Experience Mounts with Foreign Outsourcing of Patent Applications

Some corporations, such as General Electric Co., have set up offices in India to handle some of their legal work. Many others are using Indian law firms or technical shops that specialize in patent work. Some of the most prominent outfits include Evalueserve Inc. and IP Pro Inc., which draft patent applications, and Intellevate LLC, which does prior art searches, illustrations and proofreading of issued patents.

Concerned about the quality of foreign-drawn patents and the burden of overseeing shops in other nations, many U.S. companies and law firms are wary of offshore outsourcing. Indeed, one law firm's initial experience was pretty dismal. As discussed in a January 18, 2005 article from "Law.com," the two attorneys had to completely rewrite applications they sent to a couple of Indian shops. But they eventually found the right company and trained its non-lawyer employees how to write solid applications. Now, a year later, the firm has filed more than 100 patent applications that were outsourced to India.