Many inventors operate under the misunderstanding that getting a patent is like owning Boardwalk and Park Place in the popular board game “Monopoly.” Increasingly, many journalists and patent haters are operating under the same fallacious assumption.

The carelessness with which the patent right is characterized by so many with only the vaguest of knowledge of the patent system leads to truly unfortunate consequences. Inventors believe that if they obtain a patent the world will back up a money truck to their front door.

Whenever you seek a patent you absolutely must have a game plan. How are you going to utilize the patent? Why are you obtaining the patent? Money is not just going to show up at your doorstep because you obtained a patent. Many will use a patent to entice investors, some will obtain patents for the purpose of licensing to derive royalty revenue and others will use patents to sue infringers.

But if you don’t have the money to hire attorneys to sue infringers how will you move forward? Is your patent strong enough to entice the few attorneys who offer contingency representation? Those that do litigate patent matters on contingency will require massive infringement and huge money on the line.

Of course, there is no right answer so long as you thoughtfully consider your options. It would be a waste of money to simply obtain a patent and hope for a path to money.

For more on this please see Why do you want a patent?