How to Ensure That Your Off-Shore Preparation of US Patent Applications Does Not Run Afoul of US Export Controls

摘要

Outsourcing the preparation of patent applications to off-shore service providers is growing in popularity among cost-conscious patent applicants and large-volume filers. Such firms offer US companies the opportunity to have their patent specifications drafted by engineers and patent agents in countries such as India and the Philippines, where wages are low but the pool of engineering talent is considerable. With email as a convenient mechanism for transferring technical disclosures, US business managers and in-house counsel pressured to reduce costs might logically turn to several off-shore vendors to draft disclosures of US made inventions for initial filing in the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).