That'll be $5090! Wait...what?

[AvocadoMan]

So you have the completed design of a product you have been working on with your Engineer. There is nothing else like what you have created and it solves a very annoying problem. Due to the Engineer's talent, your product not only works, but is cheap and easy to make. What more do you want?

So you decide it's time to get a patent before you send off the design and get it made.

But then the patent attorney tells you that it's gonna cost $5090 just for a provisional patent, not including the actual filing costs or all the rest of the jazz involved. Then if you want to get your product manufactured overseas, you will be paying even more to protect it there.

If you pay for the provisional patent, you run out of money and only have 12 months to get the money back so you can manufacture and distribute before your patent expires.

If you don't pay for the provisional patent, you can go ahead and manufacture, but you can almost guarantee someone else with more money taking ownership of your product along with the money made from it..

Has anyone faced a similar problem before? Any input would be greatly appreciated..

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[hughjasle]

Did you just get any random attorney to do up a patent? Make sure you REALLY can use the patent first.

A few things to consider:

• The costs are very high.
• Depending on the type of patent you get, someone might be able to very easily circumvent it and make their own
• Look into what the process is really like IF you actually have to use the patent to stop a knock off. Tip: the fee's to find that person, go through the process of C&D, then take them to court are also very high as you guessed it.

I spoke with a family member who is a patent attorney and his advice on 99% of all people seeking patents would be better off not getting it and just spending their money on marketing the dumb thing and getting going. You just need to find out if you are one of the 99% or that 1% that actually has something worth millions to protect.

 

[AvocadoMan]

Did you just get any random attorney to do up a patent? Make sure you REALLY can use the patent first.

A few things to consider:

• The costs are very high.
• Depending on the type of patent you get, someone might be able to very easily circumvent it and make their own
• Look into what the process is really like IF you actually have to use the patent to stop a knock off. Tip: the fee's to find that person, go through the process of C&D, then take them to court are also very high as you guessed it.

I spoke with a family member who is a patent attorney and his advice on 99% of all people seeking patents would be better off not getting it and just spending their money on marketing the dumb thing and getting going. You just need to find out if you are one of the 99% or that 1% that actually has something worth millions to protect.

You are a legend. Rep +

I found one who I was referred to and obviously he did his best to convince me that without a patent I am doomed.

I'd much rather move as fast as possible, make some money from being the first one to put it on the market and then leave it at that. This is an experiment to gain experience after all...

 

[Vigilante]

File it yourself

Search the forum for instructions

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Bigguns50]

File your own Provisional Patent. It's less than $100 and will protect you for 1 yr or until you get your Patent. Like @Vigilante said...search the forum...LOTS of info on this topic.

 

[AvocadoMan]

I have already filed one. It had some diagrams, the claims etc. I will file another one once my engineering drawings are all finished and I will make it much more detailed.


Yet this attorney I spoke to seems to think unless it is 30 pages long, done by a professional and has diagrams that have to be done by a certain person in a certain way, it is worthless and he needs to fix it for me for $5000 within the next 6 days. I also recall him saying that if I don't get the one I filed fixed by a professional as soon as possible, I risk my patent being worth nothing..He knew I was only 19 so my guess is he just tried to sell me on it by making me think that without him doing my patent asap, it will all be worthless.

All the provisional patent does is provide a priority date and states that you intend to file a full patent. I had enough diagrams and detail for anyone to clearly see what I had done, why I had done it and what was wrong with the old product.