You should never trust any Patent Attorney/Firm that does not strongly urge you to first have a professional patent search done, because they clearly do not have your best interests in mind

I would expect that since you found this web page via a web search engine you are most likely a small entity (e.g., individuals and small business with < 50 employees).  Sad to say that, unfortunately, most patent law firms do not serve small entities well, if at all.  We are different, however. 

While much of our work is indeed rendered to corporate clientele, we do respect and take seriously "the little guy/gal".  Rest assured that Bay Area IP will render effective legal services of your behalf and give you a very positive client experience.  Read on below to discover why you will want to enlist us a valuable member of your business/invention team.

   you have to own your innovation to sell/license it or stop others from taking/copying it, so if it cannot be patented then in nearly all circumstances, it has little commercial value. 

  before making a buy-out, licensing, or investment decision, investors and companies always want to see that a deep patent search was done and it had a favorable patentability legal opinion.  If they demand a favorable patent search before going ahead, shouldn't you?

Bay Area IP is a result-oriented firm that seeks to maximize client value to build long term relationships, even if it is at the expense of near-term revenues.   In contrast, many firms (automatically) accept new cases before performing the important due diligence that helps to ensure that a patent is indeed warranted or even possible for a given client situation, and not just a waste of time and money. Bay Area IP always strongly urges its small entity clients (who are the most likely to not be aware of related prior-art) to have a professional patent search and patentability legal opinion done before filing for a patent.  You should never trust any Patent Attorney/Firm that does not strongly urge you to first have a professional patent search done, because they clearly do not have your best interests in mind.

Actually, our in-depth patent research and evaluations are exactly designed to be the foundation for answering these, and many more, important decision-making patent and business questions.  Moreover, all things being equal, before making a purchase, licensing, or investment decision, investors and companies always want to see that a deep patent search was done and it had a favorable patentability legal opinion.   If they demand a favorable patent search before going ahead, shouldn't you?

 It is unwise to trust or use any law firm that does not have all their patent searches done using the same search systems that the Patent Examiners use; that is, the USPTO's EAST system in Washington DC 

  the absolutely best search system and database to use is the USPTO's very sophisticated EAST system/database, which is ONLY located inside the search room at their main campus and is EXACTLY the same and only system that the Patent Examiners use to find the 'prior-art' they will base any rejection of your patent upon. 

Another aspect of the patent search that alludes most small entities is who is actually doing your patent search, and done on what kind of search system?   If you call around you will get different answers.  Most firms outsource their patent searches, and some of those companies outsource to foreign companies (esp. India and Bangladesh)- very risky.  Many respectable law firms outside of Washginton DC will use (relatively weak/limited) online patent database engine like Delphion; however, most reputable firms will outsource their patent search to Washington DC based companies.  Why you ask?  Because they know that the absolutely best search system and database to use is the USPTO's very sophisticated EAST system/database, which is ONLY located inside the search room at their main campus and is EXACTLY the same and only system that the Patent Examiners use to find the 'prior-art' they will base any rejection of your patent upon.  Patent Examiners do not even touch the free public patent search engine on their website or any online databases because Examiners know they are far inferior. If the Patent Examiner finds prior-art then they will reject your patent, otherwise, you will get your patent issued.  

So, you have to ask yourself, what competent attorney or law firm acting in your best interest would not use the same tools that the Patent Examiners use?  Hence, it is unwise to trust or use any law firm that does not have all their patent searches done using the same search systems that the Patent Examiners use; that is, the USPTO’s EAST system in Washington DC. We do all our patent searches on the USPTO’s advanced EAST system out of our Washington DC office.

   Patent Examiners are trained like bloodhounds to find the best prior art (patents) so that they can reject your patent.  This is a big reason why most patents are initially and rejected.  That is why we only employ former Patent Examiners to do all our patent research work at the USPTO's advanced EAST system  

   A well trained Patent Examiner will be deciding the fate of your patent rights based on any patents they find close enough to use against you; so, if you had a choice, would you not rather have your patent search done by a Patent Examiner using their systems/methods?

If the law firm you are considering does indeed have all their patent searches done on the USPTO's EAST system, then you have to ask yourself who is actually doing your patent search?  Of course, the answer to that question is just as important as what systems and databases they use.  Most reputable patent search companies employ experienced search technicians that are good at finding relevant prior art.  However, how good?  Well, usually, they are good enough to turn up enough patents so that you think they did a reasonable search, and it is most often a favorable report, only later to find out that their patent application was rejected by much better patents that the Patent Examiner found.  Patent Examiners are trained like bloodhounds to find the best prior art (patents) so that they can reject your patent.  So, a regular patent search technician, no matter how good, just will not cut it, even if they are on a great search engine like the USPTO's EAST system. it had a favorable patentability legal opinion.   If they demand a favorable patent search before going ahead, shouldn't you?

This is a big reason why almost 85% of all patent applications are initially rejected.  A well trained Patent Examiner will be deciding the fate of your patent rights based on any patents they find close enough to use against you; so, if you had a choice, would you not rather have your patent search done by a Patent Examiner using their systems/methods?  So, we realized this problem many years ago, and decided to take another approach; that is, we only employ former Patent Examiners who do all our patent research work at the USPTO's advanced EAST search system.  Patent Examiners cost great deal more and are very hard to come by, which likely explains why we have yet to find a competitor able to match us in this regard.  Our top patent researchers knock out at least 40% of all submissions we get.  That saves our clients a lot of money they would have spent unwisely otherwise.  Our competitors tend to knock out only 10-20% at best, usually only 5%, which means the USPTO Examiners will often knock out their client's patents after the patent filing, at great expense.

The answer is obvious, and Bay Area IP provides you this highly sought after combination of employing Patent Examiner on the advanced EAST system that will give you a solid basis for your first big decision and the absolute best chance of winning a patent if our legal analysis finds a patent filing is advisable.

    our top patent researchers knock out at least 40-50% of all submissions we get.  That saves our clients a lot of money they would have lost otherwise.  Our competitors tend to knock out only 10-20% at best, usually only 5%.  

  Less than 1 percent of all lawyers are registered to practice before the United States Patent Office.

Now that you know about our strong patent research practice, you should learn about our equally strong patent practice, and above all, our extensive patent prosecution experience.   There are 4 generally accepted metrics that clients should use to determine the reputation of your attorney and his/her patent firm.  Click Here to see the List .  Bay Area IP measures up very well in this respect. Bay Area IP has been serving high-tech companies for almost 20 years, and successfully filed many 100 s of patents .And, our legal professionals have many more years of experience than that.  As mentioned above, I think an equally important metric is what actual clients say.  We openly post many representative new testimonials from our corporate and individual clients throughout the USA and worldwide- click here for real new testimonials .   I think many new testimonials are much more valuable than single references because at most a firm would give you 1-3 references, however, we can provide you dozens of client new testimonials, each of which would provide a very favorable reference.   We appreciate the opportunity to put our extensive experience and service to work for you.