I am often asked “How many patent applications have you written?”
It’s a fair question. So that you don’t think I am avoiding the question, I will tell you that I have worked on hundreds of patent applications in the more than a decade I’ve been working as a patent attorney.
Unfortunately, the answer has little (if anything at all) to do with the success of your invention – both in getting a patent to issue and marketing your invention to the world.
You might ask, “But don’t you want to work with a patent attorney that has a lot of experience?” Of course you do. But numbers of patent applications written, number of patent applications prosecuted, even number of patents issued, means very little to your specific invention.
For example, a patent attorney may have written hundreds of patent applications, but only a few of those may have issued. Does that mean the patent attorney isn’t very good? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps the inventions were not very good. Or for example, a patent attorney may have written very few patent applications, but nearly all of those have issued. Does that mean the patent attorney is good? Maybe, Maybe not. Perhaps the patents that issued were so narrow in scope that competitors can easily design around the patent – thereby never infringing the patent, and thus not needing to license the patent from the inventor.
So if numbers don’t mean anything, what is a good measure of a patent attorney? Read more about how to hire a patent attorney in my article “Questions you need to ask before hiring a patent attorney.”
