Russ Krajec

Last summer, I was evacuated from my house with just a few minute’s warning due to a very large forest fire. Thankfully, I did not lose anything in the fire, except the good will that I had banked with some friends who let me mooch their guest room for a few days.

As I write this, another fire is burning a few hundred yards from my house, whipped by 50mph gusts. The latest fire is small and is being contained, but it still makes me think.

I have reviewed Google’s and Microsoft’s offerings for small business and without a doubt, I would never recommend Google, but I can recommend Microsoft.

I have talked to several different patent solos recently and it seems that each of us has our own reasons for going solo, our own work habits, and our own preferences for an optimum work situation.

I am the kind of person that thrives on large amounts of work. I seem to do my best work when overloaded. It forces me to concentrate and focus on the work at hand. When I am concentrating, I can really turn the crank. And these cases tend to be my best, even though they come at a rapid pace. I have a very hard time when the work is light. I tend to be less focused and have a hard time getting started. I also tend to get burned out after an intense period and need some recovery time.

Contrast that with an attorney I spoke with the other day. He seemed to like a much less hectic pace and preferred to do much more involved and complicated patent applications. He was not very interested in high volume work, but he wanted very challenging and difficult cases.

Another attorney had a real sweet spot: not too much, but not too little. When he had too much work, it became a real problem for him and he had a tendency to freeze when he felt overloaded. However, when work was very light, he had a hard time getting started. When he had just the right amount of work, he wrote the best cases.

One of the most rewarding parts of patent law is the disclosure interview. This is where a good patent agent/attorney can add value far in excess of the fees collected.

A good disclosure interview is an opportunity to shape the invention into something that makes sense for the business as well as sets the proper expectations for the inventors. A good disclosure meeting is also brutally exhausting if done well.

I do all of my patent cases for a fixed fee. Because of this, I need to be efficient and thorough at every step. I view the disclosure interview as the most essential step that helps me do the highest quality work for a reasonable price.

The best part of this job, by far and away, is the opportunity to work with extremely talented and enthusiastic inventors. In general, patent law is fun because the patent agent/attorney generally deals with happy, optimistic, and creative people. I often tell people that patent law is unique in that I only deal with happy people. There is no nastiness, fighting, heated arguments, or bad feelings. I suppose that may not be true when dealing with some examiners at the USPTO, but my experience is that a vast majority of the examiners are civil, intelligent, competent, and want to find a good solution.

Over the course of a year, I may have personal contact with maybe a hundred or more inventors. In many cases, these people are solid engineers, scientists, or developers who have identified a problem and solved the problem in an elegant manner. These inventors are the bread and butter of my day to day job, and they are always pleasant and responsive and working with them is a joy.