A patent will last for 20 years from the date you file it. This is called “Patent Term”. The catch is, sometimes it may take 2-5 years to get through the patent examination process so by the time your patent actually issues, you may only have 15 to 18 years of patent life left. [...]
Let me first start off by saying most (about 95%) of all the patent attorneys I meet are very smart and do great work. Patent attorneys are usually very brainy and even a little bit nerdy. You will typically find a patent attorney that makes $500,000+ per year driving an old Honda minivan or station [...]
Effective March 16, 2013, the United States will join the rest of the world and move to a first-to-file patent system. The change comes as the result of the passage of the America Invents Act (AIA) signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The United States was the last country to [...]
It has been almost a year now since I started reviewing patent applications written by inventors and I am starting to notice a very common mistake that people are making.
A patent is not a marketing document. A common mistake that people make is treating a patent application like it’s marketing or sales document. [...]
If you work for a company or university, you may be shocked to learn that THEY not you own your patentable ideas. When you first start working for a new organization, pay close attention to your employment agreement. It may talk about patent or IP policies and who gets to own what. I have even [...]
President - PatentFile, LLC
Brad Fach has over 12 years of experience writing and filing patent applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office. He has personally filed over 500 patents in all technical areas ranging from consumer products to software and biotechnology. Read more....
