Our Work

What is the best way to select a patent or trademark attorney that is right for you? Well, there is no “best way,” but evaluating the past work of a patent or trademark lawyers is a good starting point. Fortunately, intellectual property law is a field in which you can perform a lot of research on the USPTO website and review the work of a potential attorney. Additionally, does the prospective lawyer have examples of their work on their website? If not, why not? We are proud of our work and want you to evaluate it.

Click HERE to view some of the functional inventions we have helped inventors protect and please evaluate the claims and detailed description of these US utility patents that we drafted and prosecuted from start to finish. Is the patent thorough, is it creative? Most patent attorneys can accurately describe the basic components of an invention, but very few can creatively describe an invention and develop unique relationships among the components, which can dramatically increase the likelihood of having a patent granted. This is particularly important in very crowded fields (which most are). Another important consideration when selecting a patent attorney is asking “who will actually do the work?” At most larger patent law firms the senior attorney that you are meeting with may not be the one that is actually writing the patent application. Then years later when an office action issues, who will be the attorney preparing and filing the response? Unfortunately it is often not the attorney that prepared the application, which begs the question “who is paying for this new attorney to read and understand the original application that was prepared by a different attorney, and what are the odds that they pick up on all the subtle nuances in the disclosure that may make or break a patent application?” Well, the client is paying for it of course. Do you want to pay for another junior attorney to learn your technology? This does not happen at Dawsey IP.

Click HERE to view some of the ornamental product designs we have helped inventors protect and please evaluate the drawings and claim of these US design patents that we drafted and prosecuted from start to finish. It is important to understand the breadth of a US design patent by evaluating what is claimed, via solid lines, versus what is unclaimed, via broken lines. You obviously want protection that is as broad as possible and is directed to the unique design aspects that you want to protect. Review our sample US design patents, think about what is being claimed and what is being unclaimed. Does it seem that we have put our experience to work in carefully crafting these patents? I hope so. After all, you do not want a patent lawyer that simply has drawings prepared and files a design patent application because the scope of protection is likely to be much narrower than it could be, which means it will be easier for your competitors to design around your US design patent. We take pride in developing patent strategies, and explaining alternatives, to clients allowing them to make educated IP decisions that work within their budget and achieve their goals.

Click HERE to view some of the brands we have helped companies protect via trademark registration. Like patents, your goal should be to obtain trademark protection that is as broad as possible. Doing so requires hiring a US trademark registration attorney that has trademark strategy at the top of mind. Have they explained the pros and cons of design marks versus word marks, the significance of claiming color or not, and the importance of the description, of ID, of the goods and services? If not, we will. You don’t want a trademark lawyer that just takes what you supply and files an application; you want a trademark attorney that applies trademark prosecution strategies to achieve the best return on investment. I encourage you to evaluate our work with this in mind.

The proof is in the pudding. Have the other attorneys you are considering hiring made it easy for you to evaluate their work? If not, why? A common mistake I see people make when selecting an attorney is automatically going with as large of a firm as they can afford, for “peace of mind.” The reality is that most intellectual property attorneys at large law firms, that happen to be patent attorneys, do not specialize in the prosecution of patent applications. Ask the tough questions, it is your responsibility. Ask pointed questions about who will actually be drafting the patent application. Ask pointed questions such as “how many utility patent applications have your personally drafted, do you personally handle all of the responses to office actions, and most importantly – how many issued patents have you been the only attorney to draft and prosecute the patent application from start to finish?” These are critical questions that you must ask, especially considering the financial investment that you are making!