How much does a trademark or patent cost?

How much will it cost to apply for a patent or trademark?

First, define the winning IP strategy. Then determine trademark and patent costs accordingly.

At the top of every potential client’s mind is a question about costs, but winning should be the primary objective. Once you know how to win the game of IP, then the cost to file a patent or trademark will flow from the winning approach.

Transparent flat rate patent and trademark fees are what we strive for. Visit my firm for downloadable fee schedules.

If you obtain a patent quote better than our fixed fees below, give us a chance to meet or beat those quotes. Call patent attorney Vic Lin at (949) 223-9623 or email vlin@icaplaw.com to request a flat fee estimate for your patent or trademark filing.

Design Patent Costs

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

• Design patent initial filing: $1,250 all-inclusive
  (includes our $770 flat rate, $204 USPTO fees and illustrator fees)
• Rocket Docket request: additional $1,320 (total $2,570 with initial filing)
  (includes our $1,000 flat rate and $320 USPTO fees)

Start to finish costs for a micro entity (assuming no rejections): approx. $2,000 without Rocket Docket or approx. $3,320 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: $1,450 all-inclusive
  (includes our $770 flat rate, $408 USPTO fees and illustrator fees)
• Rocket Docket request: additional $1,640 (total $3,090 with initial filing)
  (includes our $1,000 flat rate and $640 USPTO fees)

Start to finish costs for a small entity (assuming no rejections): approx. $2,350 without Rocket Docket or approx. $4,000 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.

As far as we know, we are the first and only IP firm to offer our uniquely branded Attorney Fee Guarantee^SM program for design patent applications.

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 $6,600 plus USPTO and vendor fees
• Medium complexity: Flat fee starting at $8,800 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 $3,300 (approx. 50% of the cost of drafting a 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):

• $1,454 all-inclusive for initial filing of US national phase application with IDS. Includes our $590 initial filing flat rate, $200 IDS fee and $664 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):

• $1,704 all-inclusive for initial filing of US national phase application with Preliminary Amendment and IDS, including $590 initial filing flat rate, $200 IDS fee, $250 Preliminary Amendment fee and $664 USPTO fee.

Trademark Costs

USPTO Trademark Search

• Knockout search of live USPTO trademark filings: $650 per class of goods/services

Trademark Application Estimates (not incl. search)

Here are filing estimates for a USPTO trademark application (not including Office Action responses):

• Use-based application: $950 all-inclusive per class, including our $600 flat rate and $350 USPTO fee**
• Intent-To-Use (ITU) application: $1,550 all-inclusive per class, including $950 initial filing cost and $600 Statement of Use cost

**Note that the higher USPTO fee of $350 per class provides more flexibility in describing the goods or services.

Potential Additional Costs After Filing Trademark Application

• Evidence of Use (included in our ITU estimate above): $600 all-inclusive per class, including our $500 flat rate and USPTO fees
• 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: $350+
• Trademark Office Action response with arguments against refusal: $2,800+

Trademark Registration Cost Estimates from Start to Finish* (USPTO fees included – *assuming no rejections)

• Knockout search of live USPTO trademarks: $650 per class of goods/services
• Use-based application: $950 all-inclusive per class
• Intent-To-Use application including Statement of Use: $1,550 all-inclusive per class (assuming no extensions of time)

Trademark Renewals and Post-Registration Maintenance

• Section 8 declaration: $825 all-inclusive per class, including our $600 flat rate and $225 USPTO fee
• Combined Section 8 and 15 declaration (by 6th year anniversary): $1,025 all-inclusive per class, including our $600 flat rate and $425 USPTO fee
• Combined Section 8 and 9 renewal (by 10th year anniversary and after): $1,125 all-inclusive per class, including our $600 flat rate and $525 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

Patent and Trademark Costs Can Vary Widely

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 initial filing estimates followed by reasonable approximate estimates for the ongoing examination of each type of IP application. These forecasts should provide you with a realistic expectation of ongoing costs after the initial filing. For more detailed IP fee schedules, visit our firm’s flat fee page.

Which patents will cost more?

A few pointers are helpful to keep in mind. Design patents have a high average probability of success so we can predict the total costs of a filing a design patent from start to finish for over 80% of design applications. Also, the cost difference between a small entity and a micro entity are appreciable for design patent applications, so we have included breakdowns.

On the other hand, utility patent applications are wildly unpredictable with the only certainty being that there is a 90% chance that a utility nonprovisional patent application will receive at least one rejection. Also, cost differences between a small entity and a micro entity are not as significant, so we have simply identified cost estimates for a small entity.

For patent costs, USPTO government fees will vary depending upon the size of the applicant. We will try to provide both small entity and micro entity costs if and when they differ.

Need a competitive patent or trademark cost estimate?

Call US patent and trademark attorney Vic Lin at (949) 223-9623 or email vlin@icaplaw.com to see if we can match or beat a cost estimate from another IP firm.