The PTO expects you to pay a filing fee on your patent application. However, the filing fee is not due immediately. You may choose to send in the filing fees later during the prosecution. There are different fees for different application types. Different fees for various documents. And different fees for the petitions that may need to be sent in during the prosecution. Whew.
As you can imagine, the mere filing of a patent application is a fairly expensive ordeal. To make matters worse, the PTO actually charges fees throughout the entire process. At best, you may expect to pay a filing fee (about $770) and an issue fee (about $1,330, but remember, you won’t need to worry about this right away – it can take well over 1-2 years for your patent to be allowed).
Maintenance fees must also be paid on every utility and plant patent at three intervals once it is granted (we’ll get into the details in just a moment). At worst, you may have to pay these fees (filing fees, issue fees and maintenance fees) plus fees for several petitions, fees for late filed IDS’s, extensions of time, disclaimers, appeal-related fees and fees for a request for continuing examination among many other fee related extras. We will discuss some of these ‘extras’ later, but for now just realize that filing a patent application is expensive and requires sending in numerous fees. It is best to know this up front so that you can budget your expenses later.
Maintenance Fees
Isn’t maintenance just on cars? As absurd as it may sound, patents require maintenance in the form of a fee. Maintenance fees must be paid on all allowed patents except design patents. After your utility or plant patent has been granted, the PTO will expect you to begin paying maintenance fees on it.
Nothing is really gained by paying the maintenance fee, no fancy certificate is sent out, no special tune-up is performed, but if you don’t pay it, the PTO abandons your patent, causing it to expire before the set term has run its course. It is possible to revive a patent that was abandoned due to a missing maintenance fee, but that requires a hefty petition fee in addition to paying the maintenance fees and you must act quickly. So it’s better to get the fees sent in on time.
Here is a schedule of maintenance fees in 2004 with the approximate amount owed. These fees are due at 3.5 years, 7.5 years and 11.5 years from the date the application issued.
Time $ Amount
3.5 years $910
7.5 years $2,090
11.5 years $3,220
Small Entities
As you can imagine, all these fees can really add up. Luckily, you probably qualify for a discount. One break the PTO gives is to cut certain fees in half for applications sent in by inventors qualifying for small entity status. Inventors who have not assigned their invention, individual inventors, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations all qualify for small entity status.
Note that a petition will have to be filed in order to receive the fee break. However, once it is accepted, you will qualify for a 50% discount on application filing fees, petitions for an extension of time, related appeal fees, issue fees, disclaimers, and even maintenance fees. This is quite a savings!
Here are some common fees for inventors qualifying for small entity status effective April 1, 2004 (note that the USPTO may change their fee schedule at any time):
Filing fee (utility app) 385.00
Utility issue fee 665.00
3.5 yr maintenance fee 455.00
7.5 yr maintenance fee 1,045.00
11.5 yr maintenance fee 1,610.00
According to this small entity fee schedule, in order to gain a utility patent, you would owe a minimum grand total of (drum roll please) $4,160.00 throughout the life of the patent. Although that may seem like a hefty price, remember that only $385.00 would be due initially. The rest would be spread out over several years (possibly as much as 15 years!).
One note to make is that if you patent your invention and you successfully market it, the maintenance fees will be absolutely worth the expense. However, if your invention turns out not to be as successful as you hoped, you are not locked into paying the maintenance fees. If you stop paying the fees, your patent will be abandoned, but if you aren’t making a profit from it anyway, it may not matter to you.
Also please keep in mind that this is not taking into consideration any additional fees you may encounter during the prosecution of the patent. You will also pay a considerable amount extra to have a professional perform your patent search (up to $1,000 for an in-depth, high quality search), a professional to provide you with patent drawings (up to $1,000 for complex drawings with several views) and for a professional patent practitioner to help you write and prosecute your patent ($2,000 +). We will review the costs of patent practitioners and other professionals later.
Related posts:
You must log in to post a comment.