Key takeaways

You can’t patent a vague idea – you patent an invention. That means writing up a specific, technical description of how it works, checking it’s genuinely new, then filing it with a patent office – Lithuania’s State Patent Bureau, the UK Intellectual Property Office, the USPTO, or the EPO – and taking it through examination.

Key points:

• You cannot patent a vague idea – only a fully described invention that is new, involves an inventive step, and has industrial application.
• The process is broadly the same everywhere: document the invention, search prior art, check patentability, choose a filing strategy, prepare the application, then file and respond to the examiner.
• Lithuania, the UK, and the US differ most in three places: whether the national office checks novelty (Lithuania’s doesn’t), how “provisional” filing works, and how long examination takes.
• A UK patent runs through the Intellectual Property Office (IPO): £405 in official fees (filing, search, and examination), typically £5,000–£10,000+ in total with an attorney, and 2-4.5 years to grant.
• A US patent runs through the USPTO: official filing-stage fees alone range from about $400 (micro entity) to $2000 (standard entity), with average total pendency around 26–28 months; with attorney drafting, total cost typically runs $3,000-$17,000+.
• A Lithuanian national patent only goes through formal examination – the State Patent Bureau doesn’t check novelty or inventive step – but it’s also by far the cheapest route, at roughly €138 in official fees (€69 for individual inventors). Inventors who need tested protection often validate a European patent in Lithuania instead.

Can you patent an idea, or only an invention?

No patent office grants a patent on an idea. What you patent is an invention – a specific, described way of solving a problem that meets the legal tests of novelty, inventive step (non-obviousness, in US terms), and industrial application (utility, in US terms). in US terms). For a deeper look into this distinction, see our article Is Intellectual Property Capitalized?

“I have an idea for a folding bicycle that’s lighter” isn’t patentable. A written description of exactly how the frame folds, what materials and joints make it lighter without losing strength, and how it’s assembled or used – that’s the start of an invention you can protect. This is the same standard under UK law (Patents Act 1977, s.1), the European Patent Convention it’s built on, and US patent law (35 U.S.C. §§ 101–103). Lithuania’s national patent law uses the same definitions, carried over from the EPC. To understand how these legal principles function overall, explore What is IP? Intellectual Property Meaning, Types & Protection

So, when people search “how to patent an idea,” what they need is a process for turning that idea into a patentable invention, and then obtaining a patent for it. That’s what follows.

Steps to getting a patent, briefly

Step 0: Document Your Invention Thoroughly

Before anything else, write down what you’ve built or designed, in enough detail that someone else in your field could reproduce it. Keep:

• Dated notes describing the problem and how your invention solves it.
• Sketches or CAD files, including earlier and rejected versions – these can matter later if your right to the invention is ever disputed.
• A log of tests, prototypes, and failures, not just the result.

This isn’t paperwork for its own sake. If a dispute arises over who invented what first, or an examiner questions what you disclosed and when, this record is what you point to.

Step 1: Run a prior art search

Prior art is anything publicly available before your filing date that describes something like your invention – patents, published applications, articles, product listings, even a conference poster. If your invention already exists in substance, it isn’t new, and no patent office – not even one that doesn’t check novelty, like Lithuania’s – will protect you against someone who can point to that prior art later.

A practical approach:

• Start with Espacenet (free, run by the EPO, covers over 150 million documents worldwide) and the UK IPO’s own patent search tool.
• Search by function and problem, not just by product name. Inventors often miss prior art because they search using their own terminology rather than how others describe the same mechanism.
• Widen the search to non-patent literature: product datasheets, academic papers, and industry publications all count as prior art. You can also consult our Category Patents

If you find something close, that’s not necessarily the end of the road – it may just mean narrowing your claims to what’s genuinely new, rather than abandoning the application.

Step 2: Check patentability

Three tests apply almost identically in Lithuania, the UK, and the US, even though the wording varies slightly:

UK law and the EPC (which Lithuania’s national law also follows) list specific exclusions: discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical methods; literary, dramatic, or artistic works; schemes or methods for playing games or doing business, and computer programs “as such”; and simply presenting information. The UK additionally excludes methods of medical treatment or diagnosis, and “essentially biological” processes such as crossbreeding. US law doesn’t use the same exclusion list, but abstract ideas, laws of nature, and natural phenomena are excluded through case law built around §101.

