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Sunday, May 18th
Patent Express is a site entirely devoted to patents and patent applications. It's owned by the parent company Trademarkia, and it offers both assistance and the forms for filling out your patent application. All you have to do is describe your idea or invention, upload any necessary files (like illustrations or layouts), and then the Patent Express on-staff attorneys will create and submit your patent application to the USPTO. You can get both a provisional patent and a non-provisional design or utility patent with Patent Express.
Costs significantly more than competitors
If you're looking for the lowest costs, you may be disappointed by Patent Express. It's 100% hands-off for you, but it comes at a price. The lowest-priced option is a design patent, which is $899 before government filing fees. This comes with up to 7 patent drawings, a consultation with a lawyer, and a fully prepared patent application submitted for you. The utility patent application comes in two steps. Step one is $1,500 and includes your consultation and preliminary professional drawings. The second step is $7,000 and includes a follow-up consultation, 6 claims, and a professionally-prepared application. Finally, you can get a provisional patent application which gives you the patent pending status for 12 months and includes patent writing, patent drawing, and an optional video call with an attorney. This package costs $3,500.
Optional faster service or international patents
If you want to get your patent completed faster, you can pay an upcharge. However, the costs are extremely steep. For an accelerated patent application, the price goes up to $13,500 for a utility patent. Patent Express also offers an international patent application if you're looking to protect your invention around the world. This includes 146 countries and costs $6,500.
Uncertain refund policy
According to our research, Patent Express does not generally offer refunds for patent application services. There are no refund statements on the Patent Express website. When we researched the parent company, Trademarkia, we found that refunds depend on the amount of progress that's been completed for your application. However, it is unclear if this policy also applies to Patent Express or if this is only for Trademarkia applications (for trademarks and copyrights).
Concerns about costly revisions
The feedback for Patent Express is found under its parent company, Trademarkia. According to the Better Business Bureau, Trademarkia has a stellar "A+” rating and accreditation. However, the reviews on third-party sites like Trustpilot are more balanced. Currently, Trademarkia has a 3.9-star average from reviewers on Trustpilot. Recent reviews suggest that the attorneys at Patent Express (via Trademarkia) offered top-quality advice and provided complete patent applications with no stress. However, others noted that there are additional charges for revisions, so if the patent isn't accepted the first time, you may be paying much more than the stated price to fix your application and resubmit. Several reviewers complained that the final costs were 3-5 times higher than the listed price.
A little too costly for what you get
While a hands-off patent application sounds great in theory, other sites provide similar services for a more cost-effective price. With already high fees for preparing your documents, Patent Express falls behind the pack a bit, with reviews noting additional costs if your patent application isn't accepted the first time. With no concrete refund policy, this can be a pretty hefty commitment for your wallet. Given the more balanced pricing at other patent application services, Patent Express earns one of our lower reviews.
Have you created something new and exciting? A novel invention or a new process for a company? The next step after creating your groundbreaking invention is to protect it from being stolen by someone else.
The best way to do that? Get a patent for it. In the United States, completing a patent application successfully means that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) legally stops anyone who isn't the inventor (you) from making, using, or selling the product unless you have authorized it.
Typically, a patent will last for 20 years after you've filed your application. There are three different patents depending on what kind of invention you're trying to protect. Utility patents cover inventions related to machines, manufactured objects, physical items, and/or improvements to these things. Design patents are for the ornamental or physical design of an item, and plant patents are for any distinct or new variety of growing plant including mutants, hybrids, or seedlings.
There are two ways to get a patent too: provisional and non-provisional. A provisional patent application lets you get the ball rolling to protect your invention in the short term. It's less formal, but it does expire after one year, and you must complete a non-provisional patent application in the interim. The non-provisional form will require more substantial details from you and an examination from a patent examiner at the USPTO. However, your patent does remain protected during the review period.
So, once you've got something to patent, how do you complete the process? For most people, patent applications can require a lot of research, details about your invention, filing procedures, and waiting. The process of submitting your patent application can be very tedious, especially the research portion. To successfully secure a patent, your invention will need to be novel (it needs to be something new or not too close to another invention that's already got a patent). But researching every other patent out there can take time (and money).
This is where patent application services come in. In most places, your paperwork will be completed by experts, so you don't have to worry about boring research and details. While a few services offer a low-cost DIY approach, the best patent application providers will give you the documents, complete the patent research for you, and provide guidance on best practices for filling out your patent application the right way the first time. Choosing a patent application service takes the guesswork out of the process and offers secure document sharing, helpful updates, and sometimes guarantees of application success.
If you're ready to get your new invention protected, there are plenty of patent application services to assist you in safeguarding your ideas. To that end, we've put together a few factors to help you choose the best service:
To help you become the next Thomas Edison, Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked today's most popular patent application services online today. This way, you can focus on adding new inventions to your list instead of worrying about protecting your intellectual property!
Select any 2 Patent Application Services to compare them head to head