Time and cost of obtaining a U.S. invention patent

In 2024, the average time for the USPTO to pass the examination and make a final decision is 26.1 months. As of December 2024, the number of patent applications that have not yet been examined by the USPTO is 826,736, and the average time from filing an application to the first examination opinion is 20.3 months.

Patent application fees include official fees and service fees. For non-provisional invention patent applications with no more than 20 total claims and 3 independent items, the application fee, search fee and examination fee are approximately US$2,000. If the applicant is a small entity, the official fee can be reduced by 60%; the official fee of a micro entity can be reduced by 80%.

Once the application is granted, a grant fee of $1,290 must be paid, and annual fees must be paid to maintain patent rights. The annual fees in the United States are payable starting from the 3.5th year from the date of grant, which is $2,150 in the 3.5th year, $4,040 in the 7.5th year, and $8,280 in the 11.5th year.

The cost of preparing and filing a patent for an invention depends on the complexity of the technical field. The cost of preparing and filing a relatively simple invention is approximately $7,500-10,000; for more complex inventions, the cost is between $12,000-17,000; and for complex inventions such as biotechnology or software, the cost may exceed $25,000. If the patent drawings are prepared by a professional technical draftsman, the cost of producing each page of drawings is approximately between $75-120.

Accelerated Procedures for U.S. Invention Patents

• Priority Examination Program (Track One): The USPTO offers the Track One program, which aims to complete the examination process within 12 months. If the application has no more than 4 independent claims, no more than 30 total claims, and no multiple dependencies, a Track ONE priority examination request can be submitted, and a priority examination fee of US$4,515 can be paid at the same time. According to the report for fiscal year 2025, the average time from filing a Track One request to approval is 1.3 months, the time from Track ONE approval to the issuance of the first examination opinion is 1.4 months, and the average authorization time for invention patent applications is 4.5 months. The upper limit of the number of acceptable priority examination requests per year is 15,000.
• Special applications: If the inventor is 65 years of age or older, has a medical condition, or the invention relates to energy, environmental quality, or counterterrorism, a request for accelerated examination may be filed free of charge. Special applications based on other grounds may incur additional fees.
• Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH): Patent Prosecution Highway is an accelerated examination option designed to speed up the examination process of corresponding applications worldwide. Under PPH, participating patent offices agree that when an applicant obtains at least one final decision in the first patent office, he or she may request an expedited examination of the corresponding application in a second patent office. There is no fee under the PPH program.
• Accelerated examination of design patents: For design patent applications, the USPTO provides accelerated examination. Applicants need to conduct a pre-examination search, submit the search results and pay the relevant fees to qualify for such fast examination.