I started Patent Search International because I saw that inventors had two needs that weren’t being provided: first, they needed to save money; and second, they had a right to a reliable assessment of their invention without being ripped-off.
“Every inventor really has to have a patent search done, otherwise you risk losing a lot of money. But a lot of inventors don’t know that they don’t have to pay as much to get the job done right. That’s the whole aim of Patent Search International.
“One of the reasons for doing a search is that it’s going to cost the inventor money to file the patent application itself. Now, you can’t get that application fee back after it’s paid, even if it turns out that your idea can’t be patented. One of the big ways we save money for the inventor is by saving that application expense if it’s unnecessary. When we do our research, we know right away whether or not the inventor should go ahead and apply for the patent.
“Another big money-saver in using Patent Search International is that the inventor avoids the middleman. I know of attorneys who charge a minimum of a thousand dollars just for a simple search— and the bad part about it is, they don’t do the search. Some guy in Cleveland or Los Angeles is not going to come all the way back to Washington just to do a search for a thousand bucks. What they do is they get their check and they turn around and write me a check; I do the search and mail it back to them— the guy’s made $800 to mail me a letter. Well, that’s $800 the inventor never needed to spend.
“I’ve also worked with the states attorneys offices to put crooked ‘invention developers’ out of business. The inventor has a right to an honest, affordable search without getting taken for thousands of dollars for phony ‘product development.’
“We have a good turn-around time, roughly seven to ten days. That compares with some companies who take months to do a simple search.
“We really fill a void. The inventor wants a patent search done with fairness and common sense. You’d hope those wouldn’t be so hard to come by, but that’s why we’re here.”