Patent Attorney and Founder
Hi everybody I’m JD Houvener your host of the bullet Today Show were you the adventure entrepreneur business owner get your daily dose of inspiration so you make the world a better place [Music] all right we’re talking about patent applications and we’re looking at all your different options you’ve got this week back on Monday we talked about fact you could just straight up not file a patent application that is an option you could filed on your own or you can hire a cheap company online like Legal Zoom and today I’m going to talk about the fourth option you have which is hiring a patent agent as opposed to a patent attorney to do the job for you to file that application and so all these options we’ve talked about are truly available to you as we’ve talked about the different options in terms of time and money and investment you put into moving your invention forward none of these options seem to really fit up seem to be worth it and are really not viable for you moving forward this last one here I want to explain in different terms I’ll help you understand the difference between a patent I usually get a patent attorney a patent agent is something why a technologist someone that’s gone through engineering school or has got the equivalent number of credits through study hours and earned is some sort of a science degree and then they have sat for what’s called a patent bar so you don’t have to go to law school you simply take the tests that patent attorneys take to just they don’t go to law school and so patent agents don’t really have understanding of the law but do have a good understanding of the patent procedures manual it’s called the impact that annual for patent examination and so in essence an agent has just as much knowledge as a examiner at the Patent Office and so while they’re not illegally trained they are eligible and can legally represent inventors and file applications one of the major issues with looking at moving ahead with a patent agent you know if you really are concerned about long term game you’re not just looking to get the patent file you want it to be a patent that will have enforceability if you ever had to use that technology and use that patent to cease to sue an infringer you want to make sure that those claims as written are going to be enforceable in a court of law and a patent agent may be able to help you write it as spec and claims and drawings such that you can get around an examiner but they’re probably not going to be able to help you formulate the right claims and think strategically about how this is going to be enforced should it end up in the unfortunate case in front of a judge and jury so thinking of what in terms of these specification patent agents will tend to write much more strictly in line with what you’re inventing your first invention your first iteration was or as a patent attorney is going to take a look at that spec and look at recent case law to see what are juries looking at what our judges determining infringement on with they’re looking at claims they’re trying to come up with what’s called a Markman hearing in Section 271 of the patent law they have to go to determine claim construction what do certain words mean and so what a patent attorney is going to be sharp to listen for is recent case law at the district court or Federal Circuit or even Supreme Court that has decided cases based on how claims are interpreted whether it’s the broadest reasonable interpretation and putting that speck that written description together such that it’s going to be favorable to the patent holder so this has been educational hope you understand the fact that you know well work with the patent agent is an option it really is not your best option in terms of really fortifying