Is it hard to file a patent?
Given the amount of paperwork, research, effort and money described above, it would not be fair to say filing a patent is easy. But the degree to which it is "hard" can vary considerably.
The factors below also affect the length of the patent approval process.
Application issues
If your initial application is thorough, has little risk of running afoul of prior art and does not require the patent examiner to request additional information (or request it more than once), the process can be fairly routine. In this case, it may take as little as 12-18 months from filing to patent grant, a timeframe many in the IP industry would consider brisk.
On the other hand, if your filing is incomplete, uncommonly lengthy, has unnecessary claims, fails to disclose prior art or falls short in other areas, this will only lead to stress and costs that could have been avoided or minimized. It will also prolong the examination period. Working with a patent law firm like Dennemeyer & Associates can help mitigate the chance of application delays.
Office backlog
Large IP offices, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and European Patent Office (EPO), often deal with a degree of backlog. The EPO disclosed an average examination period of 23 months during 2021 (a slight decline from 2020), while the USPTO's figure was about the same as its European counterpart's for 2021 (showing a steady increase).
Oppositions
An inventor or organization is limited to a specific time frame to file an opposition to your patent application. Depending on the jurisdiction, this may be two to six months for pre-grant oppositions and six to 12 months for post-grant procedures. Opposition proceedings last 18-19 months on average. In other words, a patent that might have gone into effect a year and a half after filing may instead require three years before it is in force. Moreover, if the opposing party has legitimate grounds for their action, it can persuade examiners to invalidate or restrict the patent grant (or their intent to grant).
How long does it take to get a patent?
With everything we have discussed, it is reasonable to expect to spend about two years getting a patent.
Some patent offices offer expedited processing, which can limit the examination period to 12 months or less, but this often requires an additional fee.
For patents already filed with a domestic office, foreign filing via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system imposes a maximum of around 30 months before a patent must enter the national phase. Also, the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is useful if trying to file simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions as it fast-tracks office examinations as long as a participating office has validated at least one of the application's claims.