Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[timcd100]

Given the cost of attorney fees, I've been hoping to come accross a resource with which I can effectively find the right patent attorney/firm for me. I tried some legal service search sites but those only produced a handful of attorneys that weren't quite what I was looking for, as did google. The USPTO site's results were too voluminous and vague to be useful.

Compounding that is that I learned that a patent attorney/firm doesn't even have to be in your geographical location or meet you face to face, making the process of choosing a legal service seem even more confusing. I'm looking for a service for an individual inventor that's moderately priced and for an attorney that specializes in business and software methods, but first (or at the same time) I'm looking for a patent search/opinion.  

Before I just take a stab at one of these dozen or so attorneys/firms that show up from an internet search, is there any helpful well known resource that I'm missing? Thanks if anyone knows.

Hint: Don't type the address of the site in directly or your post will be lost when you're prompted back to the text editor,  tempting you to shake your fists in torment.      

[plex]

www(dot)yourwebsiteinfo(dot)com

[JimIvey]

Responding in reverse order....

Only new users can't post links.  We've been innundated with spam and that was one of the compromises -- no links until you've posted some minimum number of items.  FWIW, I've been personally removing about 2-5 spam posts per day.  In the topics I monitor, it's beginning to look like spam:ham is about 1:2.

As for e-commerce and software, I do those.  At the risk of sounding self-serving, I can't think of anyone else in that technology I'd recommend.  

As for search engines for patent attorneys, they really don't exist.  The good ones are hard to find because they're busy and they don't advertise much.  They get their work by word-of-mouth and aren't looking for any other ways to get work.  You can tell you've found one when they don't get back to you for weeks at a time.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.  That's the way things are at the moment.  There are a few inventors' groups you might look into.  One is something like invented.org.  There's an "IP Society" based in either Monterey or Santa Cruz.  Those are where I'd start.  If you really want to find lots of IP attorneys, go to some continuing legal education seminar for IP attorneys.  We all have to go to one of those sooner or later.

Regards.

[timcd100]

I have a few additional questions, thanks again. Is it sometimes the case that an attorney/firm will not get back to you because they have too much else on their hands with other clients?

Do some firms limit their clients to large entities and exclude individual inventors?

Do the services of individual attorneys usually cost less than those of firms?

[JimIvey]

I have a few additional questions, thanks again. Is it sometimes the case that an attorney/firm will not get back to you because they have too much else on their hands with other clients?

Yes.

Do some firms limit their clients to large entities and exclude individual inventors?

Yes, some do (I think).  Others don't.

Do the services of individual attorneys usually cost less than those of firms?

Oftentimes, yes.  Sometimes, no.

Regards.

[biopico]

I have a few additional questions, thanks again. Is it sometimes the case that an attorney/firm will not get back to you because they have too much else on their hands with other clients?

Do some firms limit their clients to large entities and exclude individual inventors?

Do the services of individual attorneys usually cost less than those of firms?

To oversimplify my personal answers to your question, it is all about capitalism.  If you can spend money like water, your lawyer will contact you anytime you want.  Your legal matter is on the top of the list.  If not, you will be contacted when your lawyer doesn't have anything else to do.  Why would some lawfirms deal with big entities? It is because of  more money coming.

My opinions may sound extreme, but it will help you to get some insight on what I am trying to tell you.

[timcd100]

One more question- by how much do the costs of different attorneys/firms often differ? Would I be right to assume that an established firm serving huge corporations would charge 10k for a patent application that one attorney who's not located in an expensive patent city like NYC or in California would charge 5k for? I'm not sure what percentage difference to expect among different places.

[Wiscagent]

There are patent agents who handle cases for $5000 +/-.  You can conduct an internet search for them.  Take a look at their web site, give them a call, and decide if they can do a good job for you.

[JimIvey]

I've seen provisional applications filed for as little as $500.  But worth $0.  I've seen applications (real ones) filed for $20,000 that were worth $0 -- well, maybe they posed a certain amount of risk for others giving a value of slightly more than $0.

To quote an experienced litigator, "I'm so sick and tired of looking over a portfolio of 200+ patents and then having to tell the client that, after spending a few million dollars on patents, they have not one that is enforceable."

Patents are either sufficient, or they're not.  There's no partial credit for good effort.  If you can't fund a solid effort in obtaining valuable IP rights, then how are you going to fund a solid effort in converting the IP into money?  None of the process is free and none of it is easy.

If you're not going to actually use your IP, then you shouldn't pay anything for it.  If you're going to use it, it had better stand up to scrutiny.

To quote the say litigator: "quality matters."  (emphasis by the litigator, not me).

Regards.