Well, you want to hire a patent expert to protect your new innovation. It might be for AI, Blockchain, Machine learning, even iot, or some other cutting-edge technology that you might be developing. You have already met a patent filing services but had no clue if you were receiving the right advice.
It takes even years for a patent to get granted with hot and beaming technology generally being slower. The point is nobody can predict exactly how challenging it will be to get your application permitted after filing and each round of argument is pricy. Depending on the technology area, it might take up nearly two to four rounds of argument on average, but there are some who can take far more or less with you paying for each and every single round. The point is you should better hire the right and effective patent service that understands your innovation, and business needs, and even looks out for your finest interest. But, the challenging thing is how would you know which patent expert or service is right to hire for your innovation? Well, here are some things that you should know to make a perfect move.
Check end-to-end cost estimate
Patent rights last for nearly twenty years from the date the idea was foremost filed. And it might be three or more years before a single patent is granted. Given such stretched time frames, it is in your best interests to simply ask your patent expert service to give an approximate estimate of the costs that you are going to incur during this whole period.
Often, patent management services just quote the cost for drafting the application in the absence of the argument costs, government fees, even, etc. It is characteristic for a professional to say it will be specific like $10K for your patent, but they are even forgetting the government fee for filing, some dollar per round of argument, annuity fees, and more. Moreover, the following are some questions you should be asking your patent services before engaging their services:
- How much do they charge to obtain a specific patent on your kind of innovation on average?
- What types of techniques and methods are used to minimize or even avoid churn in the argument phase?
- What is going to be the cost curve over the lifetime of the overall process?
- Can they even give you an estimate for this year and through the expiration of the overall patent?
The point is, being an Inventor, you have no idea what innovation inclines to be expensive to obtain a patent and you might be surprised to find that simple technology is mostly pricier to patent. Typically your end-to-end costs is going to encompass:
- Any sort of patentability searching which is optional before even drafting
- Legal charges for drafting your application
- Government filing fees
- Legal fees for every round of argument coupled with an estimate of the number of the rounds
- Government fees for more than two argument rounds
- Various attorney and government fees across the process
- Government issue charges
Conclusion
To sum up, whether trademark search online or patent filing or anything else; these things demand a lot of work. And since you are hiring a service for it, make a sensible choice. Keep the discussed things in mind.
