Inventor Resources

The LegalCORPS Inventor Assistance Program (IAP) provides inventors access to the legal advice necessary to bring inventions to market and protect their intellectual property with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). We assist with U.S. patents only.

While we recognize that securing patent protection poses a significant hurdle for independent inventors as they try to turn an idea into a commercially viable product, we have a limited number of patent attorneys who volunteer to file patent applications. Therefore, LegalCORPS offers free monthly legal clinics staffed by patent attorneys.

Please visit our calendar of events to view Intellectual Property Brief Advice Clinics (IP BAC).

To make the most of your time with the Brief Advice Clinic, we recommend these resources as great opportunities to learn about Intellectual Property protection and how to best protect your idea so you can be as prepared as possible for your appointment.

Pre-application Recommendations

An orientation video recommended for applicants is posted on our YouTube channel, Inventing to Succeed in the Marketplace. This gives an honest representation of mistakes and pitfalls for start up businesses, and inventors beginning the patent process.

Before starting work on the patent filing process, it is necessary to perform a preliminary patent search using the USPTO’s website. This tutorial on the USPTO website is a very useful place to start when conducting a patent search. This process may save you time and prevent you from wasting time and money on an idea that has already been patented.

Patent search help is available at the following Patent and Trademark Office Resource Centers (click here to find a list of Patent and Trademark Resource centers by state):

Minnesota: Hennepin County Library (FREE monthly patent search workshops)
Iowa: Davenport Public Library and University of Iowa Lichtenberger Engineering Library
North Dakota: University of North Dakota Chester Fritz Library
South Dakota: South Dakota Mines Devereaux Library
Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Madison Steenbock Library; or Milwaukee Public Library (free quarterly patent search workshops).

Once you have done this search, you need to write down what problem your invention solves and what is new and different about your solution to the problem.

Business development resources for inventors: