Flat Attorney’s Fees for Patent and Trademark Filings

We offer fixed patent and trademark costs. See our flat fees below for filing design patents, utility patents and trademark applications.

Email US patent attorney Vic Lin at vlin@icaplaw.com to request a flat rate estimate for your patent or trademark filing. Give us a chance to meet or beat competitive patent or trademark quotes.

Design Patent Costs

Micro Entity (less than $223K annual income and no more than 4 prior patents)

• Design patent initial filing: $1,400 all-inclusive
  (includes $820 flat rate, $260 USPTO fees and illustrator fees)
• Rocket Docket: additional $1,356 (total $2,750 with initial filing)
  (includes $1,012 flat rate and $344 USPTO fees)

Start to finish costs for a micro entity (assuming no rejections):

• approx. $2,300 without Rocket Docket; or
• approx. $3,700 with Rocket Docket.

A micro entity must meet certain qualifications on gross income and filed no more than 4 prior patent patent filings. Pursuant to our firm policy, we do not file micro entity patent applications for companies.

Small Entity (e.g., individuals and companies with less than 500 employees)

• Design patent initial filing: $1,650 all-inclusive
  (includes $820 flat rate, $520 USPTO fees and illustrator fees)
• Rocket Docket: additional $1,700 (total $3,350 with initial filing)
  (includes $1,012 flat rate and $688 USPTO fees)

Start to finish costs for a small entity (assuming no rejections):

• approx. $2,800 without Rocket Docket; or
• approx. $4,500 with Rocket Docket.

Small entity status would generally apply to the following entities regardless of income:

• individuals;
• academic institutions; or
• companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Utility Patent Costs

Utility Patentability Search Cost

• $1,500 for a novelty search on a single invention

Utility Patent Initial Filing Cost Estimates – Small Entity

• Low complexity: Flat fee starting at $6,800 plus USPTO and vendor fees
• Medium complexity: Flat fee starting at $8,900 plus USPTO and vendor fees
• High complexity: Flat fee starting at $11,000 plus USPTO and vendor fees

Utility Patent Estimates After Initial Filing To Grant (if allowed)

• 1 Office Action and issue fee (i.e., allowance): $3,500+
• 2 Office Actions and issue fee (including Examiner Interview): $6,500+
• 3 Office Actions and issue fee (including Examiner Interview and RCE ): $10,000+
• 4 or more Office Actions and issue fee: $13,000+

In our experience, the majority of utility nonprovisional patent applications will have 2-3 Office Actions. Patent applications involving software or business methods will likely encounter four or more Office Actions.

Utility Patent Estimates from Start to Finish (small entity)

• Low complexity with 1 Office Action: $11,000+
• Medium complexity with 3 Office Actions: $20,000+
• High complexity with 4 or more Office Actions: $24,000+

Provisional Patent Application Cost

• starting at $3,400 (approx. 50% of drafting nonprovisional application), plus USPTO and vendor fees

Foreign Utility Patent – International PCT Application

• PCT Initial Filing (not including drafting nonprovisional): $3,700+ all-inclusive, including our $1,250 flat rate and government fees
• National Stage entries: variable depending upon countries

US National Stage Based On PCT Application (small entity)

Here is our initial filing estimate for a US National Stage application that includes the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS):

• $1,574 all-inclusive for initial filing of US national phase application with IDS, including $630 initial filing flat rate, $220 IDS fee and $724 USPTO fee (not including Preliminary Amendment).

US National Stage Based On PCT Application with Multiple Dependent Claims

To save government fees, a Preliminary Amendment is highly recommended when the PCT application contains multiple dependent claims or excess claims. Here is an initial filing estimate for a US National Stage application with a Preliminary Amendment (small entity):

• $1,924 all-inclusive for initial filing of US national phase application with Preliminary Amendment and IDS, including $630 initial filing flat rate, $220 IDS fee, $350 Preliminary Amendment fee and $724 USPTO fee.

Trademark Costs

Trademark Registration Costs from Start to Finish including USPTO fees (assuming no rejections)

• Knockout search of live USPTO trademarks: $700 per class of goods/services
• Use-based application: starting at $1,000 all-inclusive per class
• Intent-To-Use application including Statement of Use: starting at $1,650 all-inclusive per class (assuming no extensions of time)

Potential Additional Costs After Filing Trademark Application

• 6-month Extension to File Statement of Use: $600 all-inclusive per class, including our $475 flat rate and USPTO fees
• Trademark Office Action response – simple, non-substantive: $380+
• Trademark Office Action response with arguments against refusal: $3,000+
• Evidence of Use (included in our ITU estimate above): $650 all-inclusive per class, including our $500 flat rate and USPTO fees

Trademark Renewals and Post-Registration Maintenance

• Section 8 declaration: $975 all-inclusive per class, including our $650 flat rate and $325 USPTO fee
• Combined Section 8 and 15 declaration (by 6th year anniversary): $1,195 all-inclusive per class, including our $650 flat rate and $545 USPTO fee
• Combined Section 8 and 9 renewal (by 10th year anniversary and after): $1,300 all-inclusive per class, including our $650 flat rate and $650 USPTO fee

TTAB Trademark Opposition and Cancellation Costs

• Plaintiff initial estimates (Opposer, Cancellation Petitioner): starting at $3,300 for a single class of goods/services, including drafting and filing of complaint and mandatory discovery conference (not including discovery)
• Defendant initial estimates (Applicant, Registration Owner): starting at $5,000, including drafting and filing of answer, mandatory discovery conference, and initial settlement discussions (not including counterclaims, motions to dismiss or discovery)
• Ongoing opposition or cancellation costs: $10,000 to $150,000
• Total costs if other side is willing to settle earlier: $10,000 to $25,000

Why do patent and trademark costs vary widely?

Successfully obtaining a patent is not like filling out a form. Filing patents is a complex, nuanced process which can get particularly challenging depending upon your technology and the state of the prior art.

Our goal here is to provide a concise summary of costs for registering patents and trademarks. To prevent information overload, these fee estimates do not identify every possible cost that may arise in your patent or trademark application. Instead, we are presenting a simplified cost overview that will hopefully be helpful as you budget for IP protection.

Instead of trying to predict every twist and turn, we have provided cost estimates for initial filings and what to expect thereafter. These forecasts should give you a realistic range of costs from start to finish, but not a guarantee or a cap on costs. For more detailed IP fee schedules, visit our firm’s flat fee page.

Which patents will cost more?

Here are some helpful tips on patent costs. Design patents have a high average probability of success. Therefore, the total costs of filing a design patent from start to finish are more predictable.

Utility patent costs, on the other hand, can range widely with the only certainty being a 90% chance that a utility nonprovisional patent application will receive at least one rejection.

For patent costs, USPTO government fees will vary depending upon the size of the applicant. The difference between small entity and micro entity costs can be a few hundred dollars per patent filing.

Need a competitive patent or trademark cost estimate?

Email US patent and trademark attorney Vic Lin at vlin@icaplaw.com to see if we can match or beat a cost estimate from another IP firm.