Posted by M Arthur Auslander on December 26, 1998 at 06:47:06:
In Reply to: Has anyone here ever been successful gaining a patent. posted by Herb Melba Parker on December 24, 1998 at 14:25:55:
: My wife can up with an excellent idea and should be
: very usefull, I was wondering if anyone here has had
: any success in finding a good and honest ( well good )
: patent attonory to recommend. Would like to speak with
: persons that has gone through all of the ropes so to
: speak. If anyone can help please reply! Thank You !
I am a lawyer specially registered to practice before the Patent and Trademark Office. Even when dealing with a qualified professional one must be careful to be reassured that the professional is concerned with the welfare of the client and not just concerned with collecting a fee.
Patents are generally not difficult to obtain. Getting a patent that provides the scope of legal protection that an inventor needs is not always obtainable. A further reality is that there is no assurance that even a "good patent" is going to be able to earn for the inventor.
There are also scams preying or hopeful inventors holding out great promises of success. My understanding is that there is a $100,000,000 a year industry taking advantage of would be inventors, telling the inventor how good the invention is and offering to take a percentage for the successful promotion of the invention, which is a come on. The promoters may even employ lawyers registered to practice before the Patent and Trademark Office.
One such endeavor in the past took 25 years to be put out of business by the Federal Trade Commission. They had 30,000 clients only three of whom made more money than they paid.
This office conducts a Reality Check either by way of an office or telephone conference. The Reality Check includes not only whether or not a patent is likely to be obtained but what you can do with what you have with or without a patent and how you can promote what you have. We also answer any questions for future reference about inventions generally.
Our charge is $250 for the Reality Check and if it looks as if anything further of value to you can be done, we give credit for the $250.00 against the charge for a patent search.
M. Arthur Auslander (aus@auslander.com)
Auslander & Thomas, 505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
212-594-6900, fax 212-244-0028
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