Phoenix Patent Attorneys & Lawyers

Why Hire a Patent Lawyer?

Hiring an expert patent lawyer in the Phoenix area is the best way to protect your company's intellectual property.

It is not required by law to have a patent lawyer file for a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on your behalf, but patent and trademark law is complex and takes time to learn. The application is long and every detail is vital to securing a patent, so having someone who understands it all can be invaluable.

If you choose to file your patent without the assistance of a patent attorney, you could end up making these very costly mistakes:

• You may not provide enough information in your initial provisional patent application to allow you to later file for the non-provisional patent, which would leave your invention completely unprotected.

• You file for a provisional patent correctly for your first invention, but then you disclose new information publicly about that same invention or you make improvements and don't update the patent. This means your first invention is not completely protected.

• You end up disclosing too much information on your application. You include too many inventions that are not related to the main invention that you are trying to patent or you add information that is not related to the application. Any of these things could delay the approval of your application or in ruin your chances of being approved at all.

Patent lawyers are often experts in several different technical fields. This means they'll be able to better understand your invention than other kinds of lawyers. Combining your technical knowledge with their understanding of patent law is the best way to ensure your application gets approved.

How to Find the Best Patent Lawyer

Patent law is federally regulated. You can look for patent lawyers in Phoenix as well as anywhere in Arizona or the entire country for that matter. If you feel comfortable speaking to someone over the phone and through email, you can look outside of the Phoenix area to find the attorney who is the most qualified to handle your patent application and shop around to compare their fees. No matter where you find your patent lawyer, you should start your search by doing the following:

• Ask for recommendations: Speak to friends, colleagues, mentors and other inventors in. The State Bar Association of Arizona, as well as the Maricopa County Bar Association, can offer advice on reputable patent lawyers in your area.

• Look for small firms: If price is a large factor in your choice, try to find small firms in the suburbs of Phoenix where the overhead costs of the firm will be lower. Generally, these types of firms charge much less than their large, city-based counterparts.

• Do Your research: Once you've narrowed down the list of recommendations, do your research on each of the lawyers on your list. Do they have experience with intellectual property? Do they have experience with intellectual property in your industry? You can check with the USPTO and see how many patents each of the lawyers have filed. If they haven't filed very many, you should probably cross them off the list.

• Set up meetings: Now that you have a short list of potential patent lawyers to work with, you can call or email them to try to set up a meeting. Pay attention to how they interact with you initially. The patent process is a rigorous one, so you want someone who can communicate well.

• Come prepared to the meeting: Bring any information about your invention that will help the attorney understand if they have enough technical knowledge to write your patent application. You should also know what other patents have been filed that are similar to yours and be able to explain to the attorney how your invention is different.

Questions for Patent Lawyers

• How busy are you? You want a patent lawyer who is busy but not too busy to take on your patent. There aren't really that many patent lawyers in the country, so it's likely that the Phoenix area will only have a handful. With such little competition, if the patent lawyer your speaking to isn't busy, it's probably not a good sign.

• What is your technical background? Many lawyers have studied biology, chemistry, engineering, or some other technical field in addition to patent law. This gives them a much better understanding of various inventions, including yours. Find a patent lawyer who has technical understanding in your field.

• Have you ever been a USPTO examiner? Some patent attorneys previously worked as patent examiners for the USPTO before becoming attorneys. This sort of experience is invaluable. If you find someone who was once a USPTO examiner, you should hire them. They understand patent law inside and out, and they know exactly what the patent examiners are looking for.