Can You File a Patent Without a Lawyer? Not really. But you can cut costs with a do-it-yourself approach.
by Brandon Phillips
“If I had to pay an attorney to handle all of my patent affairs,” says Oakland, Calif., entrepreneur Jennipher Adkins, “I’d be in debt.”
Adkins owns the Jenny-Capp Company, which specializes in head garments, nightwear and beauty products. With little to no national advertising, Jenny-Capp products have found their way into major retail chains such as Wal-Mart, CVS, Kmart and Walgreens. None of which might have happened had Adkins not written her own patents.
You heard right. You don’t have to be a lawyer when it comes to filing a patent. Although she still hires a lawyer for some patent-application tasks, she performs most of the grunt work herself.
Adkins’ patent portfolio ranges from textile goods and fashion accessories, to electronics, appliances, software and tableware with two granted patents and 17 pending.
With attorney fees between $3,500 and $10,000 per patent application, she saved herself a bundle – excluding perhaps the opportunity costs of time and resources she otherwise would have spent.
Adkins wrote her first official patent in 1993 during her second year of college for a new head bonnet. She secured a utility patent in 1995.
“I was lucky to have started interacting with the USPTO early,” she says. “In the 1990’s, the office was not as inundated as it is now with applications.”
Adkins, now 36, has submitted more than 50 document disclosures to the USPTO (this program was terminated in 2006) and wrote and submitted more than 60 patent applications.
Adkins’ has a B.A. in political science and a minor in pre law from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, but has no formal intellectual property training.
“I had access to the law library where I was required to do course work and complete class assignments,” she says. “The exposure of researching cases and writing case analyses contributed to my ability to write my own patents.”
So where do you begin?
“When I have an idea that I want to file a patent application on, I first spend about an hour or so at the USPTO’s Web site conducting a search,” she says. “I might also talk to people in my circle about the idea. Many ideas that I thought were new turned out to already be in existence in some variation.”
From there it’s on to drafting, drawing and constructing. Adkins often hires graphic artists or engineers to help with prototypes and visualization logistics, which can be a costly part of the process. “It’s best to pay these professionals for the work,” she says, “than to submit an inadequate application.”
For Adkins, having a complete understanding of all the benefits, advantages and objectives that her invention provides allows her to create the most effective application.
“What’s not in the specification (or description) can’t be mentioned in the claims,” says Adkins, “which ultimately provides an invention its protection if a patent is granted.”
Claims are basically a list of the components that warrant protecting and will be what others examine when attempting to circumvent an invention. A weak set of claims can make the entire application useless. Claims also determine the ultimate cost of a patent – if a patent is granted, the allowance fee will be based on the claims.
Writing your own patents shouldn’t be taken lightly and Adkins cautions against jumping headfirst into the patent-writing pool.
Adkins suggests two essential assets: strong technical writing skills and a good relationship with your attorney. Your writing skills need to explain clearly “how components are made and their relationship and functionality to each other,” and an attorney is a must when it comes to revising and rewriting your claims.
Moreover, it’s important to have a stay-on-the-ball mentality about getting your applications in as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Independent inventors must have the priority date or filing date on their radar, says Adkins. This date identifies who first filed if there is a dispute. While you want to create a bullet-proof patent, you also want to get it to the USPTO as soon as possible. Every minute that goes by is another chance for someone else to snatch your idea.
“An early filing date is very valuable,” she says. “Many independent inventors sadly lose this early date by allowing their case to be abandoned by not responding to an office action.”
All of these tools are helpful, but don’t forget that a little enthusiasm goes a long way. “It’s hard not to be successful,” Adkins says, “when you love what you do.”
