Your Ultimate Guide On How To Manage The High Costs Of Obtaining Patents

The rights afforded to inventors through patent protection make Patent Filing a very valuable proposition for companies of all sizes. However, the process of obtaining a patent is often fraught with fees and costs that can be intimidating. While experience is the best teacher, any inventor should understand a few things before filing a patent application.

1. Learn about the different stages of patent management

   If you are not already well acquainted with the patent filing process, you might be unaware that filing an application is only one of many points along the way where fees will accrue. The prosecution process at a patent office can become increasingly costly as more office actions are issued. While it is good news to receive a notice of allowance, there are typically issue fees that have to be paid before the patent is granted. Patent annuities or maintenance fees must be paid throughout the life of the patent as well.

   A good patent management strategy budgets for these stages and understands how these costs vary from country to country. For example, in Europe and Japan, patent application filing costs can make up about one-third of total patent management costs, whereas filing costs in India and the US will only be about 10 percent of the total budget for a single patent. Additionally, there may be hidden service fees, such as legalization, that add costs; this is particularly true in such countries as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where notarized and legalized documents are required at the time of filing, with the process including steps of legalizing the documents at the US State Department and the embassies of the country, and adds hundreds of dollars to the costs.

2. Research your intended market

   Having broad patent protections across the world may seem like an ideal situation, but the added costs might not outweigh the benefits in certain countries. You will want to explore market conditions in any country in which you plan to seek patent protection. For instance, if you have a method of manufacture that is only applicable to an industry that is not particularly strong in a given country, you can save a lot of money by being judicious in deciding not to file there.

   Market conditions are not the only consideration in analyzing a market. Patent laws can vary widely from country to country, and an invention that might have strong patent protections in one region might have more uncertain protections elsewhere. In India...