Avoid patent fraud

What is a patent and how can you avoid patent fraud? A patent is granted to a company or inventor for a limited amount of time to have exclusive rights for the invention. This way you have the market captive during the time in which you own the patent. This means other companies cannot produce a product that stealing your design.

To acquire a patent, you will need to fill out a lot of paperwork and make sure you are in compliance with the patent laws. Most people file for a patent if they catch wind that a competitor is trying to steal their design or market a product that is theirs. A patent will make it illegal for another company to sell your product without your exclusive written or verbal consent.

When your patent has been fulfilled and it is up for renewal, you need to see if the patent office will allow you to acquire a new patent or not. It will take a lot of time for you to acquire the patent once you fill out the initial paperwork, which usually averages about 4 months or so.

To learn more about patents and how they work, you need to contact the United States Patent and Trademark Office. They have a number of forms you can fill out to file for your patent and they have information to help individuals that are new to patents and need help to understand how they work and what they need to do. Filing a patent can take just a few minutes depending upon your product and you can submit it online.

Always use the website to file for a patent to avoid patent fraud. There are so many patent offices out there that it can be challenging to find one that is actually offering legitimate services. Some of these patent offices promised to patent your products in exchange for expensive fees. Depending upon the patent office you work with, you will see that you may end up paying thousands of dollars for a patent. This is a big red flag considering the initial patent application is about $250.

Do an online search to find a legitimate patent office if you are concerned about the legitimacy of the office. Check with your state department to make sure there are no reports of patent fraud with that particular company as well. The more you can get to know about the patent office, the easier it will be for you to avoid patent fraud and to get stuck in the middle of an expensive lawsuit or other issues.

The truth about patent fraud is that these companies will mark up the prices considerably. They will claim you need to spend thousands of dollars in order to file for a patent and this is really not the case at all. You can actually save yourself thousands or hundreds of dollars by taking the time to do all the paperwork on your own. While it's not the most attractive option, it may be the only way you can save yourself money and to avoid patent fraud.

If you are working with a "patent company" and they tell you that you are going to spend $10,000 or more to secure a patent, walk away. Patent fraud is ramped and while there are some regulations recently passed to try and cut down on this thriving scam world, your best option is to do it yourself in order to protect yourself from losing tens of thousands of dollars. It only takes a few minutes to gather the information you need to spare yourself of financial disaster and become another victim to patent fraud.