Example – Warming AB
A couple of years ago, a company was formed that manufactures heat pumps.
To patent an invention in 10 countries
A couple of years ago, a company was formed that manufactures heat pumps. Its production has been running for a while and it has come up with a new solution in the pump. No one in the company knows about patents, so they hire a patent agent to deal with everything. The idea is that the pumps will be sold in many countries and, in order not to have all the costs in all the countries at an early stage, they choose to do a Swedish patent application and then go further with a PCT application. The larger costs are then delayed by 30 months from the filing date of the Swedish patent application.
Name: Warming AB
Product: Heat pumps
Employees: 20
Company turnover: 90 million SEK
City: Värnamo
A patent in Sweden and then through PCT to: Finland, Estonia, the USA, China, Germany, Japan, Denmark, the UK, Poland
The patent's lifespan: 11 years
To get a patent in 10 countries took approximately 5-6 years
Costs
Agent cost for writing the description for a novelty search: 10,000 SEK
Buying a novelty search from PRV: 12,100 SEK
Agent cost for writing a Swedish patent application, a PCT application, and other agent costs, such as replying to notices and administrative fees: 180,000-220,000 SEK
Fees taken by PRV and other patent authorities:
Filing fee and granting fee in Sweden: 5,500 SEK
Filing fee, search fee and transmittal fee for PCT phase I and for all the designated countries: 33,000 SEK
Preliminary patentability examination fee and handling fee for PCT phase II: 7,000 SEK
Annual fees over 11 years in all chosen countries: 200,000 SEK
Translation:
Translation costs: 0-100,000 SEK
Total: around 450,000-600,000 SEK
Please note
The patent applicants' costs in the examples have been estimated on the basis of conditions set in some typical cases. PRV would like point out that the total amounts are only approximate. Time and costs can vary considerably in different cases, even when the conditions appear to be the same. The patent application's scope and complexity, agent contributions and translation needs are factors that particularly affect the picture of costs.
