Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Over the last 6 years my family has helped a close friend.

We rent property to this person and have advanced them $2000 to help get a provisional patent for an invention.

Currently they are 8 months behind in rent, but they have gotten the full patent filed

There is interest in this invention and it could make 6 figures a year for this inventor.

They have mentioned offering a share or percent on top of the moneys due.

What is a reasonable amount to expect for our investment and help?


Asked on 6/11/11, 1:19 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bruce Burdick Burdick Law Firm

A reasonable amount is the amount you agreed upon when you loaned them the $2000. You did do a written loan agreement, right? If not, a reasonable amount would be $2000 plus interest. Any amount mutually agreeable to you and the owner of the patent application is reasonable.

Since you say they mentioned sharing the proceeds on top of the money due, it sounds like you want more than just principal and interest. If, as I suspect, you want to know what is customary and fair, I would suggest dividing $2,000 by the $ total expenditure on the invention (including $ value of expertise, time and labor of the inventor) and multiply by 100% to get a fair percentage share. For example if they spent $9,000 (a typical figure) on the full application and another $9,000 in time and labor for a total of $18,000, then $2,000/($18000+$2,000)x100%=10% for a fair share of ten percent.

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Answered on 6/12/11, 11:56 am


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