LAW; Patents and Copyrights: Do It Yourself and Save
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An economic crunch apparently makes people more defensive about protecting their property, including words, names and inventions. Patents, copyrights and trademarks, known collectively as intellectual property, have become a growing business for lawyers. The work comes from corporations, kitchen-table inventors and entrepreneurs naming new businesses, and on the copyright side, from artists, developers of software programs and people who write just about anything. All aim to file applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the Copyright Office. But much of the work can be accomplished without a lawyer, said David Pressman, a San Francisco lawyer and author of “Patent It Yourself” (Nolo Press, 1992). The patent and copyright offices assist applicants, and self-help books can guide the motivated. At the least, consumers who do their homework can monitor their lawyers — “no trivial consideration,” in Mr. Pressman’s view. With plenty of business, the lawyers themselves sometimes urge clients to do much of the work — which would cost at least $150 an hour. “There’s a lot you can do to help your attorney,” said Eric Marzluf, a partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Caesar, Rivise, Bernstein, Cohen & Pokotilow. Patents, which cover new products, manufacturing processes and designs, are the trickiest and costliest of intellectual property rights. The patent office advises applicants to retain a lawyer. So does the Intellectual Property Owners Association, a lobbying organization in Washington. “The lawyer has tried to foresee knockoffs,” said the group’s executive director, Herbert C. Wamsley. “Also, patent and trademark office procedures are complicated.” More : query.nytimes.com |