Do-It-Yourself Patents
Date: Saturday, April 01, 2006 @ 11:41:00 UTC Topic: Legal
By: Hugh Loebner (IEEE Spectrum OnLine - Tomorrow's Technology Today)
How one inventor dispensed with lawyers
I have been told that no one should apply for a patent without the help of a lawyer and that any inventor who does so is foolishly risking making a mistake that could cost him or her dearly. But I have six patents under my belt, and I wrote them and applied for all of them myself. I've been through pretty much the whole gamut of U.S. Patent Office travails: rejections, (successful) appeals, and even that rare event—a patent reissue. Much as I revel in being a distinctive and unique individual, I don't believe I possess a special aptitude, and I think most inventors would benefit from writing their own patents.
Consider the following:
-
It is very unlikely that your invention
(despite its brilliance) will ever be
commercially successful, since only about
one in 1000 is, so any mistakes on the
application probably won't matter.
-
Most patents held to be invalid were
drafted by attorneys, so a lawyer is not a
silver bullet against risk. Among other
problems, attorneys can fail to understand
the invention adequately and thus make
claims that are too broad or too narrow.
-
Doing the work yourself—known legally as
acting pro
se—will save you a lot of money.
............................... (via KeelyNet) Read the whole article here: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr06/3223
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