Fees current as of October 2026. This guide is updated each year.
“How much will a patent cost?” is usually the first question an inventor asks, and it deserves a straight answer. The honest version is that a patent isn’t one purchase. It’s a series of costs spread over several years: government fees you pay to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), professional fees for preparing and prosecuting the application, and maintenance fees that keep an issued patent alive.
This guide walks through each piece so you can budget with your eyes open. If you’re new to the process itself, start with our step-by-step guide to getting a patent in Iowa, then come back here for the cost side.
The two kinds of patent costs
Every patent budget has two parts:
- USPTO government fees. These are set by federal regulation and published on the USPTO fee schedule. They’re the same whether you live in Cedar Rapids or California.
- Professional fees. This is the cost of a registered patent attorney or agent searching the prior art, drafting the application, preparing drawings, and responding to the examiner. These vary widely with the invention, which is why no honest attorney can quote a single number before understanding what you’ve built.
Your entity size changes the government fees
The USPTO charges three tiers of fees:
- Large entity: the full fee. This generally applies to companies with 500 or more employees (counting affiliates) or anyone obligated to license or assign the invention to such a company.
- Small entity: a 60% discount. Most individual inventors, small businesses, nonprofits, and universities qualify.
- Micro entity: an 80% discount. This requires small-entity status plus limits on prior patent filings and gross income (or a qualifying university connection). The income ceiling is adjusted periodically, so check the USPTO’s micro entity guidance before you certify.
Claiming the wrong status can cause real problems later, so it’s worth confirming your status before filing rather than guessing.
Stage 1: The provisional application (optional)
Many Iowa inventors start with a provisional application, which holds a filing date for 12 months while you test the market or refine the design. The USPTO filing fee is $325 (large), $130 (small), or $65 (micro).
The government fee is low, but a provisional only protects what it actually describes. A thin provisional can leave you with a filing date that doesn’t cover the invention you end up claiming. We cover what to include in Provisional Patent Applications for Iowa Inventors.
Stage 2: Filing the nonprovisional (utility) application
A utility patent application requires three separate USPTO fees at filing:
| Fee | Large entity | Small entity | Micro entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic filing fee | $350 | $140* | $70 |
| Search fee | $770 | $308 | $154 |
| Examination fee | $880 | $352 | $176 |
| Total at filing | $2,000 | $800 | $400 |
*The schedule lists a further-reduced $70 basic filing fee for small entities that file electronically.
Those totals assume a “standard” application: no more than 3 independent claims and 20 total claims, under 100 pages, and filed in the USPTO’s DOCX format. Costs climb when an application goes beyond those limits:
- Each independent claim over three: $600 (large) / $240 (small) / $120 (micro)
- Each claim over 20: $200 / $80 / $40
- Any multiple dependent claim: $925 / $370 / $185
- Each additional 50 sheets over 100: $450 / $180 / $90
- Filing the specification in a format other than DOCX: $430 / $172 / $86
These add-ons are one reason careful claim drafting matters. A well-structured claim set can protect an invention thoroughly without paying for claims that don’t add value.
Design patents cost less to file. The filing, search, and examination fees total $1,300 (large), $520 (small), or $260 (micro). Not sure which type fits your product? See Utility Patents vs. Design Patents.
Stage 3: Prosecution, the back-and-forth with the examiner
Very few applications are allowed exactly as filed. Most receive at least one office action, a letter in which the examiner rejects or objects to some of the claims. Responding well is where much of the professional work happens, and it’s also the hardest part of a patent budget to predict.
USPTO fees during prosecution can include:
- Extensions of time if a response is filed late: $235 for one month, $690 for two, $1,590 for three (large entity; small and micro entities pay 40% and 20% of those amounts).
- Request for continued examination (RCE) to keep negotiating after a final rejection: $1,500 for the first request and $2,860 for later ones (large entity).
If you want a faster decision, prioritized examination (“Track One”) is available for an added fee of $4,515 (large), $1,806 (small), or $903 (micro).
Our guide to responding to USPTO office actions explains what these letters look like and how responses are built.
Stage 4: Issue fee
When the examiner allows your application, you pay an issue fee before the patent is granted:
- Utility patent: $1,290 (large) / $516 (small) / $258 (micro)
- Design patent: $1,300 (large) / $520 (small) / $260 (micro)
Stage 5: Maintenance fees (utility patents only)
A utility patent stays in force only if maintenance fees are paid at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after grant. Design patents don’t have maintenance fees.
| Due | Large entity | Small entity | Micro entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 years | $2,150 | $860 | $430 |
| 7.5 years | $4,040 | $1,616 | $808 |
| 11.5 years | $8,280 | $3,312 | $1,656 |
| Total | $14,470 | $5,788 | $2,894 |
The rising schedule is deliberate. By year 11.5, you’ll know whether the patent still covers something worth protecting, and many owners let patents on outdated products lapse.
What drives professional fees
Because every invention is different, here’s what typically moves the professional side of the budget up or down:
- Technical complexity. A simple mechanical improvement usually takes less drafting time than a control system, a software platform, or a multi-part ag implement with several operating modes.
- How crowded the field is. In mature fields, more prior art means more careful claim drafting and often more rounds with the examiner.
- Software and business-method issues. Software inventions can face eligibility rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 101, which can add response work. Our plain-English guide to Alice and Section 101 and the software patents page explain why.
- Drawings. Formal patent drawings are often prepared by a professional illustrator.
- A prior-art search before filing. A search costs money up front but can save you from paying to file on something that’s already known, or help shape claims that avoid it.
- How much you’ve documented. Clear sketches, prototypes, test data, and a written description of what’s new can shorten drafting time.
When you meet with a patent attorney, it’s reasonable to ask for an estimate for each stage (search, drafting, filing, and a typical office action response) rather than one lump number.
Ways Iowa inventors can manage the cost
- Confirm your entity status so you pay the right discounted fees.
- Use a provisional strategically, to get a filing date while you test demand, but make sure it fully describes the invention.
- Keep the claim set focused to avoid excess-claim fees.
- File in DOCX to avoid the non-DOCX surcharge.
- Budget for prosecution, not just filing, so an office action isn’t a surprise.
- Revisit the patent at each maintenance deadline and keep paying only while it protects something valuable.
For a broader view of IP spending at the startup stage, see our Startup IP Checklist for Eastern Iowa Founders.
Talk through your budget
I’m Jason R. Sytsma, a registered patent attorney at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C. in Cedar Rapids. I work with inventors, startups, manufacturers, and software companies across Eastern Iowa. If you’d like to talk through what your invention might cost to protect, and which stages make sense for you, contact me. You can also learn more about my background, see my patent services, or read my attorney profile at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll.
USPTO fees are taken from the USPTO fee schedule (effective January 19, 2025, last revised August 14, 2026) and can change. Always confirm current fees before filing. This article is general information, not legal advice, and reading it doesn’t create an attorney-client relationship. Every matter is different, and no particular outcome is guaranteed. Attorney advertising.
