Intellectual Property Law

Worthless Patents

By Lee.Gesmer

Once you get a patent, it costs a lot to maintain it.  For many patentees, the maintenance fees after issuance are $980, $2,480 and $4,110 at 3.5 years, 7.5 and 11.5 years, respectively. If the fee is not paid, the patent is forfeited.

Top patent blogger Dennis Crouch has an interesting set of statistics on his site, discussing the “fall-off” rate of maintenance fees paid at these time periods, beginning in July 1998.  The non-renewal rate is significant.  As Mr. Crouch observes, the non-renewals shorten the life of the median patent from 17 years to 12 years. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the study, and a scatter plot graphic.

It’s no great surpise that many patents fail to survive, but it’s interesting to see just how many are  abandoned because their owners don’t deem them to be worth the expense to keep them alive.

Full post as published by Mass Law Blog on February 24, 2009 (boomark / email).