A patent protects your valuable invention from unauthorized usage. Just imagine you doing all the hard work and someone else taking the credit. You can avoid such a situation by applying for a patent. Once you obtain a patent no one can steal or copy your patent. A patent is nothing but a set of rights that are given by the government in order to protect your invention from any unauthorized usage. A person who disobeys the patent laws is likely to go to jail.

If you have entrusted the responsibility of acquiring a patent to a lawyer then the cost for getting a patent is high. In fact, it can run between $5,000 and $25,000 depending on the type of patent you are seeking as well as numerous other factors. These factors can include the number of claims being sought for the patent,  the complexity of the invention and the need for and ability to acquire broad patent protection.

The cost for getting a patent is comparatively less if you decide to apply for a patent on your own. You will likely need sufficient knowledge about patent laws if you decide to get a patent on your own. If you want to keep the costs down then you should have a thorough knowledge about how to get a patent.

Cost for getting a patent in the European countries is also higher than applying for and getting a patent in the United States.

Estimating the cost for getting a patent depend on the type of inventing to which you are seeking the patent. It also depends on the technology that is used in the invention. The fee structure in most countries for getting a patent has changed.

The government filing fees are currently in the range of $730 for small entities. And for clarification, most independent inventors and small business will be categorized as small entities. For micro entities the fees start at $400. Filing fees also vary depending upon the number of claims the application contains.  drawings will typically add at least another $300 too $500 for a complete set of drawings. These fees do not include the search fees that must be paid in order to make sure there is not a similar patent pending.  Search fees by an attorney can run from $1,200 to $3,000.

It is also important to understand how many claims you will have based upon the varying costs of filing, depended upon the number of dependent and independent claims required. The more independent claims, the higher the cost of the patent application and process.

The other consideration is whether you will be filing a provisional patent application (filing fee of $130 – attorney fees $2,500 to $6,000) or a nonprovisional patent application filed by an attorney ($7,500 to $12,500).

The fees quoted in this article can also vary based upon the fees typically charged by local trademark attorneys.

The first thing to consider is the search aspect as this can save you thousands of dollars and hours of time and aggravation should it be discovered  that there is no reasonable opportunity to obtain a suitably broad patent claim – in which case its time to consider abandoning the project (or taking it back to the drawing table).