Strategy report

At a glance

• Countries5with Germany as the first filing
• Lowest-cost route, 20 years€59,846Direct national · with a caveat, see section 4
• Range between the routes€11,303“Direct national” to “Worldwide via PCT”
• Next deadlineJun 24, 2027End of the priority year

In the first four years, the route “Worldwide via PCT” has the lowest costs at €16,719.

1 Introduction

Invention

Spring-loaded clamp holder for temperature sensors

German first filing

Jun 24, 2026

End of the priority year

Jun 24, 2027

Goal

Protection in the most important sales and manufacturing countries at reasonable cost

Question

Which countries matter for the invention, and what do the four filing routes cost over 20 years?

2 Country selection

Deriving a patent filing strategy requires a thorough analysis of the company’s specific situation. For each country of interest, questions about the market, the customers and the possibility of enforcing rights were answered:

1. In which countries is your product manufactured? (Manufacturing market)
2. Can manufacturing be moved to other countries quickly? (Manufacturing market)
3. Can you detect infringements in these countries? (Manufacturing market)
4. In which countries do you see your biggest sales opportunities? (Customer side)
5. In which of these markets are you already present? (Customer side)
6. Which markets do you plan to enter in the future? (Customer side)
7. Can and will you seriously enforce your rights there? (Law)

Can manufacturing be moved to other countries quickly?

With effort

How certain are you about the countries today?

Still open

What matters more to you about the costs?

Little in the first years

Additional questions are proposals and do not change the scores.

This gives each country a score (manufacturing and customers, multiplied by the law factor). Countries above the threshold are proposed; the adviser can add or remove countries.

This gives the following filing countries: Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, United States.

3 Scope and complexity

The costs depend strongly on the size and the complexity of the application. For complex inventions or an unclear state of the art, the grant procedure takes longer and there are more office actions.

Pages (description / claims / drawings)

22 / 4 / 2

Claims

12

Words in total / of which claims

15,000 / 2,275

Complexity

simple (office actions per country assumed: 1)

Speed

regular

Search at the DPMA already requested

no

Examination at the DPMA already requested

no

EPO micro-entity fee reduction

no

Size not known yet: calculated with an average application.

4 Costs of the four routes

There are two cost stages: the priority filing and the subsequent filings, nationally, at the European Patent Office or at WIPO. The calculation includes official fees (filing, claims, examination, grant and renewal fees), attorney costs and translation costs according to the requirements of each country.

The year of grant is a schematic assumption, not a forecast for the individual procedure.

Where a route is not fully modeled yet

• Unitary Patent: Office actions are calculated only for the priority office and the European Patent Office.
• Worldwide via PCT: Office actions are calculated only for the priority office and the European Patent Office.
• Classic European: Office actions are calculated only for the priority office and the European Patent Office.
• Direct national: Office actions are calculated only for the priority office and the European Patent Office.

On the route with the lowest calculated costs, “Direct national”: it is not fully modeled yet (see above) and includes countries with the quality class “not reliable”. The gap to the other routes may therefore be different.

5 Assessment

Draft by the agent

This section is a fixed template text into which the server inserted the calculated values. It is not legal advice.

Summary

Over 20 years, the route “Direct national” costs the least at €59,846.

What makes the difference

The route “Worldwide via PCT” is the most expensive at €71,148.

When the costs arise

In the first four years, the route “Worldwide via PCT” has the lowest costs at €16,719.

Assumptions

Hourly rate, translation costs and office actions are assumptions; the appendix lists their values.

Note

This explanation does not replace advice from a patent attorney; the decision is yours.

6 Results and evaluation

By the adviser. The company makes the decision on the filing strategy.

This section is completed by the adviser.

Appendix

Filing routes

• Unitary Patent: DPMA → EPO → Unitary Patent
• Worldwide via PCT: DPMA → PCT (WIPO) → EPO → Unitary Patent
• Classic European: DPMA → EPO
• Direct national: DPMA

The first filing is always made at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office; once a European patent is granted, the German application is dropped on the European route.

Costs by cost type

Fee status and quality per office and country

Each fee row has its own check date. Unverified rows are marked and are never considered “reliable”.

“AI-checked”: an AI agent compared this row with the official source; the check by a person is still pending.

Calculated under the new fee rules: Germany (DPMA), European Patent Office, Unitary Patent, France, United Kingdom, United States. The other offices and countries follow the previous fee table.

Assumptions of the calculation

Patent attorney hourly rate

€250/h

Translation per 100 words

€18.00

Office actions per country

1

Complexity

simple

Speed

regular

EPO micro-entity fee reduction

no

Applicant

Company

SME

yes

Applicant’s residence

Germany

License of right

not specified

Independent claims

3

For the offices with new fee rules, the reductions that follow from the applicant details are included; for the other offices, only the EPO micro-entity fee reduction if it was selected. Reductions that are not documented for applicants from abroad are not included.

Reductions under the new fee rules

• European Patent Office: Reduction when a search or examination was already done, included
• France: Reduction by company size, included
• United States: Reduction by company size, included

Basis of calculation

Fee data

patscenario2026_10_21-v2.6.fw-c9e16879

Calculation engine

B 0.2.0+A1.2.0

Calculated on

Oct 24, 2026

Checksum of the inputs

44b3219770e7ddc6

Countries

Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, United States

Liability notice

All amounts are approximate values and do not replace legal advice. The company makes the decision on the filing strategy, possibly together with a patent attorney. Created with patscenar.io on Oct 24, 2026.