Patent Costs

The effort to obtain and maintain a patent can vary widely depending on the individual nature of each innovation. Generally, the costs are directly associated with the complexity of each individual patent application.

Costs and fees associated with obtaining a patent are summarized by task below.

We will work with you to determine the level of patent protection that is appropriate for your individual situation and the steps we can take to help contain costs. Additionally, we can offer a variety of fee structures, including capped-fee, flat-fee, hourly-fee or hybrid-fee arrangements. Our flexible approach to legal fees help to align our interests with yours and allows us to tailor a fee arrangement to meet your particular situation.

Preliminary Patentability Search

Obtaining a patent can be expensive. Therefore, if there is any question as to patentability for a specific innovation, it is wise to spend some effort to determine the probability of successfully obtaining a patent by conducting a preliminary patentability search.

The types and costs of patentability searches vary. One option is for an inventor to conduct his/her own search using widely available Internet search tools. For a more exhaustive result, an inventor may engage a professional searcher to conduct a patent search using specialized databases and then have the search results reviewed by a patent practitioner for patentability. The cost of paying a professional searcher and patent practitioner can vary from about $500 to $2000, depending upon the complexity of the invention.

Preparing the Patent Application

Preparing a patent application is a task that should be performed by a patent practitioner who understands the field of the invention and who is registered to practice patent law before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Generally, it takes anywhere from 16 to 40 hours to prepare a patent application at a cost of between $4800 and $12000. Typical steps involved in the preparation of a patent are:

Step 1: (1 to 4 hours). Review the invention disclosure.

Step 2: (4 to 8 hours). Draft patent claims to define the metes and bounds of the patentable subject matter.

Step 3: (2 to 6 hours). Draft figures that correlate to the claims.

Step 4: (8 to 20 hours). Draft the specification to add support for the claims. The support must teach a person skilled in the field how to make and use the claimed embodiments.

Step 5: (1 to 2 hours). File the application with the USPTO. This step also requires paying several fees to the USPTO. These fees vary depending on the size of the application and the size of the entity who owns the rights to the application. Because these fees change periodically, an accurate estimate can be provided at the time of filing. USPTO government fees for a moderate-sized application run between $400 (for a micro-entity) to $1600 (for a large organization). A moderate-sized application is under 100 pages with less than 3 independent claims and less than 20 claims overall.

Prosecuting the Patent Application Before the USPTO

Once the application is filed, it enters a prosecution phase. In the prosecution phase, a Patent Examiner employed by the USPTO evaluates the patent application and issues official Office Actions explaining why the patent is or is not allowable. Office Actions require a prepared response. Responses usually require crafting legal arguments and making amendments to the claims after performing a careful analysis of references documents cited by the Examiner. This step can vary in time from 4 to 20 hours depending upon the complexity of the Office Action and whether an interview is conducted with the Patent Examiner.

A typical patent may require 2 to 3 responses. In some more difficult cases, an appeal may be required. Some responses and appeals may require additional fees to be paid to the Patent Office. Accordingly, one can spend an additional $1000 to $6000 for prosecuting the application. If the prosecution phase is successful, the USPTO will issue a Notice of Allowance.

Patent Issuance

Once a Notice of Allowance is received, the application file history should be reviewed for any correctable errors and to determine if any additional patent applications should be filed based upon the specification. In some cases, there may be additional subject matter that can be claimed in a continuation application. If this is the case, new claims should be drafted and added to the original specification and filed as a new patent application. These steps typically take between 2 and 4 hours at a cost of between $600 and $1200. Once these tasks are complete, final documents are prepared and submitted the USPTO with an Issue Fee. Issue fees currently range between $445 and $1780.

Patent Maintenance Fees

After the patent issues, the USPTO requires that maintenance fees be paid at approximately 3-1/2, 7-1/2, and 11-1/2 years. These maintenance fees increase with each payment over the life of the patent. The maintenance fee schedule is published by the USPTO and currently has a range between $400 and $7400.

International Patent Protection

The costs to obtain patent protection outside of the United States can significantly increase the costs of obtaining patent protection. In most cases, we will recommend filing a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application with the World Trade Organization. Applications will then have up to 30 months from their priority date to be "nationalized" in most countries around the world.