How to save money?

Patenting is expensive. However, that does not mean that you cannot set a budget, spend wisely and, most importantly, be informed about all the possible upcoming fees.

If there is a reason to believe that your invention can generate profits that can justify the investment in obtaining a patent, you should absolutely apply for a patent. I collected 7 tips to help you save some money and spend wisely during your patenting procedure.

1. Only apply for a patent if you really need it

   This tip might sound too obvious, but is very important. A patent by itself will not result in any income, only if the invention is commercially viable, and if you are able to build a profitable business around it. Choose which ideas you can turn into patentable and profitable products. For help, see our article "Do you really need a patent?"

2. Have a profound IP strategy

   There are many ways to lower the costs, but they all start with planning: knowing what you need, what you want and what you can do. Your patent attorney will be able to inform you about your options, and together, you will be able to come up with an IP strategy that suits your budget as well.

   For example, if you need patent in more countries, you can file a PCT application which helps you defer payments to national patent offices by 30 months. If you choose the language of the filing properly, you will not have to file translations either for the purpose of search or publication, thus you can reduce the costs this way as well. Furthermore, if only a few countries are targeted and there is sufficient time, direct national applications are generally cheaper.

   You can easily conclude how a thorough plan can help you:
   - choose the countries where you file,
   - decrease translation fees and
   - choose search and examination authorities wisely.
   These decisions will contribute to the reduction of the costs.

3. Do your own prior art search

   In our professional opinion, that is the only step you can safely do yourself, while also saving some money. There are several free patent databases that you can use to search, such as Espacenet, a patent database maintained by the EPO, including over 140 million patent documents from all over the world.

4. File a professionally drafted application with proper claims

   (Professionally drafted means drafted by a qualified patent attorney.)

   The better the originally filed version, the cheaper the prosecution phase. If the filed version has mistakes, you will need a lot more corrections done by a patent attorney later. You might also have irreversible errors, which you can only overcome if you file an amended application again. This means paying the filing and search fee again... Thus, the most important step that can be taken to reduce the costs is to begin with a professionally drafted specification and set of claims.
   Please remember that drafting your own patent application will not reduce costs. On the contrary, any mistakes you have in the application will increase the costs in the long run.

5. Look out for additional fees

   Each patent office has its rules about the maximum number of pages and claims that the basic filing fee covers. Above a certain number, you have to pay additional fees. In most cases it is simple to keep the number of claims and pages at the required number if you are aware of the fee structures.

   The European Patent Office (EPO) allows 15 claims and 35 pages for the basic fee, quite significant fees occur above these numbers. (As an example, in 2023, the claims fee is EUR 265 for each claim from the 16th. From the 51st claim, there is an even higher fee.)

   The USPTO on the other hand allows 20 claims for the basic fee (excess claims costing much less than in Europe), and they apply relatively high fees for multiple dependent claims, a claim category that is allowed in Europe.

6. Study the options for different fee reductions

   In addition to the additional fees described above, there are certain fee reductions as well.

   • Online filing: Patent offices nowadays charge more if you choose paper filing. Go for online filing, that is the cheapest and simplest option. Both the EPO and WIPO (the office handling PCT applications) apply reduced filing fee when filing online.

   • Micro/small entity: Different patent offices offer different fee reductions, for example if the applicant is a natural person, a university or a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). For instance, the USPTO has different fees for micro, small and large entities.

   • Language tricks, for example filing and/or requesting examination with the EPO in an admissible non-EPO language (languages such as Dutch, Italian or Spanish).

   Concrete example for fee reduction with the EPO and WIPO:

   The EPO offers the possibility to pay reduced filing and examination fee (from 2014, a 30% reduction) for certain categories of applicants (natural persons, non-profit organisations, universities, public research organisations and SMEs) from certain countries when they file the application or request examination in an admissible non-EPO language. (Languages such as Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Polish; for applicants from the countries having an official language other than English, German and French.)

   The WIPO reduces international filing fee by 90%, if all applicants are natural persons, national and resident of certain countries, such as Brazil, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, India, Malta, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey.

7. Work closely with a patent attorney

   You will need to cooperate with a patent attorney you trust in order to reduce the costs and to create an intensive IP strategy, as mentioned earlier. Your attorney will be able to provide you with tips, up-to-date advice; and more importantly with a well drafted application that will not only satisfy the EPO's requirements but will give you the broadest scope possible and a valuable patent. And, only a valuable patent will generate any income.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has an extensive article on patenting costs in general, you can read it here, if you would like to know more.

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