Patent Basics

Writing Your Own Patent

Inventors sometimes file their own patents. Often, I consult with inventors who are considering writing their own patents or those who have already done so. In general, these pro se patentees are looking to save some very valuable cash and are willing to invest their time and effort into learning how to write and file a patent.

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The Importance of Patent Searches

This report on Out-law.com talks about the Euro notes that may possibly infringe a European Patent. The patent holder is apparently seeking a reasonable royalty for the literally billions of Euro notes in circulation.

Let this serve as an example of how operating in a vacuum can be a bad thing.

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How To Be A Good Client

I recently had a conversation about bad clients with another practitioner and it got me thinking about good clients and bad ones. Being a good client is somewhat of an art, akin to being a good manager or coach.

Basic common sense will get you a long way sometimes, but many people seem to forget that.

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How To Save Costs on Patent Drafting

There are many ways to save costs on patent drafting. You can do a search beforehand; you can work on the idea with someone else so that you can explain it well and identify the new elements; you can have some good drawings prepared.

Even if you do all of that, there is one critical thing you need to do: ask your patent attorney/agent how fast they can type. If you are paying by the hour, and even if you are not, you don’t want someone who types at 5 words per minute to pound out a 20 page patent application.

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