Why Should You Work with a Patent Attorney? Julie’s Been Working for the Patent Squad

Partnering with patent attorneys for patent searches provides peace of mind. Patent attorneys not only conduct in-depth searches but also interpret complex and nuanced legal results, offering guidance tailored specifically to your situation.

By law, patent agents aren’t allowed to give you legal advice about search results; only patent attorneys are allowed to do that.

Here’s a real-life example of what can happen if you skip having a patent attorney help you with patent searches.

I have had some clients who were indeed experts in their field and who were 100% certain there was nothing else in the world like their invention, so they didn’t want to spend the money on a patentability search before filing an application. Despite being experts in their field and sure they were current on everything in it, they were wrong. Now we are working on arguing against refusals of their patent application because there are, in fact, existing patents that the examiner thinks are too similar. 

It could have been even worse: What the examiner found could have been a patent that my client turned out to be infringing! If the clients had me do a patentability search before filing the patent application, they could have stopped spending time and money on pursuing a patent application perhaps doomed to fail or risking being accused of infringement by selling the invention and instead revised their invention to truly be innovative and non-infringing before seeking a patent, or if the search results indicated there were similar patents but that risking infringement wasn’t an issue, they could have simply proceeded without seeking a patent.

Skipping a patent search is a gamble. Period.

The consequences of being wrong about whether your invention is unique and not infringing on someone else’s patent rights can be awful and expensive. I won’t force a client to have me do a patent search, but if they don’t have me do one, I hope the odds are ever in their favor.

By dedicating the time and resources upfront to have the necessary patent searches done and analyzed, you’re investing in the health and longevity of your business.