A patent's life is a sequence of decisions on a fixed schedule, and the schedule is not yours.
Six phases, from preparation through to expiry or sale.
Three of them are fee windows, and those are where most patents end. Not by failure, but by decision — the fees escalate while the remaining term shrinks, and owners re-evaluate three times.
Only 41.4% of US utility patents reach the end of the arc.
The six phases
| Phase | Duration | The decision |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pre-filing | Weeks to months | Is it worth filing? |
| 2. Pendency | 2–4 years | How to respond at each office action |
| 3. Grant | — | File a continuation? |
| 4. First fee window | 3.5 years after grant | Keep, sell or lapse |
| 5. Second fee window | 7.5 years | Keep, sell or lapse |
| 6. Third fee window | 11.5 years | Keep, sell or lapse |
| Expiry | 20 years from filing | — |
Phases four to six are the same decision asked three times, with a larger fee and a shorter window each time.
Phase 1: pre-filing
| Step | Cost | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Prior art search | Free, then $500–$3,000 | Most inventions stop here |
| Reframing after the search | Time | Where patentable claims often come from |
| Provisional application | ~$60–$300 fees plus drafting | Priority, 12 months |
| Non-provisional drafting | $5,000–$15,000 | Determines what you can ever claim |
The search is the highest-value step in the entire life cycle. It costs least and eliminates most.
Drafting decides everything downstream. New matter cannot be added after filing, so a variation not written on day one is permanently unavailable. See patentable.
Phase 2: pendency
| Event | Timing |
|---|---|
| Filing receipt | Weeks |
| Queue | ~12–20 months |
| Publication | 18 months from earliest priority |
| First office action | 19.9 months average, FY2024 |
| Response | 3 months, extendable to 6 |
| Further actions | Variable |
| Disposal | 26.3 months average, FY2024 |
Two to four years is normal. The averages include early abandonments, so applications that actually grant typically take longer.
Term is consumed throughout, because the twenty years run from filing. Patent Term Adjustment restores days lost to USPTO delay; applicant delay is not restored.
Every response is a permanent decision. Amendments made to overcome prior art surrender scope through prosecution history estoppel. See patent application process.
Phase 3: grant and the continuation window
| Notice of allowance | Issue fee due within 3 months, no extension |
| Continuation window | Closes when the parent issues |
| Reminder | None |
| If missed | The family is closed permanently |
The continuation window is the most commonly missed decision in a patent's life. Nothing prompts it — the parent simply grants and the option disappears.
A continuation lets you write claims aimed at what competitors actually built once you can see it, which is precisely what makes it valuable.
It adds coverage, never term. A continuation expires with its parent.
Phases 4 to 6: the fee windows
| Fee | Due after grant | Large | Small (40%) | Micro (20%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | 3.5 years | $2,150 | $860 | $430 |
| Second | 7.5 years | $4,040 | $1,616 | $808 |
| Third | 11.5 years | $8,280 | $3,312 | $1,656 |
| Total | $14,470 | $5,788 | $2,894 |
Each has a six-month grace period with a surcharge, after which the patent expires permanently and without notice.
Four options at every window, and two happen by default.
| Option | Requires action? | Ends the fee? | Pays you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay and keep | No — the default | No | No |
| Sell | Yes, months ahead | Yes | Yes |
| License | Yes | No — fees continue | Yes, ongoing |
| Lapse | No — the default | Yes | No |
Selling is the only option that both ends the cost and pays, and the only one that must start months before the deadline.
What the data shows
| Ipiry Patent Survival Curve v1.0 | Rate |
|---|---|
| Survive the 3.5-year fee (2022 cohort) | 85.8% |
| Survive the 7.5-year fee (2018 cohort) | 64.6% |
| Reach full term (2014 cohort) | 41.4% |
| Abandoned before full term | 58.6% |
| Lost at the first fee | 14.2% |
| Lost at the second fee | 21.2 points |
| Lost at the third fee | 23.2 points |
| Conditional: paid first, pay second | 74.3% |
| Conditional: paid first two, pay third | 63.0% |
Computed from 27,273,654 USPTO maintenance fee records covering 8,262,336 US utility patents — see the patent survival curve.
Attrition accelerates. Each fee is larger and each buys a shorter remaining window, which is exactly what the escalating schedule is designed to force.
The conditional rates are the more useful internal benchmark. Of patents already paid for twice, the market keeps 63.0% through the third fee.
