Patents cost money. The amount of costs naturally depends o the complexity of the invention, but above all on the geographic coverage of the patent, that is, the number of countries in which the invention is protected. If you choose just a limited number of countries, the patent costs may already rise to relatively large sums. Fortunately, not all of the costs fall due at the time of registration, but spread over the entire term of the patent of up to 20 years. In general, costs incur almost every year, for example, due to official communications, grant fees, translations or payment of annuity fees.
In the following you will find information on patent costs of a German, European and international PCT patent as well as for national patents, for example, in the USA. You can also go directly to our practical cost overview charts and our online cost calculator for European patents (free login) go. There you can simply calculate the average costs of a European patent, including official fees and patent lawyers’ fees.
1. Costs of a German patent / patent application
Our costs chart (free login) shows the average expected costs of a German patent for the entire term of 20 years at a glance!
The cost chart includes all official fees and patent lawyers’ fees with the exception of fees for drafting the application documents, as the latter are highly dependent on the complexity of the invention and the extent of the application documents. Patent applications having little difficulty (few pages description, less than 10 claims) usually offered for prices starting at 2,500 € (plus official fees), more difficult and extensive patent applications may also cost double and more.
After filing the patent application additional costs incur during the examination and granting procedures. Our cost chart shows these costs for the entire period of 20 years at a glance. For details on the costs of a German patent application or a German patent, please refer to our Pat Tools menu (free login).
2. Costs of a European patent / patent application
Use our online cost calculator for European patents and quickly calculate the expected overall costs of a European patent. To this end, only two steps are required: Enter the desired European countries where you want the European patent to become effective and enter the total number of pages (without drawings). After pressing the “calculate” button, you will get the expected overall costs of a corresponding European patent over the entire term of 20 years at a glance! For more information, please move the mouse cursor over the points on the graph.
The cost graph includes all official fees and patent lawyers’ fees with the exception of fees for drafting the application documents, as the latter are highly dependent on the complexity of the invention and the extentof the application documents.
3. Costs of PCT Patent Application
Our PCT costs chart shows the average expected costs of a PCT application (free login).
Each patent application includes a certain applicant’s risk that the application may be rejected for lack of patentability so that application costs are lost.
There are various strategies in order to keep the registration costs as low as possible initially and to make costly decisions at a later stage of the proceedings. We are specialized in customized solutions and have many years of experience with the needs of smaller companies or start-ups.