A seminar explaining best patent practices/things to know for SME might be a good starting point. Things I learned the hard way. For example, what countries to apply for patents in and why and which ones to avoid applying for patents in and why. It’s not just the patent application fees you need to budget for, there are also periodic patent maintenance fees you’ll need to pay. How much actual protection will your patent provide from big corporations with lots of resources. When will patent attornies who work on contingency be willing/not willing to defend your patent? How much it will cost you to defend your patent if you believe it’s been infringed and why a patent which isn’t defended is worthless. What makes an idea patentable? When in the product development process should you invest in patents.
How would I arrange a seminar like that?
I think the number 1 thing for smes is, if you develop a new product or idea, do not publish it until you’ve consulted a patent expert. If you publish it, it’s automatically unpatentable.
Not in the U.S. You have one year from publication to file. In the E.U. and most elsewhere it’s unpatentable upon publication. The problem in the U.S. is it’s first to file so someone else can patent your idea after you publish it.
It’s first to file everywhere. The us used to be first to invent, which ended up being unworkable.
No patent law firm I worked with warned me of the pitfalls of the patent process, of which there are many. They just wanted to file and earn those fees. If you market your new company as a patent firm which will, unlike other patent firms, look out for your clients’ interests first including advising them when not to file you’ll have a unique hook - assuming you actually do put your clients’ interest first.
Setting up a seminar would involve announcing a Taipei event on social media with a teaser list of all the pitfalls and insights into the patent process that other firms never bother to inform their clients of because it’s not in their interests.
Yeah, I’m a consultant, not an agent, so I’m going to be honest with people about it.
So I would charge for a full consultation and opinion about whether I think it’s worth pursuing a patent, the costs involved and so on.
A seminar would be a way to connect with potential clients. Show your audience how much there is to know about the complexities of the patent process and how unique your firm is in that it will place clients’ interest above just garnering fees.
Do you have somebody who speaks fluent Chinese who could help you with local clients when their English is shit. Also some (many) Taiwanese just prefer to deal with other Taiwanese. I’m saying this as just relying on foreigners as your customers may not be enough, bast majority of inventors here will be Taiwanese nationals.
You could also bring your seminar roadshow to Shenzhen and Vietnam.
I speak Chinese fluently. That’s one of my major selling points. I can translate your Taiwanese application from Chinese to English and make sure it’s all professionally written before you file abroad, or just write it from scratch. I can communicate in Chinese as well.
To give you an idea, my Taiwanese gf and I do not use English to communicate, only Chinese.
Ok that’s great then. You are all set.
Sounds like great work! Keep up posted on how it goes!
Well I’ve checked the numbers and there is a large market for international patent filings in English in Taiwan.
Taiwanese companies file 20k us patents every year and 14k pct applications.
There are also 1.6 million smes in Taiwan.
That means that there is likely strong market for the services I’m offering.
Expert foreign patent expertise at an affordable rate.
That brings up the question of is there already a bunch of service providers? - do you know who the competition is, what services they offer, and what their rates are?
Do you plan to use online AI tools to assist with the translation? That could raise confidentiality issues, especially with sensitive information like not-yet-filed patents.
Good luck with your business!
No, for that reason and I find it easier to just read the spec and write the translation myself.
No, I’m the only one offering this service. Others are registered agents who charge around 3x what I charge.
Basically, if you go local they’ll just offer a very basic filing service via a foreign agent.
They won’t help you to draft it or advise on the best strategy.
If you go to a US agent directly the cost is enormous.
Because English is my first language and I’m an expert on patents, I can offer local advise, draft the spec professionally and take it through to grant for roughly a 3rd of what you’d pay someone else.
Those are very absolute statements… which make them less likely to be 100% accurate. Are those assumptions or facts based on…? How have you conducted your market research? I occasionally work with our ventures department, and one of the persistent issues with startups is they don’t actually have a great idea of what else is out there. Really puts a damper on their pitch when they make claims that a customer / investor know to be incorrect. And if you’re the only one doing this, ask why before proceeding - is this an untapped market, or does the market not exist? Also does your experience translate to the US market, where your quoting numbers for? And if it does, can you convince customers, given that’s not where your experience is from?
Have these answers ready when you kick off, and good luck.
shark tank 
According to the searching I’ve done there are patent agencies in Taiwan that offer help with overseas filing, but they charge a premium rate for it.
They are also taiwanese firms who can’t offer native English language services for drafting, filing and responding.
Further my business partner and friend in the uk started an identical service and has been very successful with it.
He’s helped clients file in over 100 different countries, but his main focus is on uk patents.
Yes, I’m very familiar with us patent law as we also got trained on it while I was working so we could compare the us prosecution with the uk one.