I’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions related to the patent process. These are the common concerns and inquiries I often receive from inventors, business owners, and entrepreneurs navigating the world of intellectual property. Whether you’re just starting out or are in the process of refining your invention, these answers will provide clarity on topics ranging from filing strategies to avoiding infringement, helping you make informed decisions as you pursue patent protection.
Getting Started
The paid initial consultation is a working meeting—a screen share where we engage in a back-and-forth discussion of your invention, identify the right protection strategy, and come out with a concrete next-steps plan. The flat fee is $500 and runs about 60 minutes. If more time is needed, additional time can be purchased at the meeting. The working meeting is protected under my duty of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege. If you want to walk away with a clear next-steps plan, this is the way to go. The fee is credited toward your engagement if we move forward.
The paid initial consultation for a trademark matter is $500 and usually takes no more than an hour. By the end of the meeting you will walk away with everything you need to file your own trademark application: I’ll guide you on ownership, on how to file the mark, and on developing a goods and services description, and I’ll conduct a trademark search for potentially conflicting marks. The working meeting is protected under my duty of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege. The fee is credited toward your engagement if we move forward.
Yes. The free consultation is a 15-minute phone call where I learn about your matter and determine whether it is within my area of competence. I’ll tell you what I would be doing for you and the cost.
Bring any material that helps me understand the invention—a short written description (even one or two paragraphs), sketches or CAD drawings, a 3D model if you have one, and a list of the closest known products. Be ready to share these on screen during the meeting. If confidentiality is a concern, we can execute a short NDA before any detailed disclosure.
Bring the exact mark (word, logo, or both), the goods or services you will use it with, and the approximate first date you will use (or have used) it in commerce. Be ready to share these on screen during the meeting.
The USPTO permits pro se filing, and the mechanical act of filing is not hard. What is hard is not the mechanics of writing—it’s formulating the strategy behind the application. How do we write it? What aspects do we focus on? Which angle do we take in describing it? What parts ought to be shown? It’s all strategy to present the invention to the examiner in the best light. A poorly drafted application can issue as a patent that looks valid but is effectively unenforceable. For anything you plan to commercialize, professional drafting is usually worth the cost.
Patents 101
To be patentable an invention must be (1) a process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) useful, (3) novel (new compared to everything publicly known before your filing date), and (4) non-obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the field. Abstract ideas, laws of nature, and natural phenomena are not patentable by themselves.
A utility patent protects how something works or is used (its function, structure, or method). A design patent protects how something looks (its ornamental appearance). They protect different things—a design patent isn’t narrower in scope than a utility patent, just different. Some products benefit from a design patent, but most don’t; you’d need a specific use case for a design patent to be worthwhile. Design patents are typically faster and cheaper to obtain than utility patents.
There are a lot of misconceptions about provisional patent applications (PPAs) on the internet. If properly done, a PPA costs about the same as a non-provisional application (NPA). The big difference is that the PPA isn’t examined, while the NPA does get examined eventually. Practically, that means you file a PPA if you want to delay examination costs, or if you simply want to secure patent-pending status for what you have so far. You file the NPA if you want to get your patent sooner rather than later. You can only choose one—delay examination expenses, or get your patent sooner. You can’t have both. Either way, a PPA establishes a filing date and lets you mark your product “patent pending” for 12 months, after which you must file the NPA to keep the date.
Yes, but software and AI inventions face extra scrutiny under the Alice / Section 101 framework. Claims that merely recite an abstract idea implemented on a generic computer are routinely rejected. The path forward is to anchor the claims in a specific technical improvement, a concrete hardware interaction, a non-obvious data structure, or an unconventional processing step. How the invention is described in the specification matters as much as how the claims are written.
Probably not. US patent law uses a first-inventor-to-file rule, so later filers generally lose races to earlier filers. Once you have enough detail to teach someone skilled in the field how to make and use the invention, you can file, even if the commercial version is still being refined. Later refinements can be captured through continuation applications, which build on common subject matter with the parent filing and inherit your original filing date for any subject matter already disclosed.
Trademarks 101
A trademark protects a brand identifier (word, logo, slogan, sometimes a color or sound) that distinguishes your goods or services from someone else’s. A copyright protects creative expression (text, images, music, code). A patent protects an invention. A single product often involves all three: a patented mechanism, a copyrighted manual, and a trademarked brand name. In practice, one form of protection is usually the most important to focus on for any given product.
