If you want the official USPTO fee schedule, here it is. If you want to read questions I have about the fee schedule, then read on from here.
The search fee for a utility patent is $620, and $310 -- if the applicant is a small entity. It is known, but I can't prove it's known, that the complexity of the search depends on the type of invention. An application for a latch is usually easier to search for than an application for a method of moving electrons in a certain way. This is because latches can usually be pictured and it's hard to picture a method for moving electrons without describing it. Pictures are easier to search through than written descriptions. For me, the fact that searches vary in difficulty but don't vary in price, raises the following questions.
Should there be a different fee for different applications that claim different inventions, i.e. does it actually take more work to search for some inventions? Do different fees raise the barrier to entry into the patent game, for certain arts? Does the patent system incentivze innovation if it charges applicants more when they apply for inventions that are hard to search for? Do other countries do it differently? do private companies do it differently? I'll answer these questions in a later blog.
The search fee for a utility patent is $620, and $310 -- if the applicant is a small entity. It is known, but I can't prove it's known, that the complexity of the search depends on the type of invention. An application for a latch is usually easier to search for than an application for a method of moving electrons in a certain way. This is because latches can usually be pictured and it's hard to picture a method for moving electrons without describing it. Pictures are easier to search through than written descriptions. For me, the fact that searches vary in difficulty but don't vary in price, raises the following questions.
Should there be a different fee for different applications that claim different inventions, i.e. does it actually take more work to search for some inventions? Do different fees raise the barrier to entry into the patent game, for certain arts? Does the patent system incentivze innovation if it charges applicants more when they apply for inventions that are hard to search for? Do other countries do it differently? do private companies do it differently? I'll answer these questions in a later blog.
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