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What should be considered when picking a patent attorney?

The choice of a patent attorney is an important one for a young company looking to obtain initial guidance on obtaining patents or staying clear of the patents of others. This is an effort to find a trusted advisor who will help the young company seek value while controlling costs. The dynamics are different when a Fortune 100 company with a legion of in-house patent attorneys seeks to hire outside patent attorneys as sub-contractors doing a very limited task. Some patent attorneys prefer to work for the very large companies and perform a large number of relatively well-defined tasks. A few patent attorneys enjoy working with young companies in patent matters. This requires extra efforts to explain the various steps in the patent process but can be rewarding as obtaining initial patents for a young company is an act appreciated by the leadership of the company.

As the patent process often requires an iterative exchange between the inventors and the patent attorney, the process works much better when there is some level of chemistry so the participants feel comfortable asking questions without fear that asking questions is an admission of not being omniscient. Sounds strange but some attorneys do not like to admit that they do not know as much as the client knows. This reticence makes it harder for clients to ask the patent attorney to go over a legal concept a second time as it seems illogical. A more healthy relationship is one where each participant values the special training of the other and seeks to work as a team.

A good patent attorney turns away work or refers it to other patent attorneys when the work would require the ability to negotiate patent claim language in an area where the patent attorney is not competent. FLYNN IP LAW covers a broad range of engineered inventions as FLYNN IP LAW has the skill set to handle that. FLYNN IP LAW is not capable to handle cases with a focus on cutting edge scientific advances in biology, chemistry, or physics. Conversely, a PhD. in one of the sciences may be a bad choice for obtaining patents on the machines or processes that use the scientific principals developed in the lab. In some instances a single client may benefit from having a scientist/patent attorney and an engineer/ patent attorney.