Short term vs. term

People want instant gratification and to get everything as soon as possible. To be successful in the long-term, we need to be disciplined. We have to do hard things today that will not have any results now, this week or even this year.

Short-term thinking – that many people and companies unfortunately have – does not fit in the world of Intellectual Property (IP). I have met many people who haven't spent a minute thinking about protecting their IP but when their business becomes successful or there is an infringer, they want to have secured rights in one day. In IP, however, there is no quick fix for companies' problems. Patent procedures last at least 3-4 years, but even registering a trademark can take 5-7 months (in the US, the trademark examination process is more than a year). An infringement procedure also takes years.

To be successful, one must be capable of long-term thinking. This includes investing in patents and trademarks that will not be accepted by the Intellectual Property Offices in a day, a month or a year; but will definitely make companies more valuable.

This is the same on the other side, if you are a patent attorney. Assisting a single client means working with them (and for them) for a few months before a patent application can be filed and then guiding them through a 3-4-year long procedure. This does not really fit a millennial's mindset who will not really want to stay in a job for five years.*

Do you think this will become a problem in the next generation of patent attorneys?

(* A survey by Deloitte found that 43 per cent of millennials plan to leave their current jobs within two years and only 28 per cent have plans to stay beyond five years.
See here: link)
Of course, as a millennial, I have an idea why this is, but that's a longer topic...)