Question of the Day: Self-Patenting

The debate over whether patents are a worthy safeguard or a money sink is long-standing on this site. But given that so many startups are cash poor (as we’ve been discussing over the last few days “here”:http://www.foundread.com/view/zero-cash-plan and “here”:http://www.foundread.com/view/a-zero-cash-case) we want to know, *when a cash-strapped founder decides patent protections are necessary, is it a good idea to try and do the application process yourself?* Do you really need a high-priced lawyer? Or are there other low-cost ways of getting, at least, your “patent pending” docs filed with the U.S. Patent & Trade Office so you have the initial protections you need? Or are self-filed patent docs simply not good enough? Do you really need the “endorsement” of a lawyer, and a marquis lawyer at that?

*If you’ve done this, and have suggestions, please share.*

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