Common-law rights attach automatically when you use a mark in commerce, but they are limited to the geographic area where you actually use the mark and are hard to enforce. A federal registration gives you nationwide rights, a presumption of validity, the right to use the ® symbol, access to federal court, and is a prerequisite for many online brand-protection programs (Amazon Brand Registry, takedown tools, etc.). For a brand you plan to scale, federal registration is almost always worth the cost.
The USPTO groups goods and services into 45 international classes. Your filing fee is charged per class, and your registration protects you only in the classes you file in. Choosing the right classes (and the right description within each class) is one of the highest-leverage decisions in the application. Over-filing wastes money on classes you may not use; under-filing leaves gaps that competitors can exploit.
Not necessarily. Likelihood-of-confusion refusals can sometimes be overcome by narrowing the goods or services, submitting arguments distinguishing the cited mark, or providing evidence of coexistence in the marketplace. Other times the smart call is to rebrand—but that decision is a heavy lift, especially if you’ve invested significant time and money into your brand. The right answer depends on how much equity you have built in the mark and how close the cited mark truly is.
Costs, Retainers & Timelines
Budget ranges vary with complexity, but as general guidance: a utility patent application in a moderately complex field typically runs roughly $10,000 to $12,000 in attorney fees to draft and file, plus USPTO filing fees. Prosecution (responding to USPTO examiner rejections, called office actions) usually adds another several thousand dollars over the life of the case. Design patents are much less expensive—often under $2,500 in attorney fees to draft and file, plus roughly another $2,500 in prosecution fees over the life of the case. Fixed-fee structures are available for most work where the scope can be defined up front.
The overall cost for a trademark registration is $2500 from start to finish provided everything goes smoothly. Here is the breakdown. The initial consultation is $500. We cover ownership, how to file the mark, develop a goods and services description and conduct a trademark search. If you have more than one class then the consultation will be $100 extra for each additional class. After this, we have enough to file the trademark application. The cost for me to file the trademark application is $400 plus the gov’t fee per class. Each class will cost $350 if we use the standard verbiage and $550 if we use the free form verbiage. We won’t know the number of classes and the verbiage until we discuss it during the initial consultation. After we file, your trademark is pending. The trademark office will send us documents, etc. which we will report to you. We also have to file a statement of use. All of this will cost you about $1000 plus the gov’t fee.
if there are refusals, then the cost to secure the registration will increase. We won’t know the true cost until we see the refusal. But, the cost to respond to those office action may be in the thousands.
Utility patents average 18 to 36 months from filing to issue, though the technology area matters a lot. Expedited examination (Track One) can compress that to under 12 months for an extra USPTO fee. Design patents are usually faster, often issuing in under 18 months.
Trademarks typically take 8 to 14 months from filing to registration if there are no substantive refusals.
Some patent and trademark work is handled on a flat fee so you know the cost up front. Office actions and complex disputes are typically billed flat fee per response based on the nature of the rejections. Hourly work is reserved for open-ended matters like portfolio audits and enforcement strategy where the scope genuinely cannot be predicted.
After Filing: What Happens Next
An office action is a written rejection or objection issued by a USPTO examiner. Most applications receive at least one. The response is a written legal argument, sometimes with claim amendments, due within a set deadline (typically three months, extendable for additional fees up to six months for patents). A well-prepared response often resolves the case; if not, there are further procedural options including appeals.
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Maybe—if you plan to make, sell, or manufacture there. Patents are territorial, so a US filing gives you no rights abroad. The PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) system lets you file one international application that preserves your right to pursue patents in most countries for 30 months from your earliest filing date. From there, you decide which specific countries to enter and pay the per-country examination fees.
Maybe—if you plan to use the mark there. Trademarks are territorial, so a US registration gives you no rights abroad. The Madrid Protocol provides a consolidated filing path that lets you extend your US application or registration to many jurisdictions through a single international filing, rather than filing country-by-country.
Options range from informal (a letter explaining your rights), to formal (a cease-and-desist letter), to aggressive (ITC actions, federal litigation, or platform takedowns for online infringement). The right option depends on the strength of your rights, the infringer’s size, how much damage they are causing, and your budget. An infringement analysis is usually the first step.
Yes. Switching attorneys mid-case is routine. You sign a revocation of prior power of attorney and a new power of attorney, and the prior firm is required to transfer the file. There is no penalty from the USPTO for changing counsel, and the deadlines on your case continue uninterrupted.