Asking for the costs of a patent application is one of the most often posed question ever during a consultation. Often this question is asked before it could be clarified that a patent is the appropriate IP right for the invention made and where – in a geographical sense – the IP right will be needed.
Factors influencing the expenses for a patent are as follows:
- countries/regions which shall be applied for, e.g Germany, Europe, U.S.A., Japan, China,…
- the invention’s degree of complexity
- duration of the substantive examination proceeding
- lifespan of the patent
The expenses for a patent application are made up of:
- fees to be paid to the respective Patent Office
- professional fees for the patent attorney in charge
- expenses involved in keeping the patent alive post grant
Official fees are set up by the respective Patent Office, these fees varying from country to country.
Professional fees
A patent application covering a „simple“ invention including one embodiment requires less time exposure during the elaboration of the application than an application for a control algorithm of an automatic gearbox dealing with many control parameters and control strategies.
Expenses for a German patent application start with EUR 3000 and vary corresponding to the level of difficulty or complexity of the invention and thus corresponding to the time necessary for elaborating the application.
Expenses for renewing a patent grow higher along with the official fees increasing along the lifespan of the patent.
HERE you can ask for a tentative budget providing an estimate for the first 10 years for IP rights as follows:
- German Patent
- European Patent
- German Trademark
- European Trademark
- European Design
- German Utility Model
Do you questions around "How to apply for a patent?" and costs accordingly?
{rsform 8}