Seemingly almost every industry is disrupted these days by the Internet and other technological changes. Over-the-top distribution of streaming media allows the consumer to bypass legacy cable or satellite gatekeepers. Voice over IP services allow telephone customers to bypass legacy landline telephone companies, saving lots of money.
Yet every time we get paid by foreign patent or trademark counsel, we get charged by our own bank to receive the bank wire, even if the sender pays all of the bank fees at their end that they are able to pay at their end. I recently asked for a detail billing from our bank and found that our bank was also charging us an additional fee for many of our incoming bank wires to “repair” some of the wires because of real or imagined flaws in the bank wire instructions received from the foreign banks.
Frustrations like these had often reminded me that I keep hearing about various ways other than bank wires that people can send money to each other. Venmo. Zelle. Paypal. Wechat. But most of these systems are no good for international transfers, and most of these systems are unavailable to businesses.
Are there smart ways to save money paying foreign patent and trademark counsel? Is it possible to bypass banks, avoiding the bank wire transfer fees that normally get charged to both the senders and the recipients of wire transfers? Continue reading
Some years passed during which I considered it and considered it. Finally a couple of months ago I closed my Facebook account.
