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How expensive is it to obtain a patent?
Patenting an invention is an expensive endeavor. Almost every step of the process requires a fee. In the United States, an initial filing of a patent application costs about $740 (or more, depending on the number of claims). During prosecution, numerous other fees will be encountered; almost all petitions require a fee, and "extension fees" must be provided any time a document is filed later than requested. Following the notice of allowance, an issue fee of about $1,200 must be paid. At a minimum, these costs will total about $3,000.
Moreover, substantial maintenance fees must also be paid at various intervals during the patent term to keep the patent in force. These expenses, however, do not take into account fees that must be paid to attorneys and agents for performing patent prosecution services, which can increase expenses for obtaining a patent.
There is some relief for individual inventors, small business concerns and nonprofit organizations, as they may file as "small entities" and thus reduce many of the expenses by approximately half.
Currently, the PTO is re-evaluating the structure of fees imposed for patent applications (See "What questions are at issue in current discussions in the PTO?").
Filing patents outside the United States is considerably more expensive than obtaining a U.S. patent. For example, obtaining a patent in Europe may cost more than $100,000.
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