The process, without the sales pitch

Consultation and conflict check

You describe the invention; we listen, ask questions, and run a conflict check to make sure we don't already represent someone adverse to you. Before you share anything sensitive we'll have a confidentiality agreement in place.

This conversation is as much about business as law. A patent costs real money and takes years. We'll ask what you plan to do with it — license it, raise money on it, stop a specific competitor, sell the company — because the answer changes what we file and sometimes changes whether you should file at all.

Invention disclosure

We work through the invention in detail: how it works, what problem it solves, how people solved that problem before, and — critically — the variations. Patent scope comes from covering not just what you built but the obvious ways someone might build around it.

We also need your disclosure history. Have you sold it, offered it for sale, published it, demoed it publicly, run a crowdfunding campaign, or presented at a conference? Get us the dates. These trigger hard statutory bars, and we plan around them.

Prior art search and patentability opinion

We search issued patents, published applications, and technical literature for anything close, then write you an opinion in plain English: what we found, how close it is, and what still looks novel and non-obvious.

This is the last cheap off-ramp. If the search turns up a reference that kills the idea, you've spent a search fee instead of an application fee plus two years. We treat a clear "don't file" as a successful engagement.

Filing strategy

Now we decide what to actually file. Provisional first, or straight to a non-provisional? Is there a design patent worth adding alongside the utility case? Do you need foreign protection, and if so which countries earn their cost? Would Track One expedited examination be worth the extra USPTO fee in your situation?

You get a written flat-fee quote covering the scope we've agreed on. Nothing further happens until you approve it.

Drafting the application

We write the specification — background, summary, detailed description of every embodiment — and prepare formal drawings to USPTO standards. Then we draft the claims, which is the part that determines what you actually own.

You review a complete draft. Inventors catch things attorneys can't: a mischaracterized mechanism, a missing variant, a term of art used loosely. We revise until the document is technically correct, because after filing you cannot add new material — anything left out is left out for good.

Filing with the USPTO

We file electronically along with the inventor declaration, entity-status certification (micro, small, or large — this determines your USPTO fees), any assignment to your company, and an information disclosure statement listing the prior art you're aware of.

You receive a filing receipt with your application number and official filing date. From this moment the invention is patent pending, and every deadline downstream is measured from this date. We docket all of them.

Examination and office actions

Your application joins a queue. Twelve to eighteen months later an examiner picks it up, searches prior art independently, and issues a first office action — which usually rejects every claim you filed. This is routine. It is an opening position in a negotiation, not a final answer.

We analyze the cited references, amend the claims to distinguish them while protecting commercially meaningful scope, and argue the law. If a written exchange is going in circles, we request an examiner interview; talking to a person for half an hour frequently resolves what two rounds of paper could not. Expect two to three rounds.

If prosecution reaches an impasse, the options are a Request for Continued Examination, a continuation, or an appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. We'll tell you which is worth the money in your case.

Allowance, issue, and maintenance

When the examiner agrees your claims are allowable, you receive a Notice of Allowance. We pay the issue fee, handle the final formalities, and a few months later your patent issues with a number.

It isn't quite over. Utility patents require maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after issue. Miss one and the patent expires permanently, no matter how valuable it is. We calendar these and remind you well in advance. This is also the moment to consider filing a continuation to pursue broader or different claims while the family is still alive.