How much and what is involved in creating a patent for an idea?

Plan on spending between about $400 - $2500 for a basic patent screening search. As long as the search goes well, plan on spending anywhere between about $4500 - $12,000+ to hire an attorney to help you prepare and file a patent application. Once the application is filed, you will wait about 2 - 3 years for it to be examined. During examination it is most likely going to be rejected and you should budget about $2000 - $8000+ to fight the rejection(s). If you get past the rejections, plan on spending about $1000 - $2000 in the allowance process, most of which is government fees.

The cost is widely variable as is the quality of the work done. The cost of quality attorney services to draft and *file* a patent application will generally be in the range of $8000-$24000, depending on the complexity and subject matter. Be aware that once the application is filed, there will be examinations in the patent office and it will be necessary to respond to formalities and rejections, if any. These things will incur additional attorney service costs. A patent search may run about $200-400/hr, but here again the usefulness and quality of the search may vary widely depending on the subject matter and complexity. It is not required to perform a search before filing an application, although doing so may be wise and useful.

If you have the technical knowledge and a good understanding of the patent system, you can do the search yourself. Otherwise, it depends upon what your idea is and how many other similar products already exist. It wouldn't be unusual to pay a couple thousand dollars for a search. As for the patent process, see the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's web site for details.

Patent searching is free at the US Patent and Trademark Office website - www.uspto.gov. A professional search can cost anywhere from $500 to thousands of dollars - you decide how much to spend. To obtain patent protection on your idea - you must file a patent application in the USPTO - and have the patent granted. The invention must be (1) new, (2) useful, and (3) not obvious to persons working in the same area (field) of your invention. The application must teach fully how to make and how to use your invention - so that the public will benefit from you obtaining patent protection once your patent expires - typically 20 years from the filing date. Cost to prepare and file a patent application varies greatly - but you should budget at least $10,000 for the process.