Rant: Paid $600 for a patent search that missed the obvious competition

I hired a lawyer to do a patent search for my product idea back in March and they completely missed a similar patent filed in 2019. I found it myself on Google Patents in 20 minutes after I started getting rejection letters. Anyone else had their lawyer blow through your budget on something you could have done yourself?

3 comments

3 Comments

eva_moore6d ago

Ugh that SUCKS. Six hundred bucks for something you found in 20 minutes is just insulting.

stella1216d ago

Man, that stings. Next time ask for a flat fee on the search alone and keep the lawyer for the legal opinion on what you find.

grant1554d ago

My buddy Dan got hit with a $400 bill just to copy over some old deed records from the county. Took the paralegal maybe 15 minutes. @stella121 nailed it though, you gotta separate the search from the legal stuff up front or they'll nickel and dime you.