San Diego Patent Attorneys & Lawyers

Why Hire a Patent Lawyer?

Hiring an expert patent attorney is the best way to secure protection for your great ideas. While the law does not require you to have a lawyer in order to file a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the application process has many specific steps. Having someone on your side who is an expert in patent law can be the difference between getting your patent and walking out of the USPTO empty handed.

Not hiring a patent attorney to file your patent can lead to several problems.

You might not provide enough information about the invention for your provisional patent application. If you add information to you non-provisional patent application that does not match your original application, this could be grounds for denying your patent request.

You end up relying on the provisional filing to protect your patent. The provisional filing is only a temporary protection meant to safeuard early inventions while they are tweaked and honed to become truly revolutionary. Only non-provisional patents can fully protect your inventions.

When you file without a lawyer you may end up including too much information or irrelevant information. This could delay the application process which means more time that your ideas is floating around without protection.

Patent lawyers are not only experts in patent law, but they are also experts in certain technical fields. Having a great patent lawyer on your side when you file for your patent can help improve your chances of protection as well as any future litigation regarding your inventions. Unlike other practicing attorneys, patent lawyers specialize in difficult-to-understand professions so they can successfully acquire patents.

How to Find the Best Patent Lawyer

Finding the best patent lawyer may mean looking slightly outside of San Diego. Patent law is federally regulated, so having a lawyer as close as possible may not be the most important factor. You can easily communicate with your patent lawyer over the phone or by email, or find a patent lawyer who is just as qualified in the greater San Diego area.

Lawyers who do not work in the center of major cities like San Diego will have lower overhead costs for their rent and salaries so they often are able to charge less than the rates you might find in downtown San Diego.

That being said, you should not base your decision on your patent lawyer solely on their fees. You want to find someone who understands patents and who understands the technical side of your innovations. 

Start by searching online for patent attorneys in San Diego and the surrounding areas like Temecula. Speak to the California Bar Association or the San Diego County Bar Association for recommendations and to check if those lawyers are still considered to be in good standing. 

After doing all your research, create a short list of lawyers that you want to contact. If you found some in the San Diego area, try to meet with them in person. Otherwise, set up a time to speak with them over the phone to ask questions and explain your business. 

A top patent attorney will: 

• Write you emails and speak to you in a way that you understand, not using legal jargon.
• Call you to discuss the details of any problems promptly as they arise.
• Remind you within plenty of time (and perhaps several times) of upcoming deadlines.
• Happily talk through any issues with you and explain exactly what the consequences of each option will be. They will then advise you on what they believe to be the best option for your business.
• Write patent applications that are highly detailed and that clearly explain your technology for the examiners.

Questions for Patent Lawyers

• How many products have you written applications for and how many patents have been granted for applications you have written? This is an incredibly valuable question. It allows you to get a picture of how well they write their applications. Are they successfully getting company's their desired patents or are they constantly getting denied a patent?

• What is your technical experience? Before becoming a lawyer, many patent attorneys studied technical degrees like engineering or biology. You want to find a patent lawyer whose expertise aligns with your business innovations. The more they can understand about your business and its inventions, the better able they will be to write patent applications that get approved.

• Were you previously a USPTO examiner? Many patent attorneys used to work for the USPTO as examiners of patents. If you think that you will require several patents over the lifetime of your business, an attorney with this kind of experience is the best you can get. They have been on both sides of the application process and know exactly what the USPTO office is looking for in an application.