What does a patent lawyer or agent excately do??

Question

can someone plz give me some info on this topic, i have a paper due monday on this stuff. 3 page paper.... thanks.

Answer 1

They interview inventors and examine documents describing their inventions.

They consider the invention in light of the patent laws and court rulings and describe the invention in terms of patentable subject matter.  

They draft claims, describing the invention.

They file patent applications so drafted.

They argue with the patent examiner about patentability of the invention.

Patent lawyers may also sue people/companies for infringing their clients patents or defend their clients in such suits.

If you want an A, go to google/patents and search for a recent patent you are interested in and download it.  To get to google patents go to regular google and click on the --more-- link, then the --even more-- link, then scroll for Patents....

Once you have the patent go here:

http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal

enter the blurry words to get past the bot protection.  When the page refreshes enter the patent number from the upper right corner and click the selection dot for patent number, then click enter

when the page refreshes click on the tab that says--image file wrapper--  

That will give you a list of all the papers involved in the application including non-final and final rejections issued by the patent examiner and "amendments" filed by the patent attorney or agent....download some and review them.... If you think the office actions are gibberish, your not wrong.

Answer 2

They charge you alot of money is one thing that they do.  LOL

http://www.uspto.gov/

This is the site for Patents it explains it all pretty good.  There is alot involved in getting a Patent and the Patent lawyer does the research for you and that is pretty detailed.  For example there is a search engine on the Patent site and you can find out if someone has already come up with an idea like yours, search for information.  

If it were me and I was going to get a Patent I don't think I would hire an attorney I would probably just try to do it myself.  

Answer 3

I understand that the attorney specializes in patent law and may assist with protecting and enforcing a patent.  The patent agent has to pass a test with the United States Patent and Trademark Office after proving certain qualification.  Both are suppose to do the due diligence regarding acquiring your patent with the proper agency. You should know something about what you're doing, as well.  Nolo Press, in CA, has great self-help reading materials on this subject.  They may assist in confidentially statements, non-disclosure statements, government forms preparation, searches for similar patents, provide supportive people providing services needed for your patent (i.e. engineer, draftsmen, manufacturing, distribution, presentation, inventors associations, etc.) and enforcement.  There are wonderful public reading materials available for you to come up to speed on patent, copyrights and trademarks.