How much does a patent lawyer cost?
The USPTO charges $350 to file a utility patent application, $770 to search it and $880 to examine it for a large entity, under the fee schedule effective January 2025 and last revised in August 2026. Small and micro entities pay a reduced fraction of each. The attorney is the larger and more variable cost: intellectual property work bills at $453 an hour on average according to Clio, and drafting a patent specification is slow, technical writing.
$2,000
USPTO filing, search and examination, large entity
$1,290
USPTO issue fee, large entity
$453
average hourly rate, intellectual property
Cost breakdown
Each table below comes from one source, named underneath it, with the date that source last revised the figures. Everything is a United States figure in USD.
USPTO utility patent fees by entity size
| Fee | Large entity | Small entity | Micro entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic filing fee | $350.00 | $140.00 | $70.00 |
| Search fee | $770.00 | $308.00 | $154.00 |
| Examination fee | $880.00 | $352.00 | $176.00 |
| Issue fee | $1,290.00 | $516.00 | $258.00 |
What a patent lawyer charges by the hour: intellectual property rates
| Practice area | Lawyer | Non-lawyer | Firm blended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Property | $453 | $241 | $409 |
| Corporate Litigation | $461 | $224 | $432 |
| National average, all areas | $349 | $187 | $311 |
A bar for each row of the table above, 4 of them, drawn to the same scale so the spread is visible at a glance. The figure beside each bar is the one the table prints.
What changes the price
- Entity size
- The USPTO discounts its fees substantially for small and micro entities. Confirming which you qualify as, before filing, is the first thing to check.
- How complex the invention is
- A mechanical improvement with a handful of claims is a different drafting job from a software or biotech application. The specification is where the attorney hours go.
- Provisional or non-provisional
- A provisional application is cheaper and buys twelve months of priority. It is not a patent and it is not examined, so the real cost arrives a year later.
- Office actions
- Most applications receive at least one rejection. Responding is billable work, and the number of rounds is the single biggest unknown in a patent budget.
- Maintenance fees
- A granted US patent carries maintenance fees at intervals across its life. Letting them lapse abandons the patent.
- Filing abroad
- A US patent protects you in the US. Each additional jurisdiction brings its own fees, its own attorney and, usually, translation.
How to pay less
- Check whether you qualify as a micro entity
- On the table above the micro entity rate is a small fraction of the large entity one, across every line.
- Start with a provisional
- It secures a filing date while you test whether the invention is worth the full application, which is the decision most of the money hangs on.
- Do the prior art search before you instruct
- Public patent databases are free to search. Arriving with the closest prior art already found saves attorney time and produces better claims.
- Write the disclosure yourself first
- A clear technical description, with drawings, is something you can produce and your attorney cannot. It shortens the drafting considerably.
Questions
What is the difference between a patent attorney and a patent agent?
Both are registered to practise before the USPTO and can draft and prosecute applications. An attorney is also a lawyer and can litigate and advise on infringement; an agent generally charges less for the filing work.
Is a provisional patent application a patent?
No. It is a placeholder that establishes a priority date for twelve months. It is never examined and it never issues, and it lapses if you do not follow it with a full application.
How long does a patent take to grant?
Years is the normal answer. The queue depends heavily on the technology area, and expedited examination is available for an additional USPTO fee.
Do I need a patent to sell my invention?
No, and many products never have one. A patent is a right to stop others, which matters if you expect to be copied and have the means to enforce it.
Where these figures come from
The USPTO fees above are exact. The attorney side is an hourly benchmark only. We have not published a total drafting cost, because the figures in circulation vary enormously by technology area and none that we found states how it was measured. Ask a patent attorney for an estimate in hours for your specific invention, and multiply.
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