Do You Know How Much It Costs to File a Patent?

Filing a patent specification at the Indian Patent Office is the first step towards obtaining a patent for your invention in India.  To file a patent application, one has to submit along with the provisional/complete specification, a set of statutory forms that are provided in the Second Schedule of the Patent Rules 2003 (Amended in 2016). Also, under the First Schedule of the Patent Rules, 2003 (Amended in 2016), an applicant has to mandatory pay fees for obtaining a patent right. Starting from the filing of a patent application to publication, examination, opposition, grant, renewal, restoration, etc., a certain amount of fees is payable by the applicant for every procedure. The statutory fees (cost to file a patent) depend on who the applicant is. The Patent Rules, 2003(Amended in 2016) identifies three categories of applicants:

1. A natural person(s) and/or Startup: Filed by one or more individuals as applicants or by a Startup under Rule 2 (fb) of The Patent Rules, 2003.
2. A small entity, alone or with a natural person(s) and/or Startup: An enterprise under Rule 2(fa) of The Patent Rules, 2003 may qualify as a small entity if the enterprise is engaged in:

• Manufacture and production of goods- The investment in plant and machinery is less than Rs.10 crores.
• Providing or rendering services- The investment equipment is less than Rs. 5 crores.

3. Others, alone with or natural person(s) and/ or Startup and/or small entity

The fee for a natural person(s) and/or Startup is the least. A small entity is charged a fee which is greater than a natural person(s) and/or Startups but lesser than others- except small entity/ startup. The maximum fee is charged from others- except small entity/startup. The Indian Patent Office allows an applicant to file a patent application in two modes:

1. E-filing
2. Physical Filing