Georgia PATENTS & North Carolina Bar Foundation Partnership

Overview

Georgia PATENTS is proud to announce that June 2020, Georgia PATENTS and NCBF (North Carolina Bar Foundation) established a partnership to help North Carolina inventors seeking the assistance of a patent practitioner on a pro bono basis.

This partnership allows each program to focus on their strengths:

• Georgia PATENTS evaluates the inventor to make sure they qualify for pro bono assistance and ensures the inventor has an invention that is ready for a patent practitioner.
• NCBF uses its vast directory of North Carolina patent practitioners to match the appropriate patent practitioner with the prepared inventor.

Inventors: Understanding the Process

A North Carolina inventor seeking pro bono assistance to file a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office needs to follow the process below:

Phase 1: Georgia PATENTS

1. All North Carolina inventors should review the qualifications on Georgia PATENTS’ Qualification and Application page. If the inventor(s) believe(s) they qualify, please fill out an application for assistance (the links for the application are found at the bottom of the Qualification and Application page).
2. Georgia PATENTS will typically respond with 3-5 business days to ask additional questions regarding the application.
3. Once Georgia PATENTS believes it has all the necessary information to move forward, Georgia PATENTS will setup a 1-hour teleconference or phone meeting to walk through the Georgia PATENTS/NCBF Pro Bono Agreement and discuss other information relevant to placement.
4. After the meeting, inventors will be directed to pay the administrative fee prior to placement. Once the Administrative fee is paid, Georgia PATENTS will send all information about the case to NCBF for case placement. Once Georgia PATENTS has sent information to NCBF, Georgia PATENTS steps out of the process entirely.

Phase 2: North Carolina Bar Foundation

1. NCBF will review the information provided from Georgia PATENTS and begin trying to place the case with their vast network of North Carolina patent practitioners.
2. Once NCBF has found a patent practitioner to handle an inventor’s case, NCBF will reach out to the inventor to let them know next steps.

For any further questions, please send an email to patents@gapatents.org with “North Carolina” in the Subject Line.

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“NCBF” logo is a service mark of North Carolina Bar Foundation. All Rights Reserved.