Psychological damage: If hopes of having our utility patents issued are dashed due to quick and dirty work done in the initial stages of filing our PPA, the personal hurt and anger may have greater impact than the additional expense or the failure of provisional negotiations. In summary, approach the preparation and filing of your PPA with great care. Get a competent search, just as though you were filing your utility patent application. Don’t use wishful thinking. A search of this type may cost a thousand dollars or even a bit more. A $250 search is fine as a way to disqualify your invention, but if such a search is encouraging and used as the basis for your follow-on utility patent application, you’re risking the big bucks required to prepare and file it. We don’t expect a PPA to have the elegance of a utility patent application, but neither should it look homemade. It should have at least a few of the features of the utility application, such as appropriate headings. Discuss this point ahead of time with the professional who will prepare it. Remember, your PPA may end up on the desk of your prospective licensee’s director of marketing. You have only one chance to make a good first impression.
Jack Lander, a near legend in the inventing community, has been writing for Inventors Digest for 19 years. His latest book is Marketing Your Invention–A Complete Guide to Licensing, Producing and Selling Your Invention. You can reach him at jack@Inventor-mentor.com.
JUNE 2016 INVENTORS DIGEST
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