A lot of applications stall quietly at this step – inventors assume something is patentable because it’s new to them, without checking whether it’s new to the world, or whether it falls into an excluded category. For more insights on assessing your innovation, read about Understanding the Role of Intellectual Property Rights.

Step 3: Choose your filing strategy

This is where the three countries genuinely diverge, and it’s worth being precise, because “provisional” doesn’t mean the same thing everywhere.

United States: the USPTO has a formal provisional application – a lower-cost, informal filing (no claims or oath required) that establishes a filing date and lets you use “patent pending.”  Learn more in our guide on Understanding Provisional vs. Non-Provisional Patents . It’s automatically abandoned after 12 months unless you file a matching nonprovisional application within that window. Official USPTO filing fees for a provisional are $325 (standard entity), $130 (small entity), or $65 (micro entity); with professional drafting, expect $2,000-$5,000 total. You can also read about Understanding Patent Pending for Inventors.

United Kingdom: there’s no separate “provisional application” as a filing type. Instead, you file an initial application to secure a filing date, then use the 12-month priority period under the Paris Convention to refine it, add detail, or file corresponding applications abroad claiming that same priority date.  For a full breakdown, read The UK Patent Process: From Ideas to Protection. The outcome is functionally similar to a US provisional, but the legal mechanism is different.

Lithuania: the same 12-month priority mechanism applies as in the UK. But Lithuanian applicants also face a bigger strategic question: file nationally with the State Patent Bureau (cheaper, faster, but not substantively examined – see Step 5), or file via the EPO and later validate the resulting European patent in Lithuania (properly examined, but slower and costlier). Many Lithuanian businesses that plan to rely on the patent commercially choose the EPO route for that reason. Check out The European Patent Validation Process: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Step 4: Prepare the application

Regardless of country, three parts need to be right:

• Specification: a full technical description of the invention – what problem it solves, how it works, and how someone skilled in the field could build or use it. Vague or incomplete descriptions are one of the most common reasons for rejection or delay.
• Claims: the legal boundary of what you’re protecting. Claim too broadly and the office will reject it as covering prior art; claim too narrowly and a competitor can design around you with a small change. In complex technical filings, applicants often utilize Multiple Dependent Claims.
• Drawings: required whenever they help explain the invention, which covers most inventions that aren’t pure processes or compositions of matter. The USPTO has detailed formatting rules for margins, numbering, and line quality – get these wrong and you’ll be asked to refile them. Note that if your invention focuses primarily on visual design, you may want to review Utility Patent vs Design Patent, explore our Design Protection Services or see how Metida Ranked No. 1 in the EU for Registered Design Applications Learn more on The Importance of Industrial Design Rights in Protecting Innovation.

This is the step where professional help earns its cost. Claims drafting especially is a skill: the same invention described by an inexperienced applicant and by an experienced patent attorney can end up with very different – and very differently enforceable – scope.

Step 5: File and respond to the examiner

UK: file with the IPO, then separately request a search (at filing or later). Around 18 months after filing, the application is published in full. Substantive examination – checking novelty, inventive step, and industrial application – happens after that, sometimes years later, and you’ll need to resolve any objections the examiner raises before a patent is granted.

US: the USPTO examines every nonprovisional application on its merits. You’ll typically receive a First Action on the Merits – an office action explaining any objections or rejections – which you respond to, often with amended claims or arguments. If issues remain, you may get a Final Action, and from there the option to appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Lithuania: this is where the national route is genuinely different from the other two. The State Patent Bureau checks that your application meets formal requirements and isn’t obviously excluded from patentability, but Lithuanian law doesn’t require it to substantively examine novelty or inventive step. In practice, a Lithuanian national patent can be granted faster and cheaper, but its validity hasn’t actually been tested – it’s granted at the applicant’s own risk, and can be challenged in court later by anyone who thinks it shouldn’t have been granted. That’s a real trade-off worth understanding before deciding where to file.

For complex disputes at this stage, understand The Critical Role of a Patent Litigator in IP Disputes.

How long does it take to get a patent?

Across all three, the biggest lever you control is how complete and well-drafted your application is on filing. Vague claims and thin specifications generate more office actions, and every round of correspondence adds months.

How much does it cost?

