Patents (Score 1)

I am a patent attorney, though my technical expertise is in the life sciences area. I would not be concerned about a patent attorney or agent stealing your invention since they could lose their license for it. Just keep a copy of all correspondence you have with the attorney and make sure they cc you on all correspondence they receive and get from the patent office. You can find an official roster of patet attorneys or agents at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/ros ter/index.html. You can also search the patent database to see patents prosecuted by a specific attorney at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html, however be aware that some firms require that the firm as opposed to the individual attorney be designed as the attorney on the issued patent itself. My general view on attorney-client relationships is that they are like any other relationship, you either have the chemistry or you don't. I would recommend that you go talk to a few patent attorneys or agents and trust your instincts. At worst, you can always switch attorneys midstream.

I am starting a site http://www.sciencelawyer.com (not yet up) and would like to put information on it that would be useful to scientists and engineers. I was thinking of havng a few short articles discussing what a patent is, the patent process, what inventors should and should not do prior to filing an application etc. I would greatly appreciate any further ideas or insights into what scientists/engineers would find useful. Thanks.

Inna