Comments on: Inventors Beware: Yugo Prices Suggest Yugo Quality http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/08/15/inventors-beware-yugo-prices-suggest-yugo-quality/id=4907/ Patents, Patent Applications, Patent Law Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:52:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gene Quinn http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/08/15/inventors-beware-yugo-prices-suggest-yugo-quality/id=4907/#comment-7880 Gene Quinn Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:22:13 +0000 http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=4907#comment-7880 Tom- If you were paying $255 for a prior art search in the private sector it would be hopelessly inadequate. This is a huge problem. The PTO does not believe they have a fee for service model. I can't believe $255 is an adequate price for the work that should be done, and if the PTO needs more funds and more time they could start with charging a fair wage for a fair amount of work. That would make the entire system better. As for reliance, if you really want to know you should be spending more than $255 for a patent search and interpretation of the search. I hope this helps. -Gene Tom-

If you were paying $255 for a prior art search in the private sector it would be hopelessly inadequate. This is a huge problem. The PTO does not believe they have a fee for service model. I can’t believe $255 is an adequate price for the work that should be done, and if the PTO needs more funds and more time they could start with charging a fair wage for a fair amount of work. That would make the entire system better.

As for reliance, if you really want to know you should be spending more than $255 for a patent search and interpretation of the search.

I hope this helps.

-Gene

]]> By: Tom Dickey http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/08/15/inventors-beware-yugo-prices-suggest-yugo-quality/id=4907/#comment-7833 Tom Dickey Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:05:53 +0000 http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=4907#comment-7833 For a budget-conscious "little guy" just getting started, is $255 enough for a "bare-bones" prior art search? The PTO charges small entities that sum for searching their applications. Once their patents issue, can these inventors have faith in the $255 search they get from the PTO? For a budget-conscious “little guy” just getting started, is $255 enough for a “bare-bones” prior art search? The PTO charges small entities that sum for searching their applications. Once their patents issue, can these inventors have faith in the $255 search they get from the PTO?

]]> By: Gene Quinn http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/08/15/inventors-beware-yugo-prices-suggest-yugo-quality/id=4907/#comment-7830 Gene Quinn Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:49:06 +0000 http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=4907#comment-7830 Mark- I know what you are saying, and I certainly don't want to sound naive, but we are a long way from an automated process for writing claims. I have been working on this myself for a long time, and it is getting better and better no doubt, but the wordsmithing and need to reference a thesaurus and define around prior art and stay up to date with the latest strategies and cases that shift the law will make a truly automated process exceptionally difficult. Having said that, I can teach anyone to write claims and do it in a largely step-by-step process, so what you speak of is certainly possible. I do have doubts that it will ever replace a skilled practitioner though. Getting to an 80% solution is not hard, the other 20% is what makes it art, and with a homerun invention being worth so much I don't know that it will ever make economic sense to rely completely on automation. -Gene Mark-

I know what you are saying, and I certainly don’t want to sound naive, but we are a long way from an automated process for writing claims. I have been working on this myself for a long time, and it is getting better and better no doubt, but the wordsmithing and need to reference a thesaurus and define around prior art and stay up to date with the latest strategies and cases that shift the law will make a truly automated process exceptionally difficult. Having said that, I can teach anyone to write claims and do it in a largely step-by-step process, so what you speak of is certainly possible. I do have doubts that it will ever replace a skilled practitioner though. Getting to an 80% solution is not hard, the other 20% is what makes it art, and with a homerun invention being worth so much I don’t know that it will ever make economic sense to rely completely on automation.

-Gene

]]> By: Mark Nowotarski http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/08/15/inventors-beware-yugo-prices-suggest-yugo-quality/id=4907/#comment-7827 Mark Nowotarski Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:46:46 +0000 http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=4907#comment-7827 Gene, I think we are seeing the same trends. http://bit.ly/10pt0X (TV interview on trends in inventing) Our economy adapts as inventors, many “liberated” from their former employers, realize that now is the time to start a new company and pursue that dream they’ve had. But I caution my fellow members of the patent bar from getting too complacent. Someday someone will invent a way to automate claim drafting and examination. When that happens, low cost “patents for the masses” will become a reality. Gene,

I think we are seeing the same trends. http://bit.ly/10pt0X (TV interview on trends in inventing)

Our economy adapts as inventors, many “liberated” from their former employers, realize that now is the time to start a new company and pursue that dream they’ve had.

But I caution my fellow members of the patent bar from getting too complacent. Someday someone will invent a way to automate claim drafting and examination. When that happens, low cost “patents for the masses” will become a reality.

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