Rushing to File
If the inventive matter is not fully understood, it is almost always a serious mistake to hurry. Rushing to file can be costly and time-consuming. Unfortunately, it happens all the time. There are countless stories of entrepreneurs and inventors who have spent thousands of dollars on the rush filing of worthless patents. Frankly, they represent most of those who fall into the 97% failure category. Rush filing usually has three outcomes:
- The patent issues and after the invention is fully developed, it's design has changed and is not covered by the issued patent. Believe it or not, this occurs in 50% or more of all "rush filings". Experienced inventors know that invention development goes through a metamorphosis.
- The new inventive matter is not covered in the original application. The inventor must spend another $6,000-$10,000 to file and prosecute a new application.
- The inventor is too embarrassed to say he/she made a mistake. Instead, the inventor tries to partner (or license) the invention falling under the issued patent, but no one wants it because the scope is too narrow and easy to design around.
In other words...welcome to the 97% failure rate category! We hope this isn't you.