Patent budget details
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A
budget of 10,000-15,000 would
be realistic for a single foreign
country, other ... payable during the
tendency of the application and/or after
the patent issues,,,
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Details
FOREIGN PATENT APPLICATIONS
D I R E C T N A T I O N A L P A T E N T A P
P L I C A T I O N S
Both within and outside Europe it is
possible to file an application for each
country, the so-called national application.
The costs for filing a national application
amount between 2.250 and
3.750 depending on the country. Concerning
Japan and the United States the filing costs
can rise until about 4.500. This amount
comprises official taxes and translation and
procedural costs. Procedural costs are the
costs a foreign attorney charges for work
carried out.
It should be emphasized that in most
countries a national application is examined
for novelty and inventive step. Additional
official taxes and fee for the patent attorney
in the country concerned are involved for this
examination.
As these taxes and fee are mostly spread
over a period of one to seven years after
filing and differ greatly from country to
country, it is very difficult to give in
advance even an approximate estimate of the
costs to be excepted. The costs can amount
2.000 for instance, but may also be many times
larger. If desired, an estimate of the costs
can be given for each subsequent step in the
grant procedure of an application.
E U R O P E A N P A T E N T A P P L I C A T
I O N
For a number of European countries it is
possible to obtain patent protection by means
of filing a single Europeanpatent
application.
If a patent application in more than four
countries is desired, it is economically
favorable to file a European application. The
costs for preparing and filing of a European
application amount approximately 4.500.
About one year after filing the costs for
designating of the countries desired are due.
These costs amount 241 a country, whereas a
maximum of 7 countries are payable. If the
international search report of an earlier
national patent application is submitted, an
amount of 690 is usually refunded.
Although Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia,
Albania, Romania and The former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia are not member of the
European Patent Convention, a patent
protection in these countries can also be
obtained through a European patent
application. These countries must then be
designated separately. The costs for this
separate designation amount 252 a country.
An examination procedure for novelty and
inventive step is also applicable for the
European application. In order to commence
this examination procedure a request for
examination should be filed about one year
after filing of the application. The costs for
filing this request amount 1.631. The costs
during the examination procedure,
substantially comprising of fee for the patent
attorney, amount between 1.000 and 3.500
depending on the length of the procedure.
Under "direct national patent
applications" mentioned taxes and fee for
national applications have only to be paid
once, this being the main cost-reducing aspect
of a European application compared to national
applications.
Once obtained, a European patent must be
converted into national patents for the
designated countries. The costs connected
therewith comprise translation and procedural
costs and are dependent on the number of
designated countries and the length of the
patent text. These costs are generally not
insignificant.
I N T E R N A T I O N A L P A T E N T
A P P L I C A T I O N ( P C T )
On filing in a large number of countries,
also non European countries, or if the choice
of countries is not clear yet, a so-called
international patent application under PCT
(Patent Cooperation Treaty) can be considered
for filing.
Filing, novelty search and publication of
an application take place under this treaty.
Next, a preliminary examination on novelty and
inventive step of the invention can be
obtained.
Thirty months after the priority date
(usually 18 months from filing date) the
international application must be converted
into national and/or regional applications. If
no use is made of the preliminary examination,
this step has to be carried out 20 months from
the priority date (usually 8 months from
filing date).
The costs for filing an international
application amount approximately 5.200. If
the search report of an earlier national
patent application is submitted, an amount of
945 is usually refunded.
The costs for a preliminary examination
are due roughly half a year after filing and
amount 1.900, exclusive the fee for the
patent attorney.
The costs for converting the international
application in national and/or regional patent
applications amount roughly 5.100 in case of
a European application and between 2.250 and
3.750 in case of a national application.
Concerning Japan and the United States the
converting costs can rise until about
4.500.
Important advantages of an international
application are that the novelty search and
preliminary examination decrease the
procedural costs for national and/or regional
applications. Thereby it is possible to delay
the costs for national and/or regional
applications with 8 or 18 months.
All amounts given are exclusive VAT and
disbursements.
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