Patent Madness

I am currently in the process of trying to patent an idea. The idea is relatively simple, but this post is not about that. Instead, it is about patent law. In my search, I got the opportunity to speak with a highly paid patent lawyer ($460 per hour) from an established firm. He gave me a breakdown of what is required to patent an idea.

For technology related ideas there are 2 types of patents, a full blown utility patent, and a provisional patent. The provisional patent is good for a year, but requires that you file for a full patent within that year. It's relatively cheap, and doesn't go through the rigor of a full patent. In fact, there is no rigor, whatever you file is good. The problem, as explained, by the lawyer, is if there is a dispute within that year, the language of the provisional application is closely scrutinized. Basically, if its written by the lay man, me, it won't stand up in court, and therefore is useless. The only advantage is a marketing gimmick, because it lets you say "Patent pending" for the duration of that year, and if it does stand up in court, your patent is for 21 years rather than 20.

To file a full patent with this law firm, you need to do the following:
$400 = initial 1 hour consultation with a junior lawyer and some feedback from a senior partner
$1500-$2000 = a professional search to see if your patent is already taken
$5000-$10000 = to write up the application form, the price ranges depending on complexity.
+ cost of filing, for small entity, (adds up to a couple of hundred)

He also mentioned that almost everyone gets rejected on their first submission. Your patent lawyer and the US Patent Office than negotiate on how broad your patent should be.
At the end of the day, you can have a patent for just under $20,000. The industry average, as explained by another lawyer, is $15,000 to get a patent. The cost fluctuates between $10,000 and $20,000 depending on who you get as the US patent representative, and how general your patent is. The expensive lawyer mentioned that the Amazon single click patent was very expensive. Another lawyer also added that the international patent costs even more than US. The filing fee alone is $4,000.

US Patent fees (Most of us are small entities)

World intellectual Property Organization

The patent process also takes on the average of 2 years.

If you do it yourself, you may get a patent for much less, probably around $2 -3k, but without the lawyer babel, its not worth the paper its printed on. Basically, as the highly paid lawyer explained to me, patents are written by lawyers for lawyers. Patents are only useful in court. He also kindly explained to me that the patent process is not meant for the small guy. Even if you get a patent, you may not be able to afford to defend it. Another lawyer chirped in that if you do have a patent and a requirement to defend, there are certain companies that will pay the defense fees for a share of the patent. This same lawyer also said that a patent is only necessary if you know how to make money from it. For example, license your idea, sell the patent, protect your idea so as to control the market. Patents are not required in a lot of cases, also, if you've already built the software and somehow released into public knowledge, in court, you do get some leniency during a patent dispute.