PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION

debb

Hi All,
I just joined Startupnation and I am already addicted to the forums. My partner and I have a new accessory trademarked and it is in the prototype stage. We would like to get a provisional patent and contacted our attorney who took care of the trademark. His fee is $2400. for the provisional and since we are a start up and don`t have a lot of funds we are considering doing the provisional  with a service like Legal Zoom. Has anyone used that service or is there any downside to doing it ourselves ? We do intend to use the attorney for the unprovisional patent when the time comes. Thanks,Debdebb8/7/2008 9:17 AM

debb

Thanks for the info. I guess legal zoom doesn`t give much assistance in making sure you have the critical elements in the application. 
Regards,Deb

grabitpack

go to the US gov patent website and file for $100
it`s a mess to navigate that site but it`s worth it.

stevenp

I would recommend reading lots of patents similar to your invention. (There`s a patent search on Google that works great for this.) Use similar language and detail in writing your provisional application. Add every feature and variation you can think of. More is better! And no need to include claims at this point, but first do a search to recognize what is `new` in your invention over what other patents/applications you find out there.  Goodluck!
(Not intended as legal advice. See the USPTO website, uspto.gov, for basic patent information and all the details you want!)

debb

Thanks to all for the advice... Really appreciate it.