How long does it take to obtain a patent?

The time taken to obtain a patent varies substantially from country to country and also depends upon whether the applicant is actively seeking rapid grant of a patent. Applicants are often happy for the application procedure to be fairly slow, to defer costs and to keep their options open.

The majority of the patent applications which we handle take 4 to 6 years to be granted from their earliest date (filing date, or priority date when priority is claimed), although some are granted much more quickly, when an applicant is particularly trying to obtain prompt grant.

UK patent applications typically take from two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years from their earliest date to be granted, although they can be granted in less than one year where there are grounds to accelerate the application procedure (for example, but not limited to, grounds to use the Green Channel), and if the applicant is prepared to request that the application is published early. The UK patent application procedure has a compliance date by when the application process must be completed, which prevents the UK patent application procedure from taking a particularly long period of time.

European patent applications typically take 4 to 6 years to be granted from their earliest date, although some are much slower. An accelerated examination scheme (PACE) is available on request.