Bay Area Patent Attorney?
November 6, 2014 6:09 PM Subscribe
Does anyone here know of a patent attorney in the Bay Area whom they like and trust?
A friend's provisional patent is expiring next year and their attorney quoted a price that seems extravagant to me to file the next step, which is apparently called a Utility patent.
Perhaps the price quoted is NOT extravagant but I'd love to get a second opinion in any case.
A friend's provisional patent is expiring next year and their attorney quoted a price that seems extravagant to me to file the next step, which is apparently called a Utility patent.
Perhaps the price quoted is NOT extravagant but I'd love to get a second opinion in any case.
Generally speaking, what type of technology are we talking about here? Electronics? Pharmaceuticals? Medical devices?
posted by invisible ink at 6:37 PM on November 6, 2014
posted by invisible ink at 6:37 PM on November 6, 2014
Response by poster: more of a kitchen implement
posted by small_ruminant at 6:52 PM on November 6, 2014
posted by small_ruminant at 6:52 PM on November 6, 2014
My nephew is an awesome patent attorney, but he's in Texas. He specializes in technology patents as well. If you are interested in doing it via phone, memail me and I'll send you his info.
posted by OkTwigs at 8:07 PM on November 6, 2014
posted by OkTwigs at 8:07 PM on November 6, 2014
OkTwigs, I'm looking for one in Austin, where is he in Texas?
posted by ill3 at 8:39 PM on November 6, 2014
posted by ill3 at 8:39 PM on November 6, 2014
I worked at Townsend, Townsend and Crew for a year or so about twenty years ago and patent law was their bailiwick though it wasn't their only interest. I was an office services person for a lot of Bay Area law firms [I was in-house working for a facilities management company] so I know fuckall about law but I did have the chance to observe the culture of a lot of law firms and TT&C was very professional. They weren't tense which is almost always a sign of disfunction and indicated a bad product. Nearly all the attorneys had two degrees, some three - one of course in law and another usually in engineering of some sort.
Reading up now I see that they merged and a lot of time has passed but I think it's worth a consultation.
They would be my first call were I in your situation.
posted by vapidave at 9:05 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
Reading up now I see that they merged and a lot of time has passed but I think it's worth a consultation.
They would be my first call were I in your situation.
posted by vapidave at 9:05 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I have used David Owens at Owens & Tarabichi in San Jose in the past for patent work. They were relatively reasonably priced and did fine work.
Of course the cost depends a LOT on how much work the attorney needs to do to get the patent ready to file. An experienced (non-lawyer) inventor can probably write a patent and claims that need minimal review by a lawyer. In that case the cost might be (very very approximately) in the range of $1~2K. Maybe the provisional is already close to a full filing - usually they're not. If you expect the attorney to convert a minimal provisional patent into a full filing with claims then you will most likely pay several thousand dollars.
There will also very likely be additional costs later as part of the process of getting the patent allowed and issued. A good rule of thumb is that an reasonably experienced inventor (doing a good part of the drafting themselves) will spend about $25K to get a patent issued.
All my patent experience has been as an inventor in large and small corporations with corporate patent attorneys. There may be other ways of getting patents filed that I don't know about.
posted by Long Way To Go at 10:09 PM on November 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
Of course the cost depends a LOT on how much work the attorney needs to do to get the patent ready to file. An experienced (non-lawyer) inventor can probably write a patent and claims that need minimal review by a lawyer. In that case the cost might be (very very approximately) in the range of $1~2K. Maybe the provisional is already close to a full filing - usually they're not. If you expect the attorney to convert a minimal provisional patent into a full filing with claims then you will most likely pay several thousand dollars.
There will also very likely be additional costs later as part of the process of getting the patent allowed and issued. A good rule of thumb is that an reasonably experienced inventor (doing a good part of the drafting themselves) will spend about $25K to get a patent issued.
All my patent experience has been as an inventor in large and small corporations with corporate patent attorneys. There may be other ways of getting patents filed that I don't know about.
posted by Long Way To Go at 10:09 PM on November 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
I have a friend who is an independent patent agent in the East Bay, and this might be right up his alley. He is very good (and used to work for the USPTO). His website has lots of info: www.patentbest.com
posted by JMOZ at 4:07 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by JMOZ at 4:07 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by small_ruminant at 6:13 PM on November 6, 2014