Patent protection in Austria

Questions about patents in Austria

How much does a patent cost in Austria?

Our estimate is about US$2,375 to take a PCT application to grant in Austria. That is about US$788 in official fees and US$1,587 in attorney fees. By stage: filing US$786, search US$158, examination request US$526, office action response US$420 and grant / issuance / publication US$485 (one office action response included). Renewal fees over the patent's life add an estimated US$16,958. These are estimates only, for a standard application (10 claims, 30 pages, a company applicant): the actual cost depends on the law firm and the application. Request a quote from a law firm on this site for an exact price.

What is the PCT national phase deadline for Austria, and which routes are there?

The PCT national phase for Austria must be entered within 30 months of the earliest priority date. A European patent, granted by the European Patent Office, can also be validated in Austria; most patent protection there is obtained this way.

In which technologies is Austria an important patent market?

Austria's 10 largest fields of technology by patent publications are civil engineering (137 a year), electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (113 a year), transport (110 a year), other special machines (96 a year), measurement (81 a year), furniture, games (71 a year), handling (62 a year), machine tools (58 a year), mechanical elements (57 a year) and engines, pumps, turbines (52 a year). Publications are growing fastest in transport (1% a year) and machine tools (0% a year).

What does Austria's economy make and export?

Austria's GDP is US$579.5bn, of which services US$371.2bn, industry US$139.0bn (of which manufacturing US$88.2bn) and agriculture US$7.3bn. Spending a year: households US$300.4bn and health care US$62.1bn. Austria's exports of goods came to US$205.1bn in 2024. Its 10 largest exports were vaccines, blood products and biologics (US$10.3bn, 5% of its exports, #9 in the world), cars (US$9.0bn, 4% of its exports, #20 in the world), packaged medicines (US$8.3bn, 4% of its exports, #17 in the world), vehicle parts (US$5.4bn, 3% of its exports, #20 in the world), electricity (US$3.5bn, 2% of its exports, #4 in the world), petrol engines (US$3.2bn, 2% of its exports, #7 in the world), soft drinks (US$3.0bn, 1% of its exports, #1 in the world), base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles for furniture, doors, staircases, windows, trunks, chests etc, castors with mountings of base metal, automatic door closers of base metal (US$2.3bn, 1% of its exports, #4 in the world), transformers and converters (US$2.3bn, 1% of its exports, #18 in the world) and alloy steel flat-rolled products, of a width 600mm or more (US$2.2bn, 1% of its exports, #5 in the world). It is also one of the world's top exporters of artificial staple fibres (#1, US$933m), builders' joinery (#2, US$1.6bn), railway track material (#2, US$751m) and particle board (#3, US$770m). Where products are made, a patent there can stop infringing copies being made, not only being sold.