UK Patent System And The Related Cost
Isn’t it all about protecting your idea and getting the rights to take a legal action against the party using, selling, or manufacturing an invention based on your idea without your permission or without obtaining the license for the same?
The answer to the above situation under any circumstance can’t be “NO” and the only way to do that is by getting your idea/invention patented. Having a patent helps you to take and win a legal action against the party using, selling, or manufacturing your invention in the UK, only if your invention is patented in the UK.
However, obtaining a patent is not an easy task and it takes a lot of investment both in terms of time and money. So, for an applicant/inventor it is important to have an idea that how much it will cost in getting a patent and below in this article some of the useful details regarding the same have been provided.
Table of Contents
What can be Patented?
As being familiar with other patent systems, the UK patent system with no exception has the same criteria which includes that the invention must be:
Process Towards Grant of a Patent Application:
The applicant can file the initial application with the IPO (Intellectual Property Office) including only the description and the drawings. The claims and the abstract can be submitted later. The IPO will then send you an application number and filing dates and will conduct a basic search to check if the application is complete and if the format of the documents is correct. Once the above-mentioned procedure is complete, a process to identify if the invention is patentable begins, which includes searching by the IPO to find relevant prior arts.
A search report is then sent to the applicant and by analyzing the search report the applicant can decide either to continue, to withdraw the application, to amend the application or request for an extensive examination. If you continue, then the application is published usually after the 18 months from the initial filing date of your application.
Further, if it is determined that the invention is not obvious and is new, then the application is granted, and a certificate is transmitted to the applicant. Once your patent is granted it has to be renewed at the 5th year from when you initially filed for it and then every year after that and this can continue up to 20 years.
The Fees Structure:
Thinking about applying for a patent in UK, the preparation, and the filing a UK patent application can vary significantly and might cost approximately from £1500 to £6000. The cost mostly depends on different factors like whether any objections are raised against your application, how complex is your invention, the search and examination phases which can take around 5 years etc.
Below is the breakdown of the amount of fee required to be paid for filing online forms at different stages, however the prices for using the hard copy mode varies accordingly (Rates Revised in 2022):
Further, there are multiple services which doesn’t require any sort of payment and some of them are listed below:
- Providing a statement of inventorship and of right to grant of a patent
- Requesting to correct a name or address
- Applying or canceling for a patent register entry to show licenses are available as of right
- Filing for a translation in connection with a European patent or a European patent application
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