It's your responsibility to determine how qualified a prospective patent attorney or other specialist in patent trademark law may be before you hire them. Don't hesitate to ask them about their education and accreditations, not to mention their experience in the type of work you need done.

Be sure to check out your patent attorney leads on the Internet, but take what they say with a grain of salt. It's easy to claim extensive knowledge and experience in patent trademark law, but you'll never know the truth until you do some detective work. Check out some references at least.

Patent trademark law in the U.S. does not discriminate as to national origin, so non-citizens may apply for patents. However, you will be required to swear an oath or declaration with each application, and you can't obtain a patent if your invention was patented abroad more than 12 months before filing in the U.S.