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Costs
Obtaining a patent costs money, not only at the beginning of the application procedure but fees must also be paid once the patent has been granted. You should therefore consider carefully whether a patent will prove worthwhile in your circumstances.Questions such as 'Do the benefits outweigh the costs?' and 'Can I maintain my patent?' should be considered carefully. The costs incurred mainly depend on the number of countries in which you wish to have patent rights and which procedure you intend to follow.
Costst at NL Patent Office
There are fees involved in applying for and maintaining a patent, though the application fees are only charged for once. If you choose to write the application yourself, the fees you will pay are:
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A filing fee of 120 euro for filing an application with NL Patent Office
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The compulsory novelty search, costing 100 euro or 794 euro, which is performed by NL Patent Office or the European Patent Office
The costs involved in enlisting the expert help of a patent attorney can be considerable. Patent attorneys charge an hourly rate that is similar to that charged by lawyers. You should prepare thoroughly your visit to a patent attorneys' office by developing your idea in detail. Preferably, you should search the patent databases for several patent publications that relate to your invention prior to your first visit and take these with you. This will save the patent attorney some work and keep costs down.
A patent is a technical and legal document. It grants you the right to prohibit others to bring your product on the market. You must therefore describe your invention in legal terms too. If a patent application is written by a patent attorney, it has a greater chance of success in legal proceedings. The price depends on the complexity of your invention and the rates charged by the patent attorney. An application in the Netherlands costs between 2,000 euro and 10,000 euro.
Maintenance fees
In order to maintain your patent rights, you must pay the first maintenance fee (40 euro) after the fourth year following filing. These costs can increase slightly every year up to 1,400 euro. If you pay the maintenance fees annually, your patent will remain valid for a maximum of twenty years. Please refer to our list of fees for an overview of the various fees.
Enforcement costs
You must also take into consideration that costs may be payable for asserting your rights in the event of patent infringement. The amount of money you should set aside depends on the risk of infringement and the legal fees. If you wish to contest the infringement in court, you should expect to pay a sum between 20,000 euro and 70,000 euro.
There is no information available with regard to how often patents are infringed. In the Netherlands, no more than 25 patent-related court cases take place per year, compared with approximately 141,000 patents that are in force in the Netherlands. There are therefore few instances of infringement cases being brought to court and most cases are settled among the parties themselves prior to reaching court.
