What will a search cost?

The costs of searching vary by huge amounts, depending for instance on how wide you want the search to be, what type of technology you're covering and also crucially (which is hard to predict in advance) the number of "hits" which the search reveals.

We can give estimates for any specific case.  You can also ask us to stop work at a certain price ceiling.

As a ball park figure, you can expect a combined novelty and freedom to operate patent search, for a simple mechanical invention, covering Europe, the USA and Japan, to cost between £2,000 and £4,000 + VAT – this includes our charges for reviewing and advising on the search results.  More complex technology could increase this figure several fold.

A basic registrability/freedom to operate trade mark search could cost from about £300 to £450 + VAT, to cover UK and EC trade marks.  If you wanted to search unregistered as well as registered marks the cost would increase by around £300 + VAT.  To cover other territories would greatly increase the cost – a US search, for instance, could cost of the order of £1,200 + VAT.

Searches also cost time.  Expect a patent search to take at least 2 to 3 weeks unless you can pay a premium for an urgent response.  A trade mark search is typically quicker, taking perhaps 4 to 7 days, although again urgent searches are possible if your business needs them.