Garage Biotech: April 2013

Monday, April 15, 2013

How do I respond to a USPTO office action?

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Patent Process

I've been asked so many times that I figured I should just make a whole post about it. Here is where you can learn more about the patenting process:

http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/

Straight from the horse's mouth - the U.S.P.T.O web site. That should be enough to get you started. If you need any more info, shoot me an e-mail.

- Mitch

Affordable Provisional Patent Applications

Through my experience in the bio-tech industry, protecting intellectual property is absolutely critical. However, it can be difficult to find experienced, yet affordable, patent agents or attorneys. I have found this company does a great job and they're prices are very reasonable:

Inventor Soup - Affordable Provisional Patents

They have a lot of experience outside of the bio-tech industry as well, so they're a great resource for beginning to intermediate inventors looking to file a patent application. I like recommending these resources from time to time, so I'll keep them coming as I run across them.

- Mitch

How To File a Patent Online

Affordable Patent Agent

It's hard to express just how disgruntled I get with the number of "invention mining" companies that end up ripping off the average inventor. It's really remarkable how saturated the industry has become with these patent attorneys and agents that are out to exploit inventors who don't know a lot about the patenting process. They have little to no interest in actually helping secure the idea. Honestly, many are primarily concerned with getting paid to file the patent and then move on to the next one.

People ask me all the time then, who can they trust when it comes to safe-guarding their idea? Well, the first thing I always say is be as informed as you can be about the patent process. Here are some great websites I recommend for informing yourself:

U.S. Patent Office - link to an overview of the patent process, directly from the U.S.P.T.O. web site. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but take a little time to review it.
IP Watchdog - a very informative site covering many aspects of patent law. There are a lot of opinion pieces there as well regarding patent law.

I would highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the process. As for where to actually get your patent filed, I have a few recommendations:

Affordable Provisionals - this is a great place to get started because these are very reasonable prices for a provisional drafting and filing. Many inventors like to start with a provisional patent application to begin securing the idea. These guys do quality, affordable work.
BSKB - this is a highly acclaimed IP firm that has a lot of experience. They are certainly not inexpensive, but as they say, you get what you pay for. In this case, you get excellent patent strength and protection.

The bottom line is, look out for yourself, because a lot of "affordable patent agents" or attorneys do not have your best interest in mind.

- Mitch