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I know it is almost impossible to file a patent without a lawyer...
But, is it possible to lower the cost by doing most of the work yourself?
Has anyone ever found a lawyer that will work with them this way? Got a recommendation? Preferably someone in SC, NC, GA?
I brought this back again because I am once again looking for a Patent Lawyer. Does anyone have any experience working through the patent process for an individual (not a corporate owned) patent?
How much did it cost you and where did you find your lawyer? I hardest things about the process so far has been getting a lawyer to return my call.
I'll tell you what the patent attorney I knew would say:
Make your product and use some of the Millions you earn FROM THAT to hire a good attorney.
That's actually pretty good advice. Even if you get your patent, you have to pay to defend it if China or someone else copies it.
I skipped getting a patent years ago and instead just did a patent search at the university library to make sure I wasn't infringing on someone else's patent. I sold the item for several years then sure enough, China started selling a similar product for less than I could buy parts.
Let me put it this way. If you don't have enough scratch to pay a lawyer and get a patent or some other kind of basic IP protection, then you certainly don't have enough to get your idea to market, get capital, market it, or anything else. No investor on the planet is going to give you money without those assurances.
I tried consulting just last year for a guy who wanted intellectual property protection on software design. It was a pretty cool idea. The kind of idea you develop, get working, and then sell as fast as you can to someone bigger.
He made me and another guy sign all kinds of non-disclosures (Which was kind of insulting. As if I was going to dash out of that meeting and steal his idea). But he wouldn't pull the trigger on some good IP lawyers I had lined up. He kept trying to avoid it. I finally had to just walk away after a VC guy refused to talk until my client at least filed. So he basically missed his chance. He's still farting with it.
Great ideas are a dime a dozen. For every great idea that's come out of an entrepreneur's garage and made huge amounts of money, there are thousands that die on the vine because they are underfunded. All they do is waste the time and effort of those who have to try to do things on a shoestring. So find some cash and do it right.
Last edited by MinivanDriver; 02-20-2019 at 06:43 PM..
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