[sgt101]

This is in the ball park for a patent being filed and managed internationally (say Japan, USA and Europe) through all the stages to grant. Which takes ~5 years. And then over it's life cycle - there's a lot of admin. I've been regularly quoted £20k.

[jacques_chester]

Yep. I filed through through WIPO for worldwide priority. Eventually my finances stretched as far as obtaining an Australian patent and a US patent. EU was going to cost tens of thousands for low probability. Chinese patent would've cost another 10k at least and it would be a gamble on the future state of IP enforcement there.

There will be more expenses. $50k was the get as far as the US patent. I've spent another $3k since then on costs arising from other paperwork around it.