original inventor would likely be able to sue for theft.
Contact PatentsContact informationWhen to contactToll-Free: 800-786-9199 Local: 571-272-1000 TTY: 800-877-8339General filingToll-Free: 866-217-9197 Local: 571-272-4100 ebc@uspto.govBefore filingLocal: 571-272-2520 571-272-3547Before filingLocal: 571-272-2510 SequenceHelpDesk@uspto.govBefore filing During examination14 more rows•Jul 10, 2018
These five steps will help you plan out the patent process as you seek to protect your invention.Understand Your Invention. The first step in how to get a patent is to understand your invention. ... Research Your Invention. ... Choose the Type of Protection. ... Draft Your Patent Application. ... Wait for a Formal Response.
Yes, you can sell an idea to a company without a patent. However, the company needs to enter into a contract such as a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). Otherwise, they can steal your idea. Unfortunately, many companies will not enter into an NDA.
As soon as you file a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), your invention is "Patent Pending." Once your application is submitted, nobody can steal, sell, or use your invention without your permission.
A patent can cost from $900 for a do-it-yourself application to between $5,000 and $10,000+ with the help of patent lawyers. A patent protects an invention and the cost of the process to get the patent will depend on the type of patent (provisional, non-provisional, or utility) and the complexity of the invention.
What kind of patent do you need? There are three types of patents - Utility, Design, and Plant. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof.
If easy means getting a patent without any rejections, then only 11% of utility nonprovisional patent applications get allowed without any rejections according to this Yale statistical study. So getting a utility patent will not be easy in most cases.
A poor man's patent is essentially writing out a description of your invention and then mailing that written description to yourself. This postmarked envelope supposedly acts to create the date of your invention as the date this written description was postmarked.
The Patent Pro Bono Program attempts to match inventors with registered patent agents or patent attorneys. These practitioners volunteer their time without charging the inventor. However, the inventor still must pay all fees that are required by the USPTO; these cannot be paid by the practitioner.
Need Help? A patent attorney will usually charge between $8,000 and $10,000 for a patent application, but the cost can be higher. In most cases, you should budget between $15,000 and $20,000 to complete the patenting process for your invention.