This is the last post in my series “How To Make Money With A Patent: My Guide For Determining If You Should Patent Your Idea.” Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestions for how to make money with a patent. I hope you found these suggestions helpful. Here is a quick summary.
Look Before You Leap: Think Before You File
- U.S. Patents typically cost from $20,000 – $30,000 from filing to issuance.
- Patents do not make you money, but you can use them to stop others from copying your invention.
- You should have a plan for how you are going to make money with your patent before you draft the patent application or even approach a patent attorney.
- You should carefully consider the market for practicing your invention, licensing your invention, or raising funds for your invention before filing a patent application.
- No customers = no money = no business
Throughout this series, you may notice that I referred you to several resources, such as books and webpages. However, you may also notice that I never referred you a patent attorney to determine how to make money with your patent. This omission is intentional.
As a patent attorney, I can tell you that patent attorneys are usually not qualified to tell you how best to make money with your invention. A patent attorney’s focus is on legal issues, such as how to get a patent, the scope of protection the patent will provide, and the enforceability of patents. We do not usually have any particular expertise in business strategy, product development, or marketing. We are not business advisors. It is up to you to figure out how to make money with your invention long before you approach a patent attorney.
One of the worst things that you can do is to spend thousands of dollars filing a patent application, and only then realizing that you have no idea how to make money with your invention.
Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have any questions or comments!