Do your homework before you hire an attorney. Failing to do your homework can be frustrating . . . not to mention costly.
If you don’t like the attorney you’re working with, this will be a bad experience.
If you don’t think through all the issues associated with your invention, brand, or copyright, then you may end up losing important legal rights.
And if you don’t know what’s out there already, you may pay thousands of dollars protecting your invention, brand, or business, that you later have to abandon because somebody else already had your idea – you just didn’t know it.
So who do you go to for help?
Sure, you can do it yourself . . . just like you can self-medicate when you feel ill. Hopefully it’s nothing serious!
Alright, no more kidding. You probably need to hire an experienced patent attorney.
How it works. The patent attorney you want to hire should ask you for a non-proprietary description of your matter, along with all relevant parties. The patent attorney then checks to make sure there are no conflicts with existing or past clients or their technologies. Then you will be asked to sign a Fee Agreement to retain the services of the patent attorney. The Fee Agreement includes all the important terms and conditions, along with pricing for hiring the patent attorney.
Many patent attorneys request payment of a retainer fee upon hiring the patent attorney. The retainer should be held in a trust account on your behalf until the work is completed.
After hiring the patent attorney, you will be asked to provide a full description of your matter. Turn-around times vary. Trenner Law Firm can typically prepare and file your patent, trademark, or copyright application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or Copyright Office within 2-6 weeks after establishing you as a client.
