Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi, this is my first time on SuN. I have an idea that I have met with my local SCORE (Service Core of Retired Executives) group on, and have spoken with a local Patent Lawyer. All have assured me that the idea is great. I've searched the patent database and have not found it there. The patent lawyer would like $7,000 to file the application. He advised that I could sell shares of the biz for $5,000 or $6,000 per each percentage to get the start-up costs. The question is, would a patent lawyer file the patent for a stake in the business? or would that be a breech of ethics?

This is an interesting question.

IANAL (I am not a lawyer).  I do know that patent attorneys can certainly file patent applications that they invent themselves (i.e. 100% ownership), and also that corporate attorneys are often given stock in their companies as part of the compensation arrangement. A patent lawyer does have a duty of candor to the patent office, however, and in this regard, disclosing the ownership position when it isn't otherwise obvious (i.e. the attorney is also listed as an inventor or listed as working for the corporation) may help prevent problems down the road.

I have no idea about the complexity of your idea, but it is quite possible that you could get substantially lower bids elsewhere.  Perhaps you could find a lower bid, and put off the hassles of selling shares for a while.

There may be securities regulations issues with selling a share of a business.  It's probably simpler and more realistic to hire and pay the patent lawyer.  What did YOUR patent attorney contact [who gave you the $7,000 figure] say to that offer?