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

Small Entity

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

• Design patent initial filing: $1,650 all-inclusive
• Rocket Docket**: additional $1,950

Micro Entity

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

• Design patent initial filing: $1,400 all-inclusive
• Rocket Docket**: additional $1,600 

**Rocket Docket saves 1-2 years of examination time.

Design Patent Start-to-Finish Costs

Our design patent initial filing cost includes our $820 flat rate, USPTO fees and illustrator fees.

Assuming no rejections, here are start-to-finish costs for a design patent application

• Without Rocket Docket, start to finish costs for a small entity: approx. $2,800
• Without Rocket Docket, start to finish costs for a micro entity: approx. $2,300

• With Rocket Docket, start to finish costs for a small entity: approx. $4,500
• With Rocket Docket, start to finish costs for a micro entity: approx. $3,700

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)

$2,500 per class of goods/services with Attorney Fee Guarantee for qualifying trademarks (USPTO fees included)

Includes:

• $550 USPTO fee per class of goods/services
• Knockout search of live USPTO trademarks for your class of goods/services
• Trademark Attorney Fee Guarantee for greenlighted trademarks that pass our knockout search
  • Refund of attorney’s fees if your greenlighted mark encounters a likelihood of confusion refusal
  • 100% refund of attorney’s fees if you choose not to argue against refusal
  • 50% refund of attorney’s fees if you choose to respond and our arguments do not lead to withdrawal of likelihood of confusion refusal
• Filing of trademark attorney by US trademark attorney
• Tracking all deadlines, including foreign filing deadlines and renewal deadlines
• Reporting all Office Actions
• Responding to minor Office Actions
• Evidence of Use
• Sending electronic certificate of registration

Potential Additional Costs After Filing Trademark Application

• USPTO fee for evidence of use: $150 per class
• Extensions of time
• Office Action response with arguments against certain refusals: $3,500+
  • merely descriptive refusal
  • failure to function as a trademark
  • arguments against requested disclaimer

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.