How to choose countries by market, rivals and enforceability
File where you sell, where rivals make or sell, and where you can enforce, and stage the spending so each decision comes with more information.
Lesson 11 of 12 · 4 min
No one can patent everywhere, and few should try. Protection comes office by office (WIPO PCT FAQ), so the question is where a right would actually change what a competitor can do.
Six questions
WIPO suggests six questions: where the product will be sold, what the main markets for similar products are, what it will cost, where competitors are, where the product will be made, and how hard enforcement is (WIPO, Inventing the Future).
In our judgment, those questions point the same way: file where you sell, where rivals make or sell, and where you can enforce. A country with a large market but weak enforcement may be worth less than a smaller one where you could really stop a copier.
A home win does not travel
History offers a warning. Hancock's earlier English patent kept Goodyear from a British patent, so success at home did not carry across the water (Linda Hall Library). Whether Hancock copied Goodyear's samples is contested (Grace's Guide), but the point holds either way: rights stop at the border.
Count the whole life of the patent
Assess "cradle-to-grave" cost, not filing cost (GAO-03-910). National phase fees are "the most significant pre-grant costs", and the PCT postpones them (WIPO PCT FAQ). In our judgment, official fees are the smaller part of the total once you add attorneys, translation and years of renewals.
Stage the spend
In our judgment, a good model spends in steps and decides at each one:
- Month 0: make your priority filing.
- Month 12: file a PCT application.
- Months 16 to 18: read the search opinion.
- Month 28: make the country decision.
- Months 30 to 31: enter the national phase.
- After grant: choose between a Unitary Patent and validation in Europe.
- Every year: prune what no longer earns its keep.
Each step gives you more information before the next bill arrives. A search opinion may show that broad claims will not survive. A year of sales may show which markets matter. When the facts have changed, we think dropping a country at month 28 is a sound decision, not a failure.
Timeless wisdom
WIPO's six questions are where the product will be sold, the main markets for similar products, cost, where competitors are, where it will be made, and how hard enforcement is (WIPO, Inventing the Future). National phase fees are "the most significant pre-grant costs" and the PCT postpones them (WIPO PCT FAQ). Assess "cradle-to-grave" cost, not filing cost (GAO-03-910). In our judgment, the principle that outlasts any fee table is to stage each decision so that it arrives with more information than the last one.
What's current
As of November 6, 2026
We found no official all-in figure per country or per PCT family, so we do not offer one. WIPO's figures cover official stages only (WIPO PCT FAQ). Use firm quotes, and treat any estimate as illustrative. Other official-fee anchors are in the PCT, Europe and East Asia lessons.
The figures below are official fees only, by arithmetic. Japan with 10 claims costs ¥192,000 (JPO fee list). China PCT entry plus examination costs CNY 3,450 before surcharges (CNIPA FAQ, translated).
For Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands to year 12, the EPO compares a Unitary Patent at EUR 11,399 with validation at EUR 16,527 (EPO FAQ). That is the EPO's own comparison of its own system.
Key takeaways
- File where you sell, where rivals make or sell, and where you can enforce.
- A right in one country does nothing in another.
- Judge cost across the patent's whole life, not just at filing.
- Stage spending so each decision comes with more information.
Check your understanding
Sources
The Academy is general education, not legal advice, and reading it doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Patent law and fees change, so check the linked sources and have a registered patent attorney or agent review your situation before you file. Obsidyan sells patent software, including AI drafting tools, so weigh what these lessons say about AI tools with that in mind.