What a Traffic Ticket Taught Me About the Real Cost of a Patent
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How Small Decisions Affect Long-Term Value
Some time ago, I got a traffic ticket. £160 — not a small amount. Suddenly I had two choices:
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.
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 likely chance of winning. Here’s the risk. Here’s whether it’s worth appealing.”
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.
The Patent Filing Process: A Series of Costly Decision Points
- What does a patent mean?
- Do you move forward from a provisional application?
- Do you file an international patent (PCT), stick with the UK or US, or file multiple applications in different countries under the Paris Convention?
- After receiving an office action, do you continue prosecution — and add to your patent application cost — or walk away?
From my experience, inventors are always brilliant in their field. However, they are often not specialists in the patent filing process. Under time pressure, they can get cornered into decisions without full clarity.
What If There Were a Guide?
Before every inventor moves ahead, there’s always one silent question:
“Is this step worth the patent cost?”
Imagine a service that doesn’t prosecute patents for you, but simply evaluates your current situation and business goals — and provides an objective view:
“This step is worth taking. That one probably isn’t.”
A guide that’s not incentivised 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.
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.
Want to Go Deeper?
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.
This is why I founded YHC Intellectual.
After years of seeing inventors struggle to make patent decisions under pressure, I wanted to create a platform that focuses on clarity before commitment — a place where business goals, legal insight, and human judgement meet.
Through YHC Intellectual, I help innovators make informed patent choices that align with both their strategy and their sanity.
Today, I also collaborate with Definitiv Patents at Synchrony IP, where a group of like-minded patent professionals share the same goal: building tools and methods that make patent strategy more transparent, data-informed, and human-centred.
👉 Book a 30-Minute Patent Strategy Consultation
Quickly see whether your patent application process is worth your time and money — before you commit resources.