What does it cost to obtain a U.S. Patent?
Obtaining a patent is a process that can generally be broken down into three stages: Preparation, Prosecution, and Maintenance. Each has its own associated costs.
Preparation refers to the process of preparing and filing a patent application. In the U.S., the average cost to accomplish this is about $10,000 (inclusive of attorney's fees, USPTO fees, and drawing preparation fees, as applicable). These fees are fairly predictable.
Prosecution: Prosecution is the process of getting the patent application from filing to grant in the associated patent office. It will typically take about three years, with considerable variation. In the U.S., prosecution typically costs another $10,000 (again inclusive of USPTO fees). This is less predictable than Preparation because it all depends on how many rounds of correspondence the applicant has to go through with the Examiner. A round is about $3,000, so if only two office action responses are required, the cost of Prosecution come in a bit under the $10,000 figure, but if it stretches on in to four, five, or six rounds, the applicant could wind up paying quite a bit more. This depends on (1) how distinct the idea is over the prior art, and (2) how capable the attorney or agent is.
Maintenance: Maintenance is the ongoing cost to keep the patent in force. Assuming there is no post-grant challenge to the validity of the patent, it is a simple matter of paying the maintenance fees charged by the USPTO. There are three of these fees, and failure to pay any of them by the applicable deadline will cause the patent to lapse. The fees are due at 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years after the patent issues, and they increase over time. The maintenance fees change every year or so, but currently add up to about $7,500 for "small entities," which includes companies with less than 500 employees. Maintenance fees can be double for companies with more employees, or half for university inventors or individuals that do not have high incomes or a lot of experience with the patent system.
Obtaining a patent is a process that can generally be broken down into three stages: Preparation, Prosecution, and Maintenance. Each has its own associated costs.
Preparation refers to the process of preparing and filing a patent application. In the U.S., the average cost to accomplish this is about $10,000 (inclusive of attorney's fees, USPTO fees, and drawing preparation fees, as applicable). These fees are fairly predictable.
Prosecution: Prosecution is the process of getting the patent application from filing to grant in the associated patent office. It will typically take about three years, with considerable variation. In the U.S., prosecution typically costs another $10,000 (again inclusive of USPTO fees). This is less predictable than Preparation because it all depends on how many rounds of correspondence the applicant has to go through with the Examiner. A round is about $3,000, so if only two office action responses are required, the cost of Prosecution come in a bit under the $10,000 figure, but if it stretches on in to four, five, or six rounds, the applicant could wind up paying quite a bit more. This depends on (1) how distinct the idea is over the prior art, and (2) how capable the attorney or agent is.
Maintenance: Maintenance is the ongoing cost to keep the patent in force. Assuming there is no post-grant challenge to the validity of the patent, it is a simple matter of paying the maintenance fees charged by the USPTO. There are three of these fees, and failure to pay any of them by the applicable deadline will cause the patent to lapse. The fees are due at 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years after the patent issues, and they increase over time. The maintenance fees change every year or so, but currently add up to about $7,500 for "small entities," which includes companies with less than 500 employees. Maintenance fees can be double for companies with more employees, or half for university inventors or individuals that do not have high incomes or a lot of experience with the patent system.