Patent Faxing Services Product Evaluation

When you need a copy of a patent in a hurry, and it's not available in house, one of the fastest methods available is a patent faxing service. By no means the least expensive means of obtaining a patent, a faxing service should be used only when a copy of the patent is needed quickly, within an hour or two. If absolute spped isn't crucial, most of the companies listed below offer mail service, either express or regular, at much cheaper prices and usually better quality. Another option that is becoming increasingly popular is to retrieve patent documents from the internet. The internet offers similar speed to faxing and is generally less expensive.

Within the last few years several companies have begun offering copies of United States and International patents by fax. Most of these companies offer similar services, with similar quality, for a variety of costs. To order a copy of a patent you either phone, fax, or e-mail a requested patent number or application numberto these companies, and usually within the hour a copy of the document is faxed back to you.

Most companies listed below use the same or similar databases for producing the faxed copy. Therefore, the quality of the documents you receive is essentially the same, regardless of the company. Requests for U.S. patent numbers of 3,900,000 and higher were generally produced from electronic databases, while lowered numbered patents usually had to be photocopied from the original, or produced from microfiche. Almost all of the companies indexed below have an office or representitive located near the Patent and Trademark Office in Virginia and, therefore, use the same machines to produce the documents. Every company listed offered access to the entire us collection of patents and most offered similar coverage of foreign patents. Again, because most of these companies have representitives in the Virginia area, most have access to the foreign patents available at the PTO.

Each of the following companies were surveyed for price, services offered,speed, and quality. The speed and quality tests produced very similar results. However, each company or service provided a free faxed patent sample, and was aware of the purpose of the request.

Albright & Associates 2306 South Easds Street, Arlington, VA 22202 Tel: 1-800-927-4909 FAX: 1-800-729-8543

Faxpat 2001 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202 Tel: 1-800-666-1323, FAX: 1-800-666-1233

Intelepat 6352 Far Hills Avenue, Dayton OH, 45459 Tel: 1-800-889-6199, FAX: 1-800-889-6197

MicroPatent 250 Dodge Avenue, East Heaven, CT, Tel: 1-800-648-6787, FAX: 1-203-446-5180, Internet: info@micropat.com

Optipat 2001 Jefferson Davis Highway Arlington, VA 22202 Tel: 1-800-445-9760 FAX: 1-800-445-9761, Internet: optipat@delphi.com

Patent Imaging Corporation 2001 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202 Tel: 1-800-933-3766, FAX: 1-703-418-1520

Rapid Patent 1725 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 Tel: 1-800-336-5010, FAX: 1-800-457-0850, Internet: rpinfo@rapidpat.com

Specialized Patent Services 2201 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202 Tel: 1-703-415-1555, FAX: 1-703-415-1557, Internet: PATMARK@Inter-ramp.com

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Crystal Plaza, Washington, DC 20231 Tel: 1-703-308-3924, FAX: 1-703-308-4357

The following table ranks the Patent Faxing Services in order of cost for a typical 15 page U.S. patent. The ranking would change if more or larger patents were ordered.

COMPANY/     FOREIGN PRICING  U.S. PATENT      COST of 15pg  MINIMUM    
SERVICE                       PRICING          U.S. PATENT              

Patent       $0.75 / pg       $0.75 / pg       $11.25        None       
Imaging                                                                 
Corp.                                                                   

Optipat      $15.00 1st 8     $1.75 1st 12     $13.25        $11.75     
             pgs +            pgs +                                     
             $1.50 / each     $0.50 / each                              
             addit.           addit.                                    

Faxpat       $2.00 / pg       $1.00 / pg       $15.00        $10.00     

Intelepat    $15.00 +         $15.00 / 1st 20  $15.00        $15.00     
             $3.00 / pg       pgs +                                     
                              $15.00 / addit.                           
                              20 pgs                                    

Specialized  $15.00 +         $15.00 / 1st 20  $15.00        $15.00     
Patent       $3.00 / pg       pgs +                                     
Service                       $2.00 / addit.                            
                              pg                                        

MicroPatent  $5.00 +          $5.00 +          $15.50        $5.00      
             $0.75 / pg       $0.75 / pg                                

Albright &   $1.25 / pg       $1.25 / pg       $18.75        $10.00     
Associates                                                              

Rapid        $1.00 / pg       $1.00 / pg       $20.00*       $20.00     
Patent                                                                  

U.S. Patent  $25.00           $25.00           $25.00        $25.00     
& Trademark  /document**      /document                                 
Ofc.                                                                    
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*   Due to minimum charge
**  The PTO offers a $3.00/ patent rate, but faxes may take up to 24 hours

Content, Brian C. Dauphine; page construction, W.C.Shaw II

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