Many patent attorneys will rush you to get a patent before creating a prototype. While patenting your invention is one of the most important aspects of the invention process, you need to slow things down a bit.

If you jump right into a patent, you may soon realize that your patent design or specifications don’t work in real life (after prototyping) and you’ll have to file a new patent or change an existing patent. for thousands of dollars more. You have to ask yourself: Are any of these patent attorneys really looking out for your best interests?

My advice is to find a reputable product design company to help you develop a prototype and then patent something that actually works. This is why prototypes are also called proofs of concepts. They show that the concept really works in real life.

Half the clients of the product design and development company I work for have come to us with an invention they’ve already patented only to find out in the design phases that either 1) it just won’t work or 2) the design isn’t. cost effective for mass production. In any case, we need to design and develop a more innovative way of doing the same thing and once we do that, guess what? Our clients have to pay to review or file a completely new patent.

Is it important to patent? Absolutely. Just make sure you do it AFTER you’ve come up with a concept.