What does a patent cost? Every innovator may have asked himself this question. Not many things in life are for free and also not the application for a patent. Unfortunately there are no fixed prices. Therefore today we will inform you about the factors which influence the costs of a patent.
Which Factors Influence the Budget for a Patent Application?
Answering the following questions clarifies the range of your costs.
- In which countries shall your innovation be patent-protected?
- How long shall your patent be protected?
- How complex is your patent? Do you want to apply a 10-sided patent of a mechanics innovation or a 100-sided one for pharmaceuticals?
At Which Points Do Costs Arise?
You have to pay charges at the respective patent office. For instance you have to pay annual charges for the maintenance of your patent.
A further cost factor is the fee for a patent attorney
Which fees accrue at the patent office?
During the complete process of patent application several fees have to be paid. These include
- the application fee,
- the fee for the search request
- and the examination fee.
But also after the application further fees arise as the patent is an examined property right. In a verification procedure the patent office examines whether all requirements are accomplished. At this step also costs are essentially higher with the EPA than at the DPMA.
Which services of the patent attorney will I have to pay?
Patent attorneys advise you extensively and efficiently before and after the application of your patent. In one-to-one-appointments all important requirements are clarified and the attorney will work with you to make sure that your patent application is as promising as possible. If you have general questions before a personal consultation, you can contact us for your individual email consultation (this offer is free of charge and without any obligation for you). The patent attorney also works out the application forms, as professional expertise is highly required at this point to avoid dangerous mistakes. Furthermore the patent attorney lends his support in consultation during the entire procedure of the registration. He advocates you in all matters in front of the patent office.
When you apply for a patent beyond Germany, you also have to consider that costs for the translation will arise and foreign representatives have to be paid.
Will additional costs arise after the assignation of the patent?
Yes, even after your patent is granted, you have to prepare yourself for further costs. You have to regularly pay annual charges to maintain your patent. The annual fees can be looked up in the scale of charges of the DPMA (dpma.de/patent/gebuehren/index.html) and the EPA (http://www.epo.org/applying/forms-fees/fees_de.html).
Moreover additional costs can emerge if third parties (for instance competing businesses) feel that their own freedom of movement on the market is affected by your new patent. Even after it has already been granted, these third parties can still file an objection or task nullity proceedings, in order to fight your patent. Of course you will have to defend yourself in this situation.
So in General: What Do I Have to Consider?
As you can see, it isn’t very easy to provide accurate information about the costs of a patent. Without any personal consultation it is very difficult to say how much you will have to pay for your application. In each case, a solid financing concept is essential, because it can be very dangerous to only budget the costs for the application itself, as litigations cannot always be avoided.
Update of 13 October 2020:
The USPTO has also largely increased its fees as of October 2020, the EPO updated its fees in April 2020. We have therefore compiled a new overview that answers this question:
What are the specific costs to be expected at the EPO and USPTO for a patent application from October 2020?
Source:
picture : Hans /pixabay.com / CCO License
To whom it may concern ,
I am a Lebanese citizen living in Beirut , has more than 15years in balcony glazing moveable system. I am interesting to apply for a patent , into that field , which i prepared most of the technical descriptions including drawings and made some novelty search through espacenet , google patent . I would like to know how to proceed further under your assistant Kindly :
*Rough estimation on the application official charges and your office charges to handle all the process ( starting from the patent drafting till the patent grant’s phase ) for EPO and USPTO ?
Looking forward to hear back from you ,
Thanks in advance ,
Best regards
Miled Baaklini
Mobile : 009613617403
Email : [email protected]
Dear Miled Baaklini,
The costs of filing a patent application depend primarily on the geographical scope, the complexity of the application and the length of the grant procedure.
The costs of a patent application depend primarily on the length of the grant procedure and the complexity of the patent application; the greater the effort with the patent offices and the number of examination notices, the more expensive the patent application will be.
Therefore we advise: The description of the application and the wording of the patent claims should be done with great care. If the application is more complex, we strongly recommend that you engage a patent attorney.
Costs at the EPO
Specifically for a patent application at the EPO, the costs depend on for which and how many countries validation is desired.
The annual fee to the EPO is due from the 3rd year. It is only payable for as long as the European patent grant procedure is ongoing. After that, the renewal fees depend on the countries in which the patent is protected and must also be paid to them. The length of the patent granting procedure before the EPO is therefore also important. The EPO’s renewal fee for the 3rd year is currently EUR 490 and will increase annually from then on up to EUR 1 640 from the 10th year onwards.
Costs at the USPTO
The cost of filing a patent application at the USPTO does not depend on the geographical scope as at the EPO, but on the number of claims and the type of company filing a patent:
The fees for a patent application with up to 3 independent and 17 dependent claims are approximately $1000. Please note: All payments must be made in U.S. dollars.
To maintain the patent, the following fees are then payable:
due after 3.5 years: $ 1,600 (or $ 800 or $ 400 after 3.5 years)
Due after 7.5 years: $ 3,600 (or $ 1800 or $ 900
and due after 11.5 years: $ 7,400 (or $ 3,700 $ 1,850
We would like to point out that the USPTO has reduced its fees considerably for small companies and individual inventors (small entity (37 CFR 1.27) or a micro-entity (37 CFR 1.29)). Accordingly, a small company has only $ 800 to pay with maturity after 3.5 years, and an individual inventor even only $ 400.
Best regards,
the team of Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB