So you have filed your U.S. patent application and followed it up with a PCT application before the expiry of the one (1) year deadline. Now the 30 months (31 months in some limited jurisdictions) deadline from your original application (U.S. priority date) is approaching and you must decide which “national stage’ jurisdictions (regions or countries) you want to file your application in.
Regional/National Phase Applications
On the average, a PCT application costs about $5000 (filing fee plus routine communications – excluding any substantive amendments). But PCT is simply a highway – at the end of the highway you must get off and choose the next steps.
How much on the average should you set aside or plan for?
Let’s assume you’ve decided to enter the following national phase jurisdictions/counties at the end of the 30 months period: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EPO, Israel, India ,Japan, Korea , and Mexico.
You should plan for the following approximate costs from the national phase filing through to grant for these countries:
Australia $25K, Brazil $24K, Canada $18K, China $27K, EPO $22K, Israel $14K, India $14K, Japan $30K, South Korea $18K, and Mexico $13K.
Costs in Europe after grant will depend on the countries (currently there are 38 countries) where the patent is made effective. To do that you must ‘validate’ the patent in countries of interest and pay renewal fees throughout its life. Here are some examples for total cost of validation and accumulated renewals:
Germany $22K, France $13K, United Kingdom $10, Italy $17K.
The rights will lapse in any countries where you don’t validate.