Worked example: one patent's life
A small entity files in 2016.
| Date | Event | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2016 | Free prior art search | $0 |
| Mar 2016 | Provisional filed | $130 + $2,000 |
| Feb 2017 | Non-provisional filed — term clock starts | $800 + $8,500 |
| Aug 2018 | Publishes | — |
| Sep 2018 | First office action, §103 | — |
| Dec 2018 | Response with amendments | $3,000 |
| May 2019 | Notice of allowance | — |
| May 2019 | Continuation decision — filed | $800 + $4,000 |
| Jul 2019 | Patent grants, PTA 96 days | $480 |
| Jan 2023 | First fee — paid | $860 |
| Jan 2027 | Second fee — paid | $1,616 |
| Jan 2031 | Third fee — decision due | $3,312 |
| May 2037 | Term ends | — |
| Cost to grant | $14,910 |
| Continuation | $4,800 |
| Maintenance fees if all paid | $5,788 |
| Lifetime total | $25,498 |
| Protected period | Mar 2016 → May 2037 = 21.2 years |
The provisional added fourteen months for $2,130. Term ran from February 2017.
The continuation was the decision with no deadline reminder, and it kept the family open to pursue claims against whatever competitors launched.
January 2031 is the real decision. Six years of term left against $3,312, and the question is whether anyone practises the claims.
The cost curve across a life
| Phase | Spend | Cumulative for a small entity |
|---|---|---|
| Search | $0–$3,000 | Low |
| Provisional | ~$2,000 | ~$2,000 |
| Non-provisional | $6,000–$15,000 | ~$12,000 |
| Prosecution | $2,400–$8,000 | ~$17,000 |
| Issue | ~$500 | ~$17,500 |
| Maintenance fees | $5,788 | ~$23,000 |
Most of the spend happens in the first three years and most of the value is decided there too, through claim scope.
The maintenance fees arrive later and feel different — small individually, escalating, and disconnected from the original decision. That disconnection is why they get paid by default.
Design and plant patents
| Utility | Design | Plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | 20 yrs from filing | 15 yrs from grant | 20 yrs from filing |
| Maintenance fees | Three | None | None |
| Renewal decisions | Three | None | None |
| Reaches full term | 41.4% | Almost always | Almost always |
No fees means no decisions and no attrition. Design and plant patents run their full term because nothing has to be done to keep them alive.
The 58.6% abandonment figure applies to utility patents only. See how long are design patents good for.
Where value concentrates
| Phase | Value created | Value destroyed |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-filing | Search and framing | Filing on known art |
| Drafting | Claim scope, alternatives | Narrow disclosure |
| Prosecution | Holding scope | Unnecessary amendments |
| At allowance | Continuation filed | Family closed |
| Fee windows | Selling in time | Lapsing for nothing |
Two phases create most of the value and both are early. Drafting sets the ceiling; nothing later raises it.
Two phases destroy it and both are late. Amendments that surrender more scope than necessary, and deadlines that pass without a decision.
The middle years are mostly holding. Which is why portfolios drift — nothing demands attention between grant and the first fee.
Foreign family members run differently
| US | Most other countries | |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal | 3 fees after grant | Annual annuities |
| Payable while pending | No | Often yes |
| Escalation | Three steps | Every year |
| Decisions per patent | 3 | Up to 20 |
A four-country family generates far more decisions than the US patent alone, and foreign members are typically pruned earlier because the cost rises annually. See patent annuity.
What ends a patent early
| Cause | Reversible? |
|---|---|
| Unpaid maintenance fee | Sometimes, by petition |
| Terminal disclaimer | No — set at filing or prosecution |
| Invalidation at PTAB or in court | No |
| Reissue narrowing | Voluntary |
| Full term reached | Never |
Most early endings are fee decisions, not challenges. Invalidation is dramatic and rare relative to the volume of patents simply released.
Managing the arc
| Review | When |
|---|---|
| Is it worth filing? | Before drafting |
| Amend or argue? | Each office action |
| Continuation? | At notice of allowance |
| Keep, sell, license or lapse? | Each fee window |
| Entity status still correct? | Each fee payment |
| Foreign markets still relevant? | Each annuity |
Run the portfolio review in the first quarter, against deadlines falling over the following eighteen months, so selling remains possible. See patent portfolio management.
Phrase deadlines as decisions. A calendar entry saying "pay $3,312" produces a payment; one saying "decide: keep, sell or lapse" produces a decision.
Patent life: the checklist
- Search before filing. It is the cheapest step and it eliminates most inventions.
- Describe alternatives in the specification. They cannot be added later.
- Calculate term from the non-provisional filing date, not the provisional.
- Treat every office action response as permanent. Amendments surrender scope forever.
- Decide on a continuation at notice of allowance. Nothing will remind you.
- Pay the issue fee within three months. No extension exists.
- Diarise all three fee windows at least three months before each grace period closes.
- Recheck entity status at every payment, since growth or a licence can end it.
- Phrase each fee window as a four-way decision, not an invoice.
- Start any sale months ahead. A patent sold before the deadline is worth something; afterwards it is worth nothing.