What is a realistic cost estimate for obtaining a utility patent?
Why write another post on patent costs when I’ve already written several articles, such as initial filing estimates, start-to-finish costs, prices of Office Action responses, and more? If you search for “how much does a utility patent cost” online, you may get some rough numbers. What may be difficult to find is a helpful summary of the utility patent process, and associated costs along the way.
Need a utility patent cost estimate? Call US patent attorney Vic Lin at (949) 223-9623 or email vlin@icaplaw.com to request a flat rate quote for a utility patent application drafted by a patent attorney.
My goal with this post is to shed some light on the utility patent process so that you will have a better understanding of the costs involved in getting a utility patent. It may help to think of the utility patent process in three stages:
- Initial filing;
- Responding to Office Action(s);
- Grant, if application is allowed.
Keep in mind that the final stage of allowance is by no means guaranteed. The path to an allowance of a utility patent may be long and uncertain.
How much does it cost to file a nonprovisional utility patent application written by a patent attorney?
Attorney’s fees for drafting a nonprovisional utility patent application may range from $7,000 to over $16,000. Certain key factors will affect our fees for the initial drafting and filing of a utility nonprovisional patent application, including:
- complexity of technology; and
- number of embodiments (examples)
As of the date of this post, the standard USPTO fee for the initial filing of a nonprovisional application is $644 for a small entity (e.g., individual inventors or company with fewer than 500 employees). Additional USPTO fees will apply for any excess claims (e.g., beyond 3 independent and 20 total claims) and multiple dependent claims. Illustrator fees can range from $280 to over $500 depending upon the complexity and number of figures. Expect these out-of-pocket costs to range from $930 to $1,500 for a small entity.
To sum it all up, our cost estimate for the initial drafting and filing of a utility nonprovisional patent application will range from $7,800 to $15,000. Discounts may be available on a case-by-case basis. Feel free to request a flat rate estimate for your utility patent application and any available discounts.
How can you control upfront patent costs?
While the complexity of your innovation might not be adjustable, you do have some control over the number of both embodiments and aspects of the invention to pursue initially. Decreasing your examples and/or components may reduce the initial patent filing cost.
Suppose you have a new system with four components or aspects, each of which is potentially patentable. You may choose to start by covering one or two more urgent aspects. This may reduce the initial filing cost, but there will still be a price to pay for covering the remaining aspects later. Also, you will have the disadvantage of a later filing date for adding the new matter in continuing applications.
How much are ongoing patent prosecution costs?
With a nearly 90% chance of receiving an Office Action in a utility patent application, you should expect and budget for responding to rejections. Recent patent statistics indicate a median of approximately four Office Actions to reach a granted utility patent application. Keep in mind that this median would include cases across various technology centers which vary widely in the Office Actions per Grant (OGR) ratio. Perhaps a more relevant metric would be the Office Actions per grant ratio, which varies widely.
Therefore, it is entirely possible that you may have to deal with four Office Actions if you choose to keep fighting against challenging claim rejections or difficult patent examiners.
The cost of responding to a patent Office Action ranges from $900 to to $2,800. The price of an Office Action response depends on these factors:
- number of prior art references cited by the Examiner
- number of claims to be amended or added
- whether an ineligible subject matter rejection under Section 101 needs to be addressed
- any required drawing corrections
- any allowable claims or subject matter
In certain situations, it may make sense to talk to the Examiner before filing a written Office Action response. We usually recommend conducting an Examiner Interview when dealing with multiple rejections. A productive Examiner Interview can save you thousands of dollars and several months of time by minimizing further Office Actions.
If you receive a second Office Action, it will most likely be a “final” Office Action. Most Final Office Actions will require the filing of a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) that incurs a USPTO fee.
If multiple Office Action responses have not resulted in a satisfactory, you might need to consider an appeal.
If you have any related patent applications (e.g., foreign applications or other US applications dealing with similar technology), you may have to file an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) to submit known prior art.
Finish line: allowance and issue fee
If you reach the goal of obtaining a Notice of Allowance, you will need to pay the issue fee. Our firm charges a flat rate for paying the issue fee and sending the original patent certificate to the client.
What are average costs for a typical utility patent application?
Let’s walk through a timeline of a typical utility patent application and associated costs:
- Initial filing: $9,500 (for technology with medium complexity)
- Office Action #1: $2,800
- Office Action #2 with Interview and Request for Continued Examination: $3,800
- Office Action #3: $2,800
- Payment of Issue Fee: $1,200
Based on the above hypothetical scenario of three Office Actions to obtain an allowance, the total cost estimate would be roughly a little over $20,000 for an invention of medium complexity. Several factors may increase the cost, such as:
- greater complexity of technology;
- higher number of examples/embodiments;
- Restriction Requirement;
- extensions of time for Office Action responses;
- additional Office Actions;
- additional Examiner Interviews;
- appeal.
An appeal would add several thousand to the cost and a couple of years to the timeframe.
For an invention of medium complexity, it would be reasonable to budget about $15,000 to $25,000 for a utility patent application with the expectation that costs may increase due to the factors discussed above. Think of this estimate more as a floor as opposed to a ceiling for utility patent costs.
Need a utility patent cost estimate?
Contact US patent attorney Vic Lin at vlin@icaplaw.com or call (949) 223-9623 to request a flat rate patent cost estimate.
