Sunday, January 17, 2010

How To Select A Patent Lawyer?

By Joseph Martin

While in several other fields legal recourse is required only after disputes crop up, a patent lawyer is useful from the moment you start thinking about filing for a patent. The most important responsibilities of a patent lawyer are to guide the client in acquiring the patent, advising him on steps to make sure of security of the patent, and representing his interests if infringement occurs.

The patent filing and registration procedure is usually a very time consuming and arduous one. Hence, the necessity for an expert and knowledgeable lawyer is felt keenly. However, you must make sure that you are engaging a capable person, who has in depth knowledge of not just the patent laws but also of the subject of creation. A lawyer who has an unrelated background from the subject of your patent, may not be able to fully assist you in patenting your idea.

The second factor that an inventor has to consider while employing a patent lawyer is his track record of successes and failures with previously filed patents. You should make sure that you cross check the credentials of the lawyer in terms of the challenges defended and rejection of the patents applied for by him. In this way, you can determine how capable the lawyer is and if you have a high likelihood of success in your patent application because only a capable patent lawyer can make sure that your application does not have any errors.

With a growing number of new lawyers working in the area of patents these days, it is not tough to find one who is right for your work and whose remuneration will be well within your scope.

In addition, you should make sure that unless there are some serious failings on part of the lawyer in dealing with your patent, you stick to the same lawyer from the application stage to any future disputes that might crop up with respect to your patent as this lawyer would have the most comprehensive knowledge of the patent in consideration.

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