|
Preparing & Filing an Application
Even for a simple invention, our minimum fee for the preparation and filing of the first patent application in the United States or Canada is normally at least $15,000 although occasionally it can be less for very simple cases; rarely less than $10,000. More typically, the fee will vary from $15,000 up to $50,000 for more complex cases. In addition, a government filing fee must be paid when the application is submitted. In some countries, including Canada and the U.S., individual applicants may be eligible for lower Government fees than are charged to large corporate applicants. We can give our clients a better idea what the cost of preparing and filing a patent application will be once we know the details of the client's invention.
Our fees mentioned above pertain only to the preparation and filing of a patent application in either Canada or the United States (but not both) and presuppose that the invention has been accurately described to us in terms that are readily understandable. In particular, the fees mentioned above do not include:
1. The cost of conducting any preliminary searches or the cost of any other efforts to assess the "state of the art" and the scope of protection to which an invention may be entitled. (See the separate section on Searching, above, and the likely fees to be encountered for a search, in that section.)
2. The cost of making any changes or revisions to the application to include modifications or the like that are not initially fully disclosed to us.
3. Consideration of possibly significant circumstances that could affect the right to obtain a valid patent, such as prior use of the invention by anyone.
4. Consideration of possible disputes respecting rights in the invention with third parties such as business associates, employees or employers, or the obtention of assignment of rights.
Preparation and recordal of any transfer of rights or agreements respecting the invention or patent application, such as assignments, agreements of confidentiality, licences, or distributorship agreements.
Prosecution of the patent application after it has been filed in a Patent Office (see below).
Government issue and printing fees that become payable on grant of a patent (see below).
Foreign associates' charges for patent applications filed in countries other than Canada (see below).
Important: We cannot accurately predict the time required to perform the complex professional task of preparing or amending a patent specification, claims, abstract and drawings. We can give a ballpark figure, but any estimate given must not be treated as a guarantee that our fees will be within an initially expected range. Allow a generous margin for inaccuracies in any initial estimate given. As work progresses on any given task, we can usually improve the accuracy of our estimate. Let us know if you would like us to arrange a progressive series of estimates as work progresses.
|
|
