Costs

To give prospective clients an estimate of the total costs to patent protect their inventions in the U.S., shown in the table below are the various expected steps in a typical utility patent prosecution matter and their cost ranges for two different types of inventions: (a) a medical device, and (b) an e-Commerce-related, business method (BM). These total costs are significantly more than only the patent application drafting costs (line item #3 below), that are quoted by many online service providers, and which can mislead one into beginning a patent process that he/she may not be able to afford to complete without great financial sacrifices.

    Medical Device Patent

    Costs based on averages
    $8,250 - 13,550
    • Reduction to Practice (necessary only if client doesn’t have adequate documentation or a prototype for the invention): $500 – $1500
    • Novelty Search (necessary to assess patentability before incurring additional fees): $1,000
    • Draft Patent Application: $4,000 – $6,000
    • USPTO Fees Incurred at Filing (for Micro Entities, additional fees may apply): $400
    • Draft Written Response to an Office Action (typically involves amending claims and asserting arguments to overcome Examiner’s reasoning in denying claim allowance): $1,000 – $3,000
    • Usually necessary, additional responses to Office Actions: $1,000
    • Response to Notice of Allowance: $100-$400
    • USPTO Issuance Fee (for Micro Entities, additional fees may apply): $250

    Business Method Patent

    Costs based on averages
    $11,250 - 19,550
    • Reduction to Practice (necessary only if client doesn’t have adequate documentation or a prototype for the invention): $500 – $1500
    • Novelty Search (necessary to assess patentability before incurring additional fees): $1,000
    • Draft Patent Application: $6,000 – $10,000
    • USPTO Fees Incurred at Filing (for Micro Entities, additional fees may apply): $400
    • Draft Written Response to an Office Action (typically involves amending claims and asserting arguments to overcome Examiner’s reasoning in denying claim allowance): $2,000 – $4,000
    • Usually necessary, additional responses to Office Actions (these patents encounter non-eligible subject matter claim rejections that are very hard to overcome and often require additional office action responses): $2,000
    • Response to Notice of Allowance: $100-$400
    • USPTO Issuance Fee (for Micro Entities, additional fees may apply): $250