Because off-the-shelf software didn’t take into consideration all the costs of developing and protecting a patent for RIB-X, a small biotech company, its chief patent counsel and a financial analyst developed an Excel program. The program “can predict costs based on just about every conceivable variable that might impact the cost of filing, prosecuting and maintaining a patent,” as stated in Corp. Legal Times, Vol. 15, Sept. 2005 at 38.
The program asks for and handles priorities of patents, all governmental fees, the complexity of patent applications, outside counsel costs and more. The model it produces shows how much each patent in the company’s portfolio costs per month and for the coming five years.