Do I need a Patent Attorney to file my Patent?

One of the biggest questions facing the inventor is whether to hire a Patent Attorney to prepare and file for patent protection for their invention.  To start with, we must first be clear on the rule of law which contain absolutely no requirement that one must have a patent attorney to; file a patent application, deal with the USPTO concerning the application, or to obtain the patent.  In fact, USPTO regulations (mpep, section 707.07(j)) specifically require patent examiners to help inventors in pro se (no lawyer) cases. second, and perhaps more persuasive, many hundreds of patent applications are filed and successfully prosecuted each year by pro se inventors.  Lets take a look at some of the points to consider when deciding whether to work with a Patent Attorney.

Do-It-Yourself Patents

Most inventors are capable of handling their own patent application.  After all, you probably hire people to do all sorts of things for you, from painting your house to doing your taxes, that you could do yourself. The most powerful incentive for DIY projects is the amount of money expert help costs. Or put another way, while most painters and accountants make a pretty good living, they probably don’t belong to the same country club as patent attorneys. The cost factor alone may dictate your direction for you if you can’t afford the $5,000 to $10,000 or more that attorneys typically charge to prepare a patent application on a SIMPLE invention. If funding is not a factor, some reasons you might consider enlisting the help of an attorney would be;

• you are concerned that you will not be able to WRITE a detailed description of your invention in conjunction with drawings,
• you don’t have enough TIME to Do it Yourself,
• you have a low desire to CONTROL things and be in the middle of all that is happening, or
• you aren’t DILIGENT and committed enough to complete projects in a reasonable time.

This can be expressed proportionally as:

DIY = WT• TA• DC• D
                  FA

Otherwise stated, you might be inclined to Do It Yourself in direct proportion to your; Writing Talent, Time Available,  Desire to Control things, and Diligence, and inversely proportional to your Funds Available. While this formula is not exactly an approach at precision, it does provide the some criteria and how to use them when making the Do-It-Yourself versus Hire-an-Attorney decision. In many cases, the answer will be to do a little of both. Diligent inventors can do much of the patent work themselves, only consulting with an attorney at an hourly rate if snags develop, or to check the patent application before submission. Significant advantages in thoroughness and accuracy are realized when the inventor is involved in every step of the process because no one knows the invention better than they.

Quality Matters

A positive response to the following factors goes a long way to assure a quality patent:
1. Does the patent application contain a full, clear, and accurate description that demonstrates how to make and use the invention?
2. Is the reach of the patent (the “CLAIMS”) as broad as possible, given any limitations imposed by prior art?
3. Does the application “SELL” the advantages of the invention?
4. how an applicant handles correspondence with the USPTO.

Fortunately, it takes no special legal expertise to satisfy these requirements.

After a brief review of some of the primary determining factors that enter into the decision to Do-It-Yourself or Hire a Patent Attorney, we see that it is largely a personal choice dictated financial resources, time, motivation as well as individual talents and personality traits. If you do choose to work with an attorney, it is VERY important to take an active role in the process,  monitoring your attorney (no trivial consideration), and understand the ways in which the law is willing to protect your invention. No matter how competent an attorney is, the client who understands what’s going on will always obtain better service.