For a small business owner, the best way to deal with patent issues is to obtain a patent attorney. However, the initial expense of having a patent attorney can be substantial and the initial cost can be very high.
The number of patents awarded and issued each year in the United States has soared over the past few years, and the number of companies that specialize in patent litigation and the issuance of patents has exploded in recent years. Because of this, it can be difficult to determine which patents are worth the investment of hiring a patent attorney.
One reason why costs for patent attorneys vary so greatly is that there are no standardized rules and regulations regarding how much an attorney should charge for their services. Typically, the price of an attorney will depend on a number of factors. Some of these factors include the amount of patent work that the attorney is responsible for performing, the complexity of the issue, and the number of attorneys that a small business owner has assigned to their patent issues.
For example, a company may hire a law firm to handle their patent matters. If the company has a lot of issues and fewer patent attorneys to focus on them, the law firm may charge a high hourly rate, but it can also have more complex issues that are requiring more time and expertise than the average case.
Similarly, an attorney may be assigned to a single law firm. If a patent attorney is assigned to a large firm, then they may have greater exposure to potential claims by large firms and thus a higher hourly rate.
Before working with a patent attorney, it is important to compare their cost to what a law firm would charge to do the same work. There are a number of tools available to a small business owner to help them determine how much a patent attorney should charge. The most effective tool is comparing their prices to those of larger, less experienced law firms.
To help with this comparison, a small business owner should not just look at their prices, but also consider the quality of work performed by each firm. In addition, each firm’s level of experience and knowledge of patent issues will also have an impact on the cost.
For example, a small business owner that is assigned a patent attorney who has less experience with the patent process than the law firm would typically charge is likely to be more expensive. Therefore, an attorney assigned to a law firm that specializes in patent litigation may have a lower price because of their experience and knowledge.
It is important to make sure that a patent attorney is fully aware of any available discounts available to the firm they are assigned to. For example, a large firm that knows about the discount available for large patent cases will often provide a large discount to offset the increased cost of handling a large number of cases.
Another way to determine how much they should charge is to ask for cost estimates from other attorneys. If a patent attorney charges a very high price, it is likely that their rates are high, and the result is that the price is justified.
In addition, it is important to ask if a law firm offers discounts if an attorney is assigned to handle a large number of cases. Small law firms can offer the same discount to their attorney as larger firms can offer to their attorneys to offset the additional cost of handling larger numbers of cases.
Finally, it is important to discuss costs with a patent attorney. If the attorney has many patents to handle and a large number of cases, it is likely that the attorney will charge a high hourly rate to get their work done.