U.S. patent only protects your product in the United States. If
you want to protect your product worldwide, you can file a Patent
Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application, which protects you in most
major markets. The cost of a PCT patent application is $1,900. That
sounds like a fair proposal, but Al Davis, a retired patent agent
and long-time patent examiner, points out several problems
inventors should be aware of before filing for a PCT:
Because it is a requirement that an attorney rewrite
a U.S. application into PCT form, a PCT patent will cost you around
$1,600 in attorney fees.
You'll spend thousands of dollars annually to
maintain your patent in each country it's filed in. Most
countries require maintenance fees every year vs. every
31/2 years in the
United States. Total maintenance fees are more than $100,000 over
the life of a patent.
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The violators of your patent rights in overseas
markets are more expensive to find.
The courts that enforce overseas patents may favor
their own citizens and companies over foreign inventors.
Final analysis: The PCT application may be great for big
companies with huge amounts of money, but still isn't a viable
option for most inventors.
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