Add Watermark To Legal Patents Templates For Free

To file a design patent application for free, all you have to do is conduct a patentability search, gather the required materials, and apply to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Your application should include photographs and drawings demonstrating the innovation in your design.

The provisional application papers (written description and drawings), filing fee and cover sheet can be filed electronically using EFS-Web or filed by mail.

Method 1: Write and file your own patent application (the cheapest way) - total cost about $1,000 for most inventors to get an issued patent (USPTO government fees only). A provisional type application is only about $150 to file but this only stays pending for 12 months and is only a 'placeholder' type application.

A patent application is subject to the payment of a basic filing fee and additional fees that include a search fee, an examination fee, and issue fee. The fees vary with the type, content, and size of the application being filed and the entity status of the applicant.

The Patent Pro Bono Program attempts to match inventors with registered patent agents or patent attorneys. These practitioners volunteer their time without charging the inventor. However, the inventor still must pay all fees that are required by the USPTO; these cannot be paid by the practitioner.

A poor man's patent is essentially writing out a description of your invention and then mailing that written description to yourself. This postmarked envelope supposedly acts to create the date of your invention as the date this written description was postmarked.