The first clue that you are wishing for something that isn’t true should be that you are wishing! In my experience many, if not most or even nearly all, inventors know deep down that the patent application process is a complex process. This leads them to believe that the entire project should take only a few hours, which means the cost should be minimal. Inventors always want to believe what they have is relatively simple and can be easily described. The type of invention and the degree of complexity is probably the single most important consideration that needs to be taken into account. Obviously, among the most important considerations is the invention. It might be useful to start with a discussion of those types of things that will influence the anticipated cost of preparing and filing a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. With patent applications you will always get what you pay for. You can still get a patent, and in fact obtaining a patent is getting easier in many respects than it was 5 to 10 years ago, but gone are the days that a worthwhile patent can be obtained for cheap. Thanks to the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and ever more regulations from the United States Patent and Trademark Office it has become more difficult over the years to create the type of written description and claim sets required. There are challenges inherent in the description of what makes an invention unique, and the law is only getting more complicated.
It will also be helpful to review Patent Attorney Fees Explained and US Patent Office Fees.įirst, it is essential to understand that the very nature of patenting an invention means that you have to have come up with something unique compared with the prior art. With that in mind, what follows are some general ballpark estimates, which should give at least some guidance when trying to budget for the filing of a patent application at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Estimating US patent costs is a difficult matter because so much depends on the technology involved, but answering “it depends” is not particularly insightful or helpful. One of the most frequent questions I get asked by inventors and businesses is about how much it will cost to obtain a utility patent in the US.
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