Have you started searching for a patent lawyer yet? Email me to let me know!
It can be pretty tough to tell which of the many lawyers that advertise their services will produce a high-quality patent draft. Given the importance of your initial patent application, typically high rates, and the total amount you may eventually spend with a patent lawyer, this is one decision you want to be absolutely sure of.
But here’s the problem, even after starting to work with a patent lawyer, you won’t really know how good your lawyer is until your patent draft is reviewed by the patent office and you start receiving rejection or approval notices. This might not happen for 3-4 years and $50,000-$150,000 into the process.
There have been many situations where I’ve been working with a patent lawyer when months or years after the initial filing, things start to go wrong. In certain cases they started sending bills for work I didn’t ask them to do and I have to waste time arguing over the amounts, even referencing past emails where I had specifically asked them to confirm any work with me first. One lawyer I worked with on a few patent applications (he seemed great initially) ended up ghosting and I couldn’t get in touch with him as an important deadline approached!
I’ve found that many of these issues stem from not doing the right preparation before engaging with a patent lawyer. Much of it relates to what you ask them to do, and even more importantly, how you ask it. Of course, you could also just end up choosing the wrong person to work with (surprise surprise, not all patent lawyers are great at what they do).
This is why we developed the “Submit” phase of our Product Protection Playbook which encompasses a unique and specific process for preparing, finding, and engaging with the right patent lawyer in the right way. It even includes templates, how-to and training videos, and a list of the best patent lawyers we’ve worked with (far, far shorter than the full spreadsheet of all the lawyers we’ve worked with, as we’ve vetted out most of these).
Book a call now to learn more about the program and to find out how to join!