E-filing for provisional patent - is it safe?

[urian27]

Hi all - Need your help here!
I am thinking of applying for a provisional patent and I found these websites that offer very reasonably priced provisional patent application filing service (~$400 only as compared to lawyers asking for $3500).
I am not sure how safe it is - the whole meaning of a patent is to "patent" your idea, unsure about disclosing the details and going thru e-filing

Has anyone used these services or any other and what was your experience?

Here are the sites I am referring to:
http://www.legalzoom.com/index2c.html
http://www.patentwizard.com/
http://www.thoughtstopaper.com/

If you know of a trusted source please share!

Your help is appreciated!
Thanks

[emek]

Hi,

I'm a registered patent attorney and I have clients that have used LegalZoom for their provisional patent filing. The applications filed through Legalzoom weren't bad, they were mostly adequate and certainly complied with the applicable rules, but they also were not what I would have done for the client. They just were not as complete as they could have been, in my opinion.

Patentwizard was created by a patent attorney, Michael Nuestel and applications filed through the software are filed by his firm, I believe. Anything you disclose to a patent attorney or agent will be kept confidential by that person. This is a professional requirement for attorneys and agents.

Thoughtstopaper claims to have applications prepared and filed by licensed patent firms, but I don't think Thoughtstopaper is a law firm. I'm not too sure about that arrangement. With them acting as an intermediary, you don't get the same guarantee of confidentiality that you do when dealing directly with an attorney or agent.

If you are comfortable doing some of the work yourself, you can save some money. I wrote a guide that teaches inventors how to write a provisional application themselves. Even if you write your own application using my guide, I still recommend a review by a patent attorney prior to filing. You can read more about my guide here:

http://provisionalpatentguide.com/

I work with independent inventors and would be happy to give you a quote on a provisional patent application.

Good luck with your invention.

Best regards,
Steve Aycock
Patent Attorney
Cygnet IP Law, P.A.
email: [email protected]
http://cygnetiplaw.com

[jolie]

Curious:

I have one that is $45 and it is a Provisional Patent Video Course where you can learn EXACTLY how to file it yourself... Here is the link: http://provisionalpatentvideo.com/


So.. you know about the Provisional Patent Application only costs $125 and was designed by Congress to give individual inventors a chance at bringing their inventive ideas to market easily. It is SUPER EASY to do..

To see the top 10 reasons to file a Provisional Patent Application please watch the second video in this blog.
http://www.filepatentapplications.com/blog/

If a provisional patent application looks like the right thing for you to do then take a look at the website I mentioned above that shows EXACTLY how to file one using a video format.
http://provisionalpatentvideo.com/

If you need to know how to get your product sold on TV or to Costco, or Home Depot, or Target and the like then you might also enjoy reading this information by the Ginsu Knife guy! It is pretty cool. He gives you all his contacts and personal email!
http://bit.ly/GinsuKnifeGuy1

Of course you could ALSO just go to the US Patent Office and figure out how to file a patent yourself. Here is the link..
http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/index.jsp
The flow chart there is pretty nice to give you an idea how to do what you want to do!

Their patent search is hard to use and you need special programs to look at the patents… Instead, consider using Google Patent Search!

Here is how you can use Google Patent Search to search for an "Oscillating inertial microbalance"
http://www.google.com/patents?id=M5GRAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA6&dq=Oscillating+inertial+microbalance&hl=en&ei=vrbGTvGeDoXhiAKWpfXxDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Just type the term you want to search for in the search box. Play with MANY variants of your inventive idea.

Also, for a more global patent search look here:
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/advancedSearch?locale=en_EP

Remember... Patents are MOSTLY "Improvements" on other inventions.. So, while you may see something SIMILAR to your inventive idea it does not mean that you cannot patent your IMPROVEMENT.. Example... A tire is an IMPROVEMENT on a wagon wheel. A radial biased ply tire is an IMPROVEMENT on a non radial biased tire. There are over 10,000 patents on tires... Nearly every single one is an improvement!

And… a special gift for you is a sample Non Disclosure (also called an NDA) that you would have folks sign when you show them your inventive idea. You can change it up and use others but if you have NOTHING now it is a very good start written by my lawyer who charged me a TON for it!
http://www.4lowprice.info/images/NDA_GeneralMutual.doc

For EXTRA credit take a look at getting a free website widget here. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING. Just use the FREE widget thing..
http://CBproAds.com/refer.asp?id=50245 It will allow you to put adverts to eBooks on nearly ANY subject. If you had a store that sells horse blankets then you would include a widget that featured an eBook on how to stop horses from biting! You get 50% of whatever book folks buy. Pretty nice!

If you like my answer can you vote on it?

Thanks,

Dave