I get excited every time somebody walks through my door and talk to me about how to patent an idea. Sometimes I don’t even wait for them to walk through the door—I’m a regular contributor at Quora, with patent law as one of my frequent topics.
A bit nerdy, perhaps, but besides my family, teaching, and watching professional hockey, patent law is one of my passions in life.
Business owners and managers, startups and inventors have their passions, and that’s where I help. Over the years, I’ve noticed most people that walk through my door can be categorized one of three ways: growing business, startups, and prospective patent trolls.
Here’s a little info about each.
Using a patent to grow your existing business
This type of person is usually a director or manager of a division of an existing company with a new product or service in the pipeline. He usually comes with plenty of market research, a business plan and a prototype. I serve these types of clients by carefully orchestrating the series of complicated steps of patent law, and also providing strategic consultation.
The price for my legal services is not an issue for this type of client because legal costs are built into the business plan and revenue forecasting.
Pro tip: Having a patent/not having a patent can have a huge effect on your future revenue.
It works like this. You make something no one else is making and you start selling it. At first, there is not enough of a market for competitors, so you have a monopoly. Then your sales get going and someone else comes into the market. At that point prices plummet and so do your profits.
That’s basically what happened here. Future Motion was selling hoverboards for $1500. After about $1 million in profits, Trotter came in to sell the same thing for $500. Fortunately for Future Motion, it had a patent and was able to stop Trotter.
Startups that need a patent
There’s nothing quite like the energy of a passionate startup. I am a huge fan of entrepreneurs and an active participant in the startup culture of the Greater Sacramento area. Startup founders need more strategic and business advice, in addition to patent services, which I am happy to provide.
My legal fees can sometimes present an issue for this type of client because their capital is tied up in growth ventures, but we work together and find solutions if I can help their business.
Startups that have filed patent applications get funded. Startups that have not filed patents don’t. You can read the study here.
Pro tip: Having a patent/not having a patent can have a huge effect on your efforts to obtain funding and venture capital.
Prospective patent trolls
Sigh, unfortunately, I do meet plenty of this type of client. A patent troll is someone that tries to patent something with no intention of making products to sue someone else when technology catches up to where the troll is. If you are this type of client, I’ll save you some time—hire somebody else, I’m not interested in this type of work. You are the reason I can’t control my microwave with my phone.
Pro tip: There are consequences for being a patent troll.
I hope this information is helpful in choosing (or not choosing) a patent attorney. If you have any questions, as this is just a brief summary, please feel free to contact me to set up a phone call or meeting.
Unless you’re a troll, in which case, please lose my number and return to your spot underneath a bridge.
This is the seventh post in an eight-part series called How To Patent An Idea. To continue reading, please go to the next post, How To Patent An Idea—Drawings.
If you’re reading out of order, no worries! Click here to go back to the first post, How To Patent An Idea—A Gross Oversimplification.