Selecting a Patent Professional to help you.

If you're an inventor struggling to patent your invention, the Patent and Trademark Office will provide you with some free and useful advice. But one of the things they won’t do is help you select a patent professional.

The USPTO won’t help you find a professional patent searcher or a patent practitioner (whether agent or attorney). They won’t even recommend one to you. Make no mistake, though, they strongly suggest that you do use a registered patent attorney or agent when you are ready to apply for a patent.

The Patent Office maintains a list of registered patent practitioners on their website. You may find it by clicking here. You can search this list by state and by name (a useful tool if you want to check credentials).

The Patent and Trademark Office also does not control the fees charged by patent professionals. Since there is no regulation of fees for their services, patent professionals tend to charge a wide range of fees for a wide range of services.

In addition, the Patent Office will not help you develop or market your patent. They will not get involved with helping you select an invention submission or invention promotion company either. Fortunately though, they do publish complaints regarding these companies. You may view the complaints by clicking here.

Basically, the Office takes the stand that it does not and can not control any private parties.

But you aren’t completely alone when it comes to selecting patent professionals to assist you with your project. You can call the Better Business Bureau or local state agencies to help you find reputable help. It may be wise to join an Inventor’s club in your city and ask fellow members for help with selecting a professional near you. Getting a few personal recommendations will help you immensely. In addition, networking with other inventors can be invaluable to you for many reasons we’ll get into later.

You may also want to search through the directory of Patent Service providers at the Patent Law Portal. You may search by state and view patent agents, attorneys, searchers, drafters, etc... Virtually any professional you may need is at your fingertips.