How a Traffic Ticket Changed the Way I Think About Patent Costs

How Small Decisions Affect Long-Term Value

Sometime ago, I got a traffic ticket. £160 — not a small amount. Suddenly I had two choices:

1. Appeal the ticket — The internet is full of stories about people successfully appealing, and I had every right to do so. If I won, I would pay nothing.
2. Pay promptly — If I paid within the deadline, the fine would be cut in half, down to £80. The downside? I might be giving up a valid defense just to get it over with.

Both sides had incentives. Appealing meant investing time, effort, and uncertainty. Paying meant losing money upfront but saving hassle.

What I really wanted at that moment was someone to tell me, based on my specific situation: “Here’s your actual chance of winning. Here’s the risk. Here’s whether it’s worth appealing or not.”

Not someone who would handle the appeal for me — because that person might not be truly objective. If their business depends on doing appeals, of course they’d encourage me to appeal.

Inventors face the same dilemma with patents.

Patent Application Process = A Series of Decision Points that come with Costs and Opportunities

• What does a patent mean?
• Do you move forward from a provisional application?
• Do you file an international patent application? Stick with the U.S.? Or file multiple applications under the Paris Convention?
• After receiving an office action, do you continue prosecution by aruging with the same Examiner or Appealing over their head? Or is it better to cut loss and focus your resources in other more profitable projects?
• How much budget do you allocate versus your go-to-market strategy?

From my experience, Inventors are always brilliant in their field. However, very often they are not specialists in the patent filing process. And under time pressure, they often get cornered into decisions without full clarity.

What If There Were a Guide?

Imagine a service that doesn’t prosecute patents for you, but simply evaluates your current situation and business goals, and then provide an objective comment: “This step is worth taking. That one probably isn’t.”

A guide that’s not incentivized to push you into more filings, but instead tells you honestly whether the next move is worth the cost — in money, time, and portfolio impact. Someone who gives advice based solely on your best interests, not on whether there will be a next project. Because our incentive is your continued success, not with more billable work.

That traffic ticket taught me something: sometimes what we really need is not someone to do the work, but someone to help us see clearly whether the work should be done at all.

And when it comes to patents, the stakes are much higher than a £80 fine.

Do you Need to Understand How – and IF – to Proceed?

If this dilemma feels familiar, you’re not alone. Inventors and startups face dozens of “traffic-ticket moments” in the patent filing process — decisions that cost time and money, with no clear answer.

That’s why Timothy and I worked together to build Synchrony IP. Our goal is simple: to give you clear, unbiased guidance at each decision point that fits your business goal, so you don’t have to navigate the process blind.

Check out our website here to learn more about how we help inventors and companies make smarter patent decisions.

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