How Much Does It Cost to Patent an Idea?
- The U.S. Patent Act explicitly excludes "abstract ideas" from patent protection. The ban, however, does not prevent any idea from being patented, according to Quinn, but does limit protection to ideas that an inventor has developed to the point of being able to furnish the USPTO with all of the minute technical details required for a complete application.
- Inventors must submit applications to the USPTO, which then examines the content of the application and decides whether to grant patent protection. An inventor patenting an idea must have developed the idea to the point where she can provide a technical description, list the individual claims (the specific parts of the invention that are new and protected by patent) and provide technical drawings.
- The USPTO charges fees at every step of the patent process. Independent inventors and small businesses receive a 50 percent discount on the fees that the USPTO posts. Submitting an application costs $330, and the USPTO also charges $540 for the patent search that it conducts and $220 for the examination. Once an application passes the examination, the inventor must pay $1510 for the USPTO to issue the patent. Additionally, inventors must pay maintenance fees totaling over the patent's term of 20 years to keep the patent in force.
- Both the USPTO and the intellectual property industry publication IP Watchdog strongly recommend that inventors hire registered patent attorneys or agents to write the application and represent the inventor. The patent application becomes a legal document -- the patent -- at the end of the process. Attorneys normally charge between $7,000 and $15,000 per invention depending on complexity, though Quinn notes that fees can go much higher.