Can you draft a patent yourself?

[Stiganator]

I've googled it and it seems like the PE lawyers are just milking inventors. 5,000 in non governmental fees, holy crap! Anyone have any good info on this?

 

[kermalou]

It takes a while, but you can do this yourself if you want, it will not be as thorough as a professional who does it all day long.

 

[Electric Amish]

You also risk impinging on other patents if you don't perform thorough enough research.

 

[Reel]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
You also risk impinging on other patents if you don't perform thorough enough research.

What he said. Basically the rationale is that if you are patenting something, it is because you feel you can make money off of it and don't want other people able to steal your idea. If it costs you $5000 or even $10000 to patent it, then you assume that you will be making at least that much somewhere down the road otherwise is it worth the money to patent it? If I had something patentable and sellable, I would pay a lawyer (or use lawyer friends/connections to find a cheaper rate) and get it done right rather than risk having my application rejected or someone steal my patent and find out it is not defendable.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: Reel

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
You also risk impinging on other patents if you don't perform thorough enough research.

What he said. Basically the rationale is that if you are patenting something, it is because you feel you can make money off of it and don't want other people able to steal your idea. If it costs you $5000 or even $10000 to patent it, then you assume that you will be making at least that much somewhere down the road otherwise is it worth the money to patent it? If I had something patentable and sellable, I would pay a lawyer (or use lawyer friends/connections to find a cheaper rate) and get it done right rather than risk having my application rejected or someone steal my patent and find out it is not defendable.

...or risk getting sued for patent infringment.