650-323-6475
Email: sheerin@siliconvalleyip.com

Flat Rate Fees
Flat rate fees so you know upfront the costs involved. The fees disclosed below are based on the average cost for each service provided (excluding filing fees paid to the United States Patent Office). A flat rate fee will be quoted for your particular case which will not be exceeded. The actual fees quoted for your case may exceed the average fees disclosed below only if the invention and/or prosecution is unusually complex.

Prior Art Search

• $500 Pre-Patent Filing Search: I recommend performing a prior art search prior to drafting and filing a patent application to determine whether any obvious prior art exists that would anticipate the invention. It makes no sense to pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees and filing fees to apply for a patent that will be immediately rejected. A pre-patent filing search is limited to existing US patents and patent applications. Less extensive than a full invalidity search, a pre-patent filing search is intended to find the prior art that would typically be found by a patent examiner during prosecution.

• $3,000 Invalidity Search: an invalidity search is typically performed in connection with an alleged infringement or infringement litigation. The search is more extensive than a pre-patent filing search and includes US, Euro, and Japan patents and patent applications, as well as related technical publications such as IEEE.

Patent Drafting/Prosecution

• $7,000 Patent Drafting: for an average electrical/software patent application. Includes formal drawings and supporting documents (declarations, assignments, etc.) but does not include filing fees paid to the patent office.

• $2,000 Office Action Response: for an average response to a non-final or final office action.

• $500 Request for Continued Examination: to prepare the request and attendant response. Does not include fees paid to the patent office.

• $2,000 Appeal: for preparing an average appeal brief or pre-appeal brief review. Does not include fees paid to the patent office.

Non-Infringement/Invalidity Opinion

• $10,000 Non-Infringement/Invalidity Opinion: includes the above-described invalidity search to determine whether existing prior art supports an invalidity opinion.

Re-examination

• $3,000 Re-examination Request: includes preparation of an ex-parte request for re-examination in view of prior art discovered by the client. Does not include the above-described invalidity search or fees paid to the patent office. Additional fees apply to file an inter-partes request for re-examination.