Lean about Patents
What is Provisional Patent Application?
In simple words, Provisional Patent Application is a simple application you file in USPTO to protect your invention without the need to complete drafting all aspects of the invention. Assume you already have the invention and you want to present it somewhere like in a conference, you may quickly file a Provisional Patent Application using descriptions, examples, simple drawings... as far as the 'subject matter' is there. This will secure a 'priority date' for your invention and you have one year to file the Nonprovisional Patent Application with the same subject matter. Provisional Patent Application does not require specific format, no claims are needed and it will not be examined by USPTO. It will not be published either. The Nonprovisional Patent Application that claims the priority to the Provisional Patent Application is the one that will be examined. If the Provisional Patent Application was not followed by Nonprovisional Patent Application, it will be abandoned and like 'disappeared'.
Provisional Patent Application is also a good way to protect your invention while exploring the market to decide, withing one year, to go for the Nonprovisional Patent Application or not. You can also get 'patent pending' status with Provisional Patent Application.
How much are USPTO fees?
USPTO fees are updated frequently. Follow this link for the most updated fee schedule and the updates of extra charges when applicable: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule
As of November 18 2024, here is a simplified explanation about how much you are expected to pay:
For most of the patents (utility nonprovisional, electronic filing, < 3 independent claims, <20 total claims, no multiple dependent claim, <100 sheets, no sequence listings more than 300MB): you need to pay patent application filing fee, search fee and examination fee, and it depends on if you qualify for small entity discount or micro entity discount.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: 64+280+320 = $664 as USPTO fees.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: 64+140+160 = $364 as USPTO fees.
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: 320+700+800 = $1820 as USPTO fees.
What are the additional expected USPTO fees?
USPTO fees are updated frequently. Follow this link for the most updated fee schedule and the updates of extra charges when applicable: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule
As of November 18 2024, here is a simplified explanation about how much you are expected to pay after the initial payment upon filing:
When you file the patent application, you need to pay patent application filing fee, search fee and examination fee as explained before. After that the patent will be published after 18 months (no fees is required) and go into the prosecution and will be examined by one of USPTO examiners. There will office actions (mostly some rejections of the claims), there is no USPTO fees to reply to the office actions (yes you mostly need to pay professional fees to your patent agent) but there are fees if you need to extend the time. If the patent is allowed, you need to pay the patent issue fees.
Utility issue fee:
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $480 as USPTO fees.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $240 as USPTO fees.
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $1200 as USPTO fees.
Now you got your patent granted, you need to maintain it to keep it in force. There is maintenance fees to be paid after specific number of years:
At 3.5 years:
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $800 as USPTO fees.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $400 as USPTO fees.
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $2000 as USPTO fees.
At 7.5 years:
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $1504 as USPTO fees.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $752 as USPTO fees.
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $3760 as USPTO fees.
At 11.5 years:
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $3080 as USPTO fees.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $1540 as USPTO fees.
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $7700 as USPTO fees.
In many cases (not all), patent applications need to file Request for continued examination (RCE) which costs:
If you are small entity, you need to pay: 1st request $544, 2nd request $800 as USPTO fees,
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: 1st request $272, 2nd request $400 as USPTO fees.
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: 1st request $1360, 2nd request $2000 as USPTO fees.
Please note, usually patent practitioners also charge professional services for filing RCE.
