IPFACE FAQ

Guide and FAQs on IP Costs and Funding

Filing for intellectual property rights and protecting it costs money and represents an investment by an inventor, entrepreneur or enterprise. The following are frequently asked questions (FAQs) to help you with your investment decision:

What are the indicative costs for filing for IP rights?
How can I strategize to optimize my costs?
Are there government programs that provide funds for IP filing or support inventors?

What are the indicative costs for filing for IP rights?

Please note:

IP rights are country or region-specific rights; this means that you have to eventually file in every country/ region of interest separately. The implication of this is that costs add up rapidly if you file applications in several countries.
The costs of filing and maintaining IP vary from country to country. The costs of different instruments to protect IP also vary.
Typically, an applicant has to plan for all of the following categories of costs:
- Government/statutory fees
- Fees for IP related services, agents, attorneys
- Costs of translation
- Costs associated with planning, organizing and collecting information for the application.
Also, one must be aware that the Government fees also consist of various parts:
- Cost for filing/ registration
- Costs for maintenance once granted (which can be much higher)
- Costs for special requests (for example, for expediting examination, publication etc)

We are providing here rough notional costs/ budgets to help with decision making.

Patent - India	Provisional/ complete patent application in India by inventor him/herself as individual: Rs 1000 - 1500 (individuals); Rs 4000-5000 (company) [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 1-3 times of government fee besides government fee] Request for examination post-complete: Rs 2500 (individuals); Rs 10000 (company) [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 1-3 times of government fee besides government fee] Renewal fees for IN patent post-grant: Rs500-5000/ year (individual; increasing fee with years); Rs 2000 - 20000/ year (company; increasing fee with years) [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 1-3 times of government fee besides government fee]
Patent - PCT application	Filing a PCT application with request for search report from EP: Rs 25,000 [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 1-3 times of statutory fee besides statutory fee]
Patent - US	Filing US applications and examination: Rs 15,000 (small entity); Rs 30,000 (large entity) [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 2-4 times of statutory fee besides statutory fee] Renewal fees for US patent post-grant: Rs 5000-25000/year (small entity; increasing fee with years); Rs 10000 - 100000 (large entity; increasing fee with years) [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 2-4 times of government fee besides government fee]
Trademark in India	Trademark registration: Rs 2500 [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 1-3 times of government fee besides government fee] Renewal and maintenance fees: Rs 5000/year [Agent/ attorney costs if hired will be roughly 1-3 times of government fee besides government fee]

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How can I strategize to optimize my costs?

You can optimize your costs by the following strategies:

Strategy 1: Ask if you really need to file for IP protection?

Does filing for IP give you the benefits commensurate with the costs? Typically, IP filing is sought for securing competitive advantage, building company valuations or identity or visibility. Are you in an industry or business where IPR gives you advantages?
Can you realistically protect your intellectual property? Do you have means to identify infringement of your rights? Do you have the resources and inclination to take infringers to court?

Strategy 2: Ask how you can stage your costs and link them to clear decision points.

For example, for patent filings, you can secure a priority date by filing a provisional patent rather cheaply and quickly, and then take a year to file the complete specification. Filings in foreign countries (and thus costs associated with it) can be deferred by as much as 30 months by filing a PCT application (which costs lesser).

Strategy 3: Understand the governments' fee structures and use them to your advantage.

For example, the Government has created mechanisms such as provisional patent applications to help defer costs, efforts and allow time for a well thought out decision. Use that. The Government has also created provisions to encourage individual inventors with reduced costs which can be used effectively by sole proprietors.

Strategy 4: You can do several things on your own to reduce your costs.

For example, if you wish to file a patent, you may be able to carry out a preliminary prior art search yourself using freely available databases on the Internet. Often, an assessment of novelty is fairly straightforward and can be done by the inventor him/herself. If the literature search clearly shows that the novelty of the invention may be difficult to defend given close or similar work reported in the past, then one can decide not to go ahead with further investments at this point itself.

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Are there government programs that provide funds for IP filing or support inventors?

We list here some selected schemes of the Government.

Ministry of MSME	Link to scheme	Typically reimburses expenses post grant.
Patent Facilitating Centre, TIFAC, DST(and its network of Patent Information Centres)	Link	Technical, legal and financial support given. Terms have to be discussed with PFC.
Biotechnology Patent Facilitating Cell (BPFC), DBT; BCIL, Delhi	Link1; Link2
Invention Promotion Programme and other schems, NRDC	Link1; Link2	Discuss with NRDC staff to understand which scheme works for you.
IP Management activities of National Innovation Foundation	Link	Write/ speak to NIF; For individual innovators
Other schemes that may allow full or partial support for patent filings as part of a larger entrepreneurial project	Link to Venture Center's Funding Database	Study scheme document to understand what level of funding can be used for patent filing etc..

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