Costs of patenting

Patenting is expensive. However, that does not mean that you should not be informed about all the possible upcoming fees. In this article you can learn about the most common fees of a patenting process.

Estimating the costs of a patent is really difficult, since the costs vary considerably from country to country. The cost of patenting depends on different factors such as the nature of the invention, its complexity, patent attorney’s service fees, the length of the application, possible objections raised during the examination by the patent office and, of course, the geographical scope (number of countries to be covered). Some countries, like the US offer discounts to small- and medium-sized enterprises, and some patent offices, like the European Patent Office (EPO) offers discounts to applicants who file their application online.

There are different types of fees: 

• Official fees

  You are paying these fees to a patent office (e.g. EPO), usually via your patent attorney. Patent offices charge fees for actions such as filing, search, substantive examination, issuing grant, etc.
  The EPO's fees are public, you can find them here. EPO fees increase every few years as of April 1.

• Service fees of a patent firm

  Patent attorneys charge service fees for the consultation, prior art search, drafting, filing, preparing responses to the office actions, etc. Some firms use hourly fees, others flat fees. Patent attorneys' hourly rates can differ significantly, but it should be between EUR 200-500. The cost of drafting a regular application is typically between EUR 3000-6000.

• Maintenance fees (also known as annuity or renewal fees)

  The maintenance fee is also a type of official fee, but it is so important that it is best to discuss this separately. Applicants must pay maintenance or renewal fees –generally on an annual basis– to maintain the validity of the patent. Most patent offices require maintenance fees even before the patent is granted.

  The US patent office (USPTO) is an important exception. In the US, there are only three maintenance fees payable: 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after the date of grant. Other countries, where no maintenance fees are payable during prosecution are China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Mexico. In these countries, you only have to start paying the renewal fees after grant.

  Regarding European patent applications, the first maintenance fee you have to pay is the fee for the 3rd year, which is due on the second anniversary of the filing date. After the European patent is granted, you no longer have to pay the fees to the EPO but directly to the national patent offices where your European patent is validated (for example France, Germany, Italy and Spain).

  Just to give you some examples of the exact amounts, you can find the exact maintenance fees in Germany here, France here, and in the UK here.

• Translation costs

  Translation costs do not necessarily occur during prosecution. A few examples when you do need to expect them are: filing patent applications to different countries such as Mexico, Japan, China, etc. (for example when starting the national phase of your PCT application), in certain cases like translating your priority application (it is usually not required), or translating a cited prior art document.

  With regard to European patent applications, there are usually no translation fees until you receive the communication about the intention to grant. At this step, you have to file a translation of your claims to the other two languages of the EPO (EPO languages are English, German and French). After grant, there are several translation requirements in the validation phase, depending which countries you wish to validate in. When you do need to translate your whole application, the fees will be quite significant, since patent translations should be of very high quality.

• The costs of enforcing your patent rights

  These costs are usually the service fees of lawyers or patent attorneys, and can vary significantly. If your strategy is sending out cease and desist letters and monitoring your competitors' patent applications regularly, the costs will be quite low. Whereas, the cost of infringement suits and other litigation procedures will obviously be incredibly high.

The fees can be also described based on the time when they occur: 

• Before filing

  Before filing, you will only have to pay service fees to your patent attorney.

• During prosecution (after filing and before grant)

  With the act of filing, you enter a patenting process before a patent office. The patenting process includes a series of steps with serious deadlines. During this strict timeline different official fees occur, such as filing fee, search fee, examination fee and grant fee. In some countries, you have to pay maintenance fees before grant as well. If you are represented by a patent firm, they will also charge you service fees during prosecution for actions such as reporting and preparing responses* to office actions.
  *Basically arguing with the patent office so that you get the broadest protection possible.

• After grant

  After grant, the most important fees that occur are the maintenance fees and the costs of enforcing your exclusive right.

I met many startups and inventors with limited budget, so I am aware how important it is to be well informed about the fees you can expect. I hope that the above helped you understand what kind of fees may occur at the different steps of the patenting process.

If you do not understand a term, check out the IP dictionary.

Author: Zsofia Pintz
Published: August 2020
Updated: July 2023