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Any Patent attorney recommendations ?

TStreet

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Hello friends!

Working on my product improvement idea and need to get the patent ball rolling. I live in Arizona and will begin a google search but thought I would ask if anyone has a patent attorney they'd recommend? I am a single mom, working 2 different jobs, with some money to play with, but can't drain all of my saving into each step of the process. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
 
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becks22

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TStreet

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What is your end goal? Will a provisonal patent work (much cheaper and simpler and does not require an attorney)?

My suggestion, spend the $15 and buy this book first Amazon.com: One Simple Idea, Revised and Expanded Edition: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work eBook : Key, Stephen: Kindle Store
Thanks Becks22

I find myself struggling with the end goal.

Ideally I would like to create my own line / brand. I would launch this product and then other accessory items would soon follow. The idea I have is an improvement to an existing product already manufactured all over the world. Essentially I am looking to make a cross functional luggage line.

But then I think to myself, maybe it would be smarter to patent the idea and sell the concept for other companies to use.

I just don't know what the best decision is. IF the main product wasn't already made by so many different companies I wouldn't think to sell the idea but since other companies already manufacture the product I almost feel it would be smarter to sell my idea.

Who the heck knows lol
 

TStreet

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andrewraenewton

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Hello friends!

Working on my product improvement idea and need to get the patent ball rolling. I live in Arizona and will begin a google search but thought I would ask if anyone has a patent attorney they'd recommend? I am a single mom, working 2 different jobs, with some money to play with, but can't drain all of my saving into each step of the process. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
So nice to see a single mom on here! Keep crushing it girl!
 

Subsonic

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Hello friends!

Working on my product improvement idea and need to get the patent ball rolling. I live in Arizona and will begin a google search but thought I would ask if anyone has a patent attorney they'd recommend? I am a single mom, working 2 different jobs, with some money to play with, but can't drain all of my saving into each step of the process. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
I'd say make enough money with the product to have it pay for its patent.
I really don't think a patent needs to be one of the first steps.
 

Roli

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Ideally I would like to create my own line / brand. I would launch this product and then other accessory items would soon follow. The idea I have is an improvement to an existing product already manufactured all over the world. Essentially I am looking to make a cross functional luggage line.

But then I think to myself, maybe it would be smarter to patent the idea and sell the concept for other companies to use.

Have you looked into the rules regarding how much you have to change something before you can patent it. My guess is, "a lot".

Even so, be careful of patent attorneys, they will take your money and stroke your ego and you could end up spending thousands and thousands of dollars and ending up with a worthless patent.

Keep researching and if you can, actually start to manufacture, you will only need a patent if it becomes successful or at least has the chance for success.

Good luck, can't wait to see your luggage being used around the world!
 
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AmazingLarry

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I don't have a patent attorney recommendation (and I'm not an attorney myself), but I have some general advice for patents based on my personal experience. I would suggest filing a provisional patent application as other have suggested. You can do this yourself with a little research and very little cost and it essentially buys you a year to test and validate your idea.

Only 3% of patented inventions actually go on to make money, so it's a generally a big financial risk and time waster to go hire a patent attorney to file a full patent right at the start.

I filed a provisional patent application as well as a full patent application myself for my invention. I used this book: Amazon.com: Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Filing at the U.S. Patent Office: 9781413317190: Pressman, David: Books

I would recommend it even if you just want to file a provisional application.

Like @Roli said, you should make sure your invention can even be patented first. You can search existing patents on Google and find related inventions. The claims of the patent are the legally enforceable definition of the invention. If an invention has 5 claims, your invention can include any 4 of those and still be patentable. You can have additional claims, but if your inventions contains all the claims of an existing patent it can't be patented. There is a whole science of writing claims and making an invention patentable, which is where an attorney could help you.

Another thing to consider is that if your invention is described or depicted anywhere else in the world or in history (prior art), then your invention is not patentable. The patent examiner will look for prior art, and they may still issue the patent if they happen to miss something. But if you get into a legal battle over your patent in court and prior art exists, it could invalidate your patent. I wouldn't worry about this too much at this point though. You may have already done this, but I would just do a thorough search online to see if your invention exists anywhere else

Anyway, I would suggest doing a general online search and a Google patent search. If you don't find anything too similar, figure out the quickest way to validate your invention and test selling it. Once you're ready, file the provisional application and test your product. If you have the provisional application submitted, you can label your product as "patent pending".

If it's a success, you could move ahead to file the regular application, whether you do it yourself or with an attorney.
 

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