It's amazing how much information is available on the process of patenting. Use any internet search engine available and you will get millions of hits for the word patent. The content of those hits is very diverse and sometimes misleading. Depending upon what you are looking for and the information given to you, it's easy to wrongly bias your opinion of what it all means. Let me sight a specific instance I just read today.
While searching for articles pertaining to why you should file a patent on your own, I stumbled across an article written almost two years ago. The summary of the article stated the author tried to file a patent without an attorney and it was a huge mistake. It also stated they were not an attorney and wished they had gone about it differently. This caught my attention, so I choose to read on.
As the article unfolded, it became clear to me why the author of the article felt the way they did. They did not prepare for the task of filing a patent. They were working with a friend who was an attorney and it was apparent that the attorney was too busy. Not only did this attorney blow off his client, they clearly did not want to work on the project of patent application writing.
In the end, the author / inventor, struggled through writing a real patent application (RPA) and sent it to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by themselves. A few months later, they were disappointed with a first office action that required a response. Then, they chose to sit on the office action until the last minute, didn't file a response in the required time allotted, and ended up having to pay fees for filing the response late. So in their opinion, they did not believe it was smart to patent without legal help. I was upset by what the author had surmised.
It was clear to me why the inventor had such a hard time. They were not properly informed about the patent process. Not only were they ignorant of the process, they relied on a friend, who was an attorney for help. It gets better; the attorney was working for free! It's no wonder why the application process went so amiss. There wasn't anyone stepping up to take charge to get the job done! Everyone was just waiting for something to happen. Have you heard this saying? There are three types of people in the world; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened?
When submitting a patent application to the USPTO, it's important that you take on the roll of someone who makes things happen. Ideas of invention don't come to most of us very often. These ideas need to be treated with respect and not wasted. Who better to submit an invention to the patent office than the inventor themselves.
In conclusion, make sure you are properly informed when you start a patent application. It is possible to patent without an attorney, as long as you know what logical steps need to be taken. Filing a patent application is easiest when you are the one who makes it happen. Get the information and get it done.