Give Us A Chance to Match or Beat a Competitive Patent Cost Quote
Nearly every patent firm sets their own attorney’s fees and service rates. Some bill hourly. Our firm bills flat rates. Though most clients appear to prefer flat rates, even fixed fee patent cost estimates may exceed the budget of many startups and small businesses who might otherwise benefit from our services. So we asked ourselves the following question: What can we do to make utility patents more affordable?
Let us try to match or beat a competitive patent quote without sacrificing quality. Email Vic at vlin@icaplaw.com or call (949) 223-9623 to explore options for filing your patent or trademark application at affordable flat rates.
What would make patents more accessible to potential clients?
Many IP law firms appear to be targeting small businesses. Some law firms are more focused on IP litigation while others, such as our firm, are heavily focused on filing patents and trademarks. Despite their marketing efforts, the utility patent cost estimates of many IP firms may be out of reach for many clients.
So why are (utility) patents so expensive? The answer is straightforward, but not simple. Utility patents are complicated to prepare and prosecute. Drafting a utility patent application involves two main tasks:
- Describing the invention; and
- Claiming the invention.
Depending upon the complexity of the invention and the number of variations or embodiments, describing may sometimes take more time and effort than claiming.
How to save patent costs by describing your invention
As a result, small businesses turn to provisional patent applications which present a high risk of being irreversibly deficient. What many novice patent filers may not understand is that the level of protection in a provisional application is limited to the disclosure it contains. The less you disclose, the less protection you get. And, you ultimately get zero protection if you fail to convert the provisional to a nonprovisional within the 1-year deadline. A provisional, therefore, still requires a significant amount of time and effort to provide potentially valuable protection.
It is certainly possible for an inventor to draft a well-written provisional application on their own. Doing so would tackle the describing task discussed above. However, there is a risk that prior art patents may be found by the examiner which may present problems.
Will your specification contain sufficient details to allow you to amend the claims to overcome the prior art rejections? That is the key question.
Show Us a Competitive Patent Cost Estimate: See If We Can Match or Beat It
If you would like our firm to explore a reduced cost for filing your patent application, please call Vic at (949) 223-9623 or email vlin@icaplaw.com to discuss your competitive patent quote.
