The problem is, it's too complicated and expensive to patent the darn things.
While the process of patenting something in and of itself isn't exceptionally difficult, it is rather confusing, and it is quite expensive, even before you get to the worst part of it. There's the Patent Attorney fees and US Patent Office fees.
The US Patent Office fees are pretty high, and unfortunately with patent applications, you get what you pay for. The US Patent Office is a horror. Fees a la carte. There's a $165 filing fee, a search fee of $270, an examination fee of (at least) $110, which would bring it to around $540 for a non-provisional utility patent application. But, that initial fee only covers 3 independent claims and 17 dependent claims. If you have more claims it costs more. But we're not done yet. In addition to the *various* filing fees, there will also be an issue fee due before any patent will be granted. The current issue fee for an individual is $755. So, even without any attorney fees the absolute lowest you could pay for a single patent is at least $1,295.
In reality, what happens is that during prosecution many times the examiner will allow some claims but not all claims. If that happens you may need to let the allowed claims issue. Then you would have to continue fighting over the rejected claims in hopes of getting some of them through the office. That would require ANOTHER patent application, which would lead to additional fees. You could decide to drop the rejected claims and not incur any additional fees with respect to them, or you could appeal, which means attorney fees and paying additional Patent Office fees of $540 for an appeal without an oral hearing or $1,080 for an appeal with an oral healing. Fees add up quickly and it can take many months or even years before they get back to you.
Then of course there's maintenance fees due every 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years after the issuance, which are around $490, $1,240, and $2055. And well, during patent prosecution it's common to need to pay additional fees. You're supposed to have 6 months to respond to anything the examiner sends, but they always shorten the period to 1 to 3 months. If you want the full 6 months then there are, you guessed it, additional fees. $65 for 1 month extension, $245 for a 2 month extension, $555 for a 3 month extension, $865 for a 4 month extension and $1,175 for a 5 month extension.
And of course, you'll also have to file for a continuation to keep the application alive to continue to fight for broad claims and there's yet another fee of $405 to $540 for that. If you want to make amendments after a final rejection, that'd be yet another $405 fee. Those are extremely common. One of biggest the reasons you would even file an amendment after final rejection is to accept the examiner's suggestion. You'll generally want to do that and obtain the patent then file a continuation to continue to fight for broader claims.
Still with me on how ridiculously expensive this is? We aren't even to the fun part yet.
And that is... Patent Attorney fees. With so many loopholes in patents, you'll generally WANT a Patent Attorney. But that's bad. First you'll need to pay for professional patent research which in itself will probably run around $500-$1000, depending on how detailed you want it. If you want both a US and international patent search, the cost goes up quite a bit, and it's generally fixed and non-negotiable. After that, the attorney will review the search and issue a patentability opinion either verbal or written, which the low range of that would be around $1,000. It could be much more. Even if you don't actually get a patentability opinion and just want an attorney to answer your questions, you'd still expect $250-$500 for the consultation.
What you're also looking at is at least being charged $252 an hour (2001 national average). But, that's a bit naive of an estimate. If you want an experienced patent attorney at a reputable firm then generally you should expect around $275 to $400 per hour in areas outside of major metropolitan areas or somewhere between $400 to $800 or more per hour, yes, hour, in major metropolitan areas.
In the end, a general ballpark figure you'd expect with an attorney is anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000 or more. If you want a strong patent, even $20,000 or more. A stronger patent requires more claims and more attention to providing an adequate disclosure and describing as many alternatives, options, variations and different embodiments as possible. That, of course, requires greater attorney time and higher filing fees, which in turn requires more time spent working with the patent examiner to get the patent issued.
It's not uncommon to hear innovative start-up companies paying 1.5 to 2 times the ballpark figures mentioned above.
Here are a couple examples from IPWatchdog.com:
Example 1: Computer implemented method for facilitating certain functionality via the Internet
* Patent search with detailed patentability assessment = $2,400
* Provisional patent application prepared and filed = $3,000
* Filing fee to the USPTO = $110
* Nonprovisional patent application based off provisional filing = $10,000
* Filing fee to the USPTO for nonprovisional patent application = $1,200
* Professional illustrations for nonprovisional patent application = $400
* TOTAL COST through filing nonprovisional patent application = $17,110.00 (if provisional patent application is skipped the cost would be $110 less)
Example 2: Consumer electronics product
* Patent search with detailed patentability assessment = $2,000
* Provisional patent application prepared and filed = $2,000
* Filing fee to the USPTO = $110
* Nonprovisional patent application based off provisional filing = $7,500
* Filing fee to the USPTO for nonprovisional patent application = $800
* Professional illustrations for nonprovisional patent application = $400
* TOTAL COST through filing nonprovisional patent application = $12,810 (if provisional patent application is skipped the cost would be $110 less)
Example 3: Mechanical tool
* Patent search with detailed patentability assessment = $1,600
* Provisional patent application prepared and filed = $1,500
* Filing fee to the USPTO = $110
* Nonprovisional patent application based off provisional filing = $6,500
* Filing fee to the USPTO for nonprovisional patent application = $600
* Professional illustrations for nonprovisional patent application = $400
* TOTAL COST through filing nonprovisional patent application = $10,710 (if provisional patent application is skipped the cost would be $110 less)
As you can see, this is quite ridiculous.
For a country made what it is by its creative inventions and innovation, for it to be so hard for the average American to be innovative and protect their inventions, it's well... a very sad time in America's history. The worst part is most people don't even know about it.
We need to go back to our roots and become what we were again, a country of innovation made rich by our inventions. We won't be able to do that until average Americans can actually afford to patent their inventions and with it easy enough that someone doesn't have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to lawyers for iron-clad contracts just so someone can't steal our invention through some loophole.
It scares me, it really does. Just how many are out there, unable to afford the complex confusing patenting process and as a result their inventions never seeing the light of day? What would the world be like if Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, The Wright Brothers or Alexander Graham Bell couldn't afford to patent their inventions so they just never saw the light of day? Well, I imagine it'd be a bit like the Dark Ages. No phones, no electricity, no internet, no computers. The worst part is, it may very well be happening at this very moment. The scariest part is, it probably is...
:sigh: