Editing Patent (section)

===Application and prosecution===
{{Main|Patent application|Patent prosecution}}
Before filing for an application, which must be paid for whether a patent is granted or not, a person will want to ensure that their material is patentable. Patentable material must be synthetic, meaning that anything natural cannot be patented. For example, minerals, materials, genes, facts, organisms, and biological processes cannot be patented, but if someone were to apply an inventive, non-obvious, step to them to synthesize something new, the result could be patentable. That includes genetically engineered strains of bacteria, as was decided in Diamond v. Chakrabarty.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Diamond ''v.'' Chakrabarty |url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/79-136 |access-date=2020-12-16 |website=[[Oyez Project|Oyez]] |publisher=[[Chicago-Kent College of Law]] |language=en |archive-date=2021-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102121727/https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/79-136 |url-status=live }}</ref> Patentability also depends on public policy and ethical standards.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bioethics and Patent Law: The Case of the Oncomouse|url=https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/03/article_0006.html|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.wipo.int|language=en|archive-date=2020-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211092539/https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/03/article_0006.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, patentable materials must be novel, useful, and a non-obvious inventive step.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Patent Requirements (BitLaw)|url=https://www.bitlaw.com/patent/requirements.html|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.bitlaw.com|archive-date=2020-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111211803/https://www.bitlaw.com/patent/requirements.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Patent Applications.svg|thumb|Patent applications filed at the world's major patent offices from 1980 to 2021.]]

A patent is requested by filing a written [[Patent application|application]] at the relevant patent office. The person or company filing the application is referred to as "the applicant". The applicant may be the inventor or its assignee. The application contains a description of how to make and use the invention that must provide [[sufficiency of disclosure|sufficient detail]] for a person skilled in the art (i.e., the relevant area of technology) to make and use the invention. In some countries there are requirements for providing specific information such as the usefulness of the invention, the [[Sufficiency of disclosure|best mode]] of performing the invention known to the inventor, or the technical problem or problems solved by the invention. Drawings illustrating the invention may also be provided.

The application also includes one or more [[Patent claim|claims]] that define what a patent covers or the "scope of protection".

After filing, an application is often referred to as "[[patent pending]]". While this term does not confer legal protection, and a patent cannot be enforced until granted, it serves to provide warning to potential infringers that if the patent is issued, they may be liable for damages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/media/pages/whatis/patents.htm|title=What does 'patent pending' mean?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829120240/http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/media/pages/whatis/patents.htm|archive-date=29 August 2011}}</ref><ref>USPTO web site, [http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/patpend.htm ''Patent Marking and "Patent Pending"'' (Excerpted from General Information Concerning Patents print brochure)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802035958/http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/patpend.htm |date=2009-08-02 }}, Consulted on August 5, 2009.</ref><ref>[[UK Intellectual Property Office]] web site, [http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/patent/p-manage/p-useenforce/p-displayrights.htm ''Display your rights''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903125501/http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/patent/p-manage/p-useenforce/p-displayrights.htm |date=2009-09-03 }}, (under "IPO Home> Types of IP> Patents> Managing your patents> Using and enforcing") Consulted on August 5, 2009.</ref>

Once filed, a patent application is [[Patent prosecution|"prosecuted"]]. A [[patent examiner]] reviews the patent application to determine if it meets the [[patentability]] requirements of that country. If the application does not comply, objections are communicated to the applicant or their [[patent attorney|patent agent or attorney]] through an [[Office action]], to which the applicant may respond. The number of Office actions and responses that may occur vary from country to country, but eventually a final rejection is sent by the patent office, or the patent application is granted, which after the payment of additional fees, leads to an issued, enforceable patent. In some jurisdictions, there are opportunities for third parties to bring an [[opposition proceeding]] between grant and issuance, or post-issuance.

Once granted the patent is subject in most countries to [[maintenance fee (patent)|renewal fees]] to keep the patent in force. These fees are generally payable on a yearly basis. Some countries or regional patent offices (e.g. the [[European Patent Office]]) also require annual renewal fees to be paid for a patent application before it is granted. In the US, patent maintenance fees are due on 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 anniversaries of the patent issuance.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule#Patent%20Maintenance%20Fee | title=USPTO fee schedule | date=8 March 2023 }}</ref> Only ca. 50% of issued US patents are maintained full term. Large corporations tend to pay maintenance fees through the full term, while small companies are more likely to abandon their patents earlier, even though the due fees are ca. 5 times lower for small businesses (microentities).<ref>Twenty years of US nanopatenting: Maintenance renewal scoring as an indicator of patent value. 2023. World Pat Inf. 73/. A.L. Porter, M. Markley, R. Snead, N.C. Newman. doi: 10.1016/j.wpi.2023.102178.</ref> 

====Costs====
The costs of preparing and filing a patent application, prosecuting it until grant and maintaining the patent vary from one jurisdiction to another, and may also be dependent upon the type and complexity of the invention, and on the type of patent.

The European Patent Office estimated in 2005 that the average cost of obtaining a European patent (via a Euro-direct application, i.e. not based on a PCT application) and maintaining the patent for a 10-year term was around €32,000.<ref>With the following assumptions: "18 pages (11 pages description, 3 pages claims, 4 pages drawings), 10 claims, patent validated in 6 countries (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland), excl. in-house preparation costs for the patentee" (the costs relate to European patents granted in 2002/2003), in European Patent Office, [http://www.european-patent-office.org/epo/new/cost_analysis_2005_en.pdf ''The cost of a sample European patent – new estimates''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527201548/http://www.european-patent-office.org/epo/new/cost_analysis_2005_en.pdf |date=2008-05-27 }}, 2005, p.&nbsp;1.</ref> Since the [[London Agreement (2000)|London Agreement]] entered into force on May 1, 2008, this estimation is however no longer up-to-date, since fewer translations are required.

After a patent is issued, in most countries patent maintenance payments are required. In some countries (e.g. Russia) fees are due every year, and the amount due does not change much. In other countries (e.g. US) payments are due ca. every 4th year after the grant date, and the amount due increases every time. A 2023 study by [[Rochester Institute of Technology]] found the full term maintenance rate of issued US patents has been fairly constant (40-50%) since 1992. Full term patents have more issued claims and receive on average more citations than earlier expired patents.<ref>The persistence of worthless patents? 2023. World Pat Inf. 72/. A. Schwall, J. Wagner. doi: 10.1016/j.wpi.2023.102179.</ref>

The [[European Patent Office]] charges annual fees for pending applications. Also, between 2012 and 2016 [[Ecuador]] increased its patent maintenance fees ten-fold, briefly becoming the most expensive country to maintain patents.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mondaq.com/patent/524436/ecuador-reversed-the-increase-of-its-patent-fees-decreases-it-by-90 | title=Ecuador Reversed the Increase of Its Patent Fees: Decreases It by 90% – Patent – Ecuador}}</ref>

In the United States, in 2000 the cost of obtaining a patent ([[patent prosecution]]) was estimated to be from $10,000 to $30,000 per patent.<ref name="lemley">{{cite journal | last1 = Lemley | first1 = Mark A | year = 2001 | title = Rational Ignorance at the Patent Office | url = https://escholarship.org/content/qt1tc166q2/qt1tc166q2.pdf?t=lnp2qz | journal = Northwestern University Law Review | volume = 95 | issue = 4 | doi = 10.2139/ssrn.261400 | s2cid = 154339316 | access-date = 2020-09-02 }}</ref> When patent litigation is involved (which in year 1999 happened in about 1,600 cases compared to 153,000 patents issued in the same year<ref name="lemley" />), costs increase significantly: although 95% of patent litigation cases are settled [[Settlement (litigation)|out of court]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hblaw.org/articles-reader/items/carry-a-big-stick.html|title=Holland & Bonzagni a full Service IP Law Firm in Western Massachusetts |website=www.hblaw.org|access-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414072237/http://www.hblaw.org/articles-reader/items/carry-a-big-stick.html|archive-date=14 April 2016}}</ref> those that reach the courts have legal costs on the order of a million dollars per case, not including associated business costs.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Patent failure: how judges, bureaucrats, and lawyers put innovators at risk
|url=https://archive.org/details/patentfailurehow00bess
|url-access=limited
|last1=Bessen
|first1=James
|last2=Meurer
|first2=Michael James
|year=2008
|page=[https://archive.org/details/patentfailurehow00bess/page/n146 132]
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|isbn=978-0691134918
}}. Based on an [[American Intellectual Property Law Association]] (AIPLA) survey of patent lawyers (2005), and court documents for a sample of 89 court cases where one side was ordered to pay the other side's legal fees. The containing chapter ('The Costs of Disputes') also tries to quantify associated business costs.</ref>

====Non-national treatment in the application procedure====
{{One source section|date=January 2022}}
Non-national treatments in national patent offices had been prevalent among the Northern countries{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} until they were prohibited after the negotiation of the [[Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property]]. According to Articles 2 and 3 of this treaty, juristic and natural persons who are either national of or domiciled in a state party to the Convention shall, as regards the protection of industrial property, enjoy in all the other countries of the Union, the advantages that their respective laws grant to nationals.

In addition, the [[TRIPS Agreement]] explicitly prohibits any such discrimination. TRIPS Agreement Article 27.1 states that 'patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention, the field of technology and whether products are imported or locally produced'.