Have you ever reached a point where you chose not to file a patent — either because of the cost, the long timelines, unclear patentability, or just because it didn’t feel justified at that stage?
I’m curious how people have approached this tradeoff in practice and what factors mattered most.
Registered as a micro entity, filed patent myself, as the least expensive patent attorney I could find was like $5K down just to "start" to be involved. Ultimately, the patent application was denied. The legal costs could not justify the means. An assessment of the practical marketability of the product must be made first objectively, preferably by others, rather than the creator who is likely too subjective.
Can I ask: in situations like yours, would a lower-cost way to establish defensible prior art (basically a time-stamped public disclosure that blocks others from patenting the same idea) have been useful, or would it still not have justified the effort?