Any startup service that streamlines the patent process?

Question

My question is not technical and possibly some people here will think it's not an appropriate question. But I thought that this community is possibly the only place where it has a chance of being answered.

I remember seeing on TechCrunch (or alike) some years ago about a startup that had a service where you could organize and upload your sketches and notes to document and protect your ideas while you were still developing it.

I don't remember the service in detail, but I think the idea was that you could use those drawings and notes in case of a dispute; and also, they could use your sketches and notes to fill up a patent or other IPs when it was time.

I tried to search online for a similar service, but didn't find any - only regular consulting websites, but not a tool like the one I was searching.

Anyone remember about that startup? Are they still in business? Or do you know about any similar service?

Answer 1

The service you describe, if it existed, would not afford any protection prior to actually filing for a patent. Something like that might be a virtual "inventors notebook" for keep records of your inventive progress but the value of keeping records of your progress in inventing now have very very little value. Before the AIA patent law change, it was possible for someone who filed for an invention after another person did so to try to proof they actually invented first. Now we are a first-to-file system, like the rest of the world.

Getting information about your invention that are then used as a starting point in drafting a proper application is what patent attorneys and patent agent are licensed to do.

LegalZoom has a service that fills out a U.S. provisional application for you. It involves uploading drawings and answering questions. Some people get the impression that they add to your content in some way but they do not. Your input, verbatim, is turned into an application.