What I’ve Learned

I have filed five provisional patent applications and two nonprovisional applications over the last two-and-a-half years. I took and passed the USPTO exam for becoming a registered Patent practitioner. Based on this experience, here is what I’ve learned as an independent inventor filing his own application.
Pros
- The availability of the Internet, the relatively low cost and high capability of personal computers, the availability of resources such as
- Google search
- DesignCad drawing software
- FreePatentsOnline.com
- Google Patent Search
- Patent It Yourself book
- Invention Analysis and Claiming book
make “Do-It-Yourself” patent writing within the reach of many inventors at a relatively low financial cost.
- Writing my own patent applications improved my inventions through an invent-write-improve iterative procedure.
- Patent application writing is an extremely satisfying endeavor for me.
Cons
- Writing my own disclosure and claims is risky since the invention has to be protected from:
- existing prior art that has been uncovered by inventor at filing
- prior art that surfaces during patent prosecution after inventor has filed
- others who will attempt to work around or break the patent
- infringers who violate the patent after the patent issues
- The claim writing process is very challenging and is difficult for many.
- Evaluating prior art is tricky, because interpreting the claims, based on complex US patent law, is tricky.
Conclusions
The frugal inventor:
- Can and should prepare most of the patent application herself.
- Should consult with a registered patent practitioner for help and guidance as needed to get maximum protection for the invention.