How To Reduce Patent Filing Fees On Provisional, Design, And Utility Applications

There are several important steps to reduce patent filing fees on provisional, design, and utility applications. The average cost to file a patent application in the United States is over $10,000. This can be an overwhelming, staggering investment for companies of any size – let alone bootstrapping inventors and entrepreneurs. Fortunately, with a few basic steps, patent filing doesn’t need to cost nearly this much. As a novel inventor yourself, you should know how to control, manage, and mitigate fees during the IP acquisition process. This way, you can dedicate valuable financial resources to your original idea. Read on to learn how to reduce patent filing fees on provisional, design, and utility applications.

Hire An Expert Patent Attorney

The patent filing process can be much more affordable and manageable with the help of an experienced attorney. In fact, you can even hire an online flat fee patent attorney to assist you with IP acquisition from start to finish. These USPTO registered, qualified professionals have years of experience drafting, filing, prosecuting, and registering patent applications. They’ve worked with inventors in a variety of different commercial industries. With their professional expertise, you can secure binding patent documents at affordable, transparent prices. Certainly, hire an expert lawyer to reduce patent drafting and filing expenses.

Pick The Appropriate Entity Classification

To keep patent filing fees low, pick your business entity classification carefully. Companies categorized as micro-entities receive the lowest patent filing fees. You qualify as a micro-entity if you are inventing on behalf of a higher education institution, or earn less than the current household income in the United States. If you meet these classification standards, you are entitled to a 75% discount – compared to the large entity filing rate. Small entities, on the other hand, receive a 50% discount of this cost. Small entities are recognized for having less than 500 employees. If you have more than this employee threshold, you’ll likely be required to obtain a full large entity classification status.

Keep Supporting Documents Organized

In addition, you should keep all your supporting forms and documents organized to reduce patent filing fees. When filing for IP, you’ll need to have an application data sheet, invention specifications, and drawings readily-accessible. You also need to keep track of your official oath or declaration. Otherwise, you risk significant delays in the patent filing process – which can be incredibly costly. By working with a local patent company near me, all this paperwork will be properly arranged, sorted, and classified before your application is even submitted. Surely, keep supporting documents organized and in-order to reduce patent filing fees with the USPTO.

File Right The First Time

When it comes to patent filing, you should submit your application right the first time. Simple submission errors can make the prosecution phase far more expensive. The best way to guarantee error-free filing is to have your application professionally drafted by a patent attorney. If there are errors, you’ll need to spend additional time and money correcting them. In some cases, the USPTO will even require you to re-pay government filing fees. With an experienced attorney, you’ll have a specific of proper claims to base your application on. Absolutely, file right the first time to keep patent drafting costs low.

Consider Licensing

Post patent filing, monetizing IP licensing rights is a great way to recoup prosecution and maintenance expenses. When licensing out your rights, you are essentially allowing a third-party to legally use, manufacture, import, or profit from your protected-invention for a pre-determined time period. In most cases, revenue earned from licensing will be enough to pay for all of your post-filing maintenance expenses – which can amount to over 50% of filing costs. Definitely, consider licensing rights to recover your intellectual property expenses.

There’s so many effective ways to reduce patent filing fees across your intellectual property portfolio. A great way to control costs is by hiring an affordable, experienced USPTO registered practitioner. In addition, ensure that all your supporting documents are clearly in-order. You should also carefully pick your entity’s classification and filing status. Plus, work with an expert attorney to file your application right the first time. You can also consider the added benefits of licensing out your intellectual property rights. Follow the points highlighted above to learn how to reduce patent filing fees on provisional, design, and utility applications.