A provisional patent application costs between $75 to $15,000 dependent on who prepares the patent application. You have to prepare and file the provisional patent application yourself without help from a patent attorney at the lower cost level. But, the quality of your provisional patent application may be low. For a higher-quality application, you should hire an experienced patent attorney. The patent attorney will charge you between $2,500 to $15,000 to prepare and file the provisional patent application.
Additional long-term patent costs can be up to $10,000. Long-term patent costs include the cost to file the nonprovisional patent application, the cost to have an attorney argue your case before the examiner at the USPTO, and payment of the issue fee.
The cost for a nonprovisional patent application will be about $455 to $15,000.
How much does a self-prepared provisional patent application cost?
A self-prepared provisional patent application will cost you between $75 and $1,150. At a minimum, you have to pay the USPTO a provisional application filing fee.
| Micro entity | Small entity | Large entity |
Provisional application filing fee under 37 CFR 1.16(d) | $75 | $150 | $300 |
The provisional patent application can include a hand sketch of the invention. But, a computer drawn set of drawings is highly recommended.
If you can’t draw the figures yourself, hire a draftsperson that specifically does patent drafting. You can find them on google by using the keywords “patent drawings.” They will charge you between $100 and $1,000.
Is a self-prepared provisional patent application recommended based on the cheap price?
A self-prepared provisional patent application is recommended when the invention is a small money idea. Small money ideas come and go. If you make a mistake, the ramifications aren’t financially catastrophic.
Small money ideas are inventions that won’t make you a lot of money. It doesn’t make financial sense to pay a patent attorney to prepare a provisional patent application for small money ideas. You won’t be able to turn a profit.
Self-prepared provisional patent applications are also useful if you don’t have the money to hire a patent attorney. Your DIY provisional patent application will provide you with some patent protection. Some patent protection is always better than no protection at all. Plus, there are great books on how to write a patent application that has value.
Remember to talk to your patent attorney before making a decision.
What are the hidden future wasted costs due to a self-prepared provisional patent application?
The hidden costs of a self-prepared provisional patent application are based on the mistakes you made in the patent application. A patent attorney will eventually have to fix all of the mistakes.
A few of the mistakes are not fatal but just expensive to fix. Other mistakes are fatal to the patent application, and sometimes to the business.
For example, if you failed to include crucial information in the provisional patent application and sold your products, you can’t seek foreign patent protection even if you included the information in the nonprovisional patent application later. You had one shot to do it right but failed.
How much does a provisional patent application written by a patent attorney cost?
The cost for a provisional patent application can be as low as a few hundred dollars up to $8,000 to $15,000 dollars depending on the quality of the patent application.
Many inventors don’t understand the quality they are receiving for cheap provisional patent applications. Many times when I review these cheap provisional patent applications, details of the invention are not included. Failing to include crucial information about the invention is fatal.
Here’s is the reason you should hire a patent attorney. Patent attorneys will craft a patent application which increases the chances of allowance and also tries to broaden up the scope of patent protection. This is accomplished by focusing on the point of novelty and adding in the options, variants, and miscellaneous information.
When does the high patent cost justify hiring a patent attorney to prepare a provisional patent application?
You should have a patent attorney prepare your provisional patent application when your invention is a big money idea. Big money ideas are those inventions that have the potential to make you a lot of money. In these instances, the high cost of a patent attorney is justified. Any small mistake could jeopardize your ability to fully realize the potential of your invention. The patent attorney will minimize errors. Of course, no one is perfect. So, choose your patent attorney well to minimize the errors.
Big money ideas are also inventions that require a large capital investment. If you are spending a lot of money on your idea, consider hiring a patent attorney to properly protect your idea. In many cases, you have one opportunity to write a well-prepared patent application.
Is a cheap provisional patent application worth it?
Cheap provisional patent applications are advertised on the internet. You can find them everywhere. The bottom line is that cheap provisional patent applications are lower in quality compared to higher-priced provisional patent applications. A patent attorney will spend less time preparing a cheap provisional patent application compared to a higher-priced provisional patent application.
You can calculate the amount of time time that the attorney will spend on your patent application. Just divide the total cost by the billing rate of the attorney.
When should a provisional patent application be filed instead of a nonprovisional patent application?
You should file a provisional patent application if any of the two situations apply to you.
Situation 1: You don’t have the money to spend on a nonprovisional patent application.
Situation 2: You want to delay patent costs. When you file a provisional patent application, nothing happens for up to one year. You get a filing receipt and that is about it. After that, your next expense is when you file the nonprovisional patent application. After you file the nonprovisional patent application, your patent application will eventually be examined. But, you’ve delayed this process for one year by filing the provisional patent application.
In contrast, a nonprovisional patent application when filed immediately enters the queue for examination.
How much will the granted patent cost?
You will have to upgrade your provisional to a nonprovisional patent application. The nonprovisional patent application will be examined. Generally, you will spend between $1,000 to $10,000 to have your patent attorney argue the case before the examiner to get your patent granted and $1,000 to $2,000 for the issue fee.
The total patent cost for the will be between $9,000 to $25,000