Checking Credentials Before Hiring Anyone to Help You Patent Your Invention

Many businesses make more than a decent living helping inventors just like you make money from their inventions. From filing a patent to licensing and marketing your invention, someone is around every corner offering assistance.

Unfortunately, not all of this help is the kind you want. There are companies out there who make a living off exploiting inventors. It's important not to get caught up in any of these scams. What you need is a professional who has experience and is licensed to help you patent your invention. You really need either a patent attorney or a patent agent.

Both patent agents and attorneys are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. No one else is. Please take note of that. No one else may legally help you fill out the paperwork associated with filing for your patent. And you definitely don't want anyone else to help you for this aspect of your invention journey.

Remember, you want someone registered by the USPTO to help you file your patent. Don't even think about speaking to someone else, even if they claim they will outsource the writing of your application to a patent attorney or agent. The problem is, you need to be in direct communication with the individual helping you to file your patent. Don't let anyone be your middleman. Gaining a patent is not an assembly line process. Your invention has completely different features than anything else out there. So you need to be able to directly communicate the novel features of your invention with the attorney or agent.

While you can work over the phone, it usually makes the most sense to meet face to face with the attorney or agent you choose. Therefore, it is best to find one not too far from where you are located. Although it can be done, a long distance relationship will probably only strain the process.

The best way to select a patent practitioner (patent agent or patent attorney) near you is through word of mouth. You may want to join a local inventors club. You can also search through the USPTO's list of registered patent practitioners or even just use their database to check your potential patent practitioner's credentials.

An individual listed on the USPTO's site will be registered to practice patent law. They must also meet the ethical requirements and can be disbarred for complaints. Please check that the patent practitioner you are considering is listed on this site before using them.

Please visit Patent Law Portal to find a patent attorney or agent near you and begin the process toward protecting your invention.

Warning: Your Domain Name Could Infringe On Trademark Rights!

If you have or are about to purchase a domain name, YOU could be in trouble and you don't even know it yet...

See, what the domain sellers won't tell you is that the domain name you are purchasing or have purchased can possibly infringe on trademark rights and you can lose that domain name or even worse.

Trademark and servicemark laws apply not only off-line but on-line as well and they even apply to domain names.

Now, a trademark generally applies to goods where as a servicemark applies to services. For the purpose of this article I will refer to trademarks as the same rules apply.

A trademark can be a word, name, symbol, or device and it is used to distinguish and indentify the goods and services from one person or company from that of another.

The purpose of a trademark is to prevent confusion in the eyes of the consumer relating to particular goods and services. Basically, they are in place to prevent unfair competition.

So with that said, just because you purchased a particular domain name it does not necessarily mean you have exclusive rights to it.

If there is a trademark in your domain name, the mark owner has a legal right to send you a "cease and desist" letter and possibly take that domain name away from you.

If you don't believe a word I've said so far then I offer myself as proof because it happened to me. I recently lost one of my domain names under this exact same circumstance.

For legal reasons I can't tell you the domain name as I agreed to make no further references to it, but there were two words in my domain name that were associated with a trademark.

Now, I wasn't aware of this when I purchased the domain name. And I definitely wasn't aware of trademark laws.

Don't be ignorant on the subject like I was. You can avoid any potential problems by educating yourself and thereby preventing the samething from happening to you.

Don't make the same mistake that I did!

Do your research before you buy a domain name and make sure there is NO trademark associated with that name.

There are trademark search engines where you can type in a word or a phrase and it will tell you if it is a trademark.

You can visit the United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO) website to do a trademark search:

http://www.uspto.gov/

Now, in my case I chose not to fight the trademark dispute and gave up my domain name voluntarily. I felt it just wasn't worth the time, money and headaches to launch a fight over this.

If this should ever happen to you, you do have rights and there are proper channels to go through to settle the dispute. Contact a lawyer who specializes in this field.

And don't even think for one minute that this sort of thing can't happen to you. Trust me. If you have a trademark in your domain name it is only a matter of time before you get that letter in the mail like I did.

There are numerous cases all over the internet concerning disputes over trademark and domain names.

Don't you be one of them...

If you would like more information on the subject of trademarks and domain names then I highly recommend you visit this website:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain

This article and any links associated with it are for informational purposes only and not intended as legal advice. As always, speak to an attorney who specializes in this field in the event of a dispute.

Al Martinovic is the publisher of the Millenium Marketers Newsletter where you will find powerful concepts, killer strategies, useful tips and no bull business advice: http://www.milleniummarketers.com