Official government fees are only part of the bill – and they look very different once you break them into filing, search, examination, and grant stages. Here’s the breakdown by country:

A few things worth noting in that table. Lithuania’s official fees are the lowest of the three by a wide margin, which is a direct consequence of the lighter, formal-only examination described in Step 5 – you’re paying less because the office is doing less. The US doesn’t have annual renewals like the UK and Lithuania; instead, it has three maintenance fee payments spaced across the patent’s life, and missing one lapses the patent. And small and micro-entity status in the US – available to individual inventors, small businesses, and universities – cuts every one of those official fees by 60% or 80% respectively, which is often the single biggest cost lever available to an independent inventor filing in the US.

In every jurisdiction, professional fees, not official fees, make up the larger share of total cost. The main lever for controlling them is how much drafting and back-and-forth your application needs – a clean, well-documented invention (see Step 0 and Step 1) generates fewer office actions, and each round of correspondence is billable time.

Patent application costs: Lithuania, Europe, the UK and the US

The figures above are official government fees. What you’ll pay also includes professional fees for the work of preparing and filing your application. Here’s what that looks like with Metida, covering the search, drafting, and filing stages described in Steps 1, 4, and 5 above.

Our process at Metida

1. Consultation – we discuss your idea and goals.
2. Patentability search – we assess the novelty and possibilities.
3. Choosing a strategy – we choose the appropriate protection path.
4. Drafting of the patent application – we prepare the description and drawings.
5. Filing the application – we submit the application to the patent office.
6. Examination / inquiries – we communicate with the examiners and answer questions.
7. Patent issuance – you receive the patent and exclusive rights.
8. Supervision – we monitor deadlines and help maintain the patent’s validity.

These figures cover the search, drafting, and filing stages only. In Lithuania, the €52 grant fee and the annual renewals shown earlier still apply on top. Via the EPO, further examination, grant, and per-country validation fees follow before the patent is issued in each country where you validate it. Get in touch with Metida for an exact quote based on your invention.

For the US and UK, this is what the filing-through-grant stage looks like – a different stage from the search-and-drafting work covered above. Figures are for a typical case: a small entity in the US with 15 claims (3 of them independent), and a UK national application with 15 claims and a 30-page description, including the grant stage in both.

These are preliminary figures for a typical case. More claims, more independent claims, or a longer description all add official fees – and, in the UK, per-claim and per-page charges above 25 claims or 35 pages. Large or micro-entity status in the US changes the official fee tier significantly. Get in touch with Metida for an exact quote based on your invention.

Protecting your invention abroad

A patent is territorial. A UK patent protects you in the UK; a Lithuanian national patent protects you in Lithuania; neither stops someone making or selling the same invention elsewhere. If you need protection in multiple countries, two routes matter:

• European Patent Office (EPO): one application, examined once, that you can then validate in any of the EPC’s contracting states – including both the UK and Lithuania. This is also the route many Lithuanian inventors use specifically to get the substantive examination their national office doesn’t provide.
• World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) / Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): one international application that preserves your right to seek protection in over 150 countries, giving you up to 30-31 months from your earliest priority date before you must commit to (and pay for) national or regional phases individually.

Both add cost and complexity, so it’s worth deciding your target markets early rather than defaulting to “everywhere.”

Common mistakes to avoid

• Disclosing before filing. Talking about your invention publicly – a trade show demo, a pitch deck posted online, even a detailed conversation with a supplier without an NDA – can count as prior art against your own application in the UK, at the EPO, and in Lithuania. The US allows a 12-month grace period for the inventor’s own disclosure; Europe generally doesn’t. Treat “file before you talk” as the default rule.
• Claims that are too broad or too thin. Broad claims get rejected as unpatentable over prior art. Thin claims leave your invention easy to copy with a minor change.
• Skipping the prior art search. It’s tempting to jump straight to filing, but a search that turns up a close prior invention early saves months of examination back-and-forth later or tells you to rethink the application before you’ve spent the money.
• Assuming grant means the patent is bulletproof. This applies especially in Lithuania: a national patent that was never substantively examined can still be invalidated in court if someone later challenges its novelty.

Frequently asked questions

Can you get a patent on just an idea?

No. Patent offices in Lithuania, the UK, and the US all require a described invention – one that’s new, involves an inventive step (or is non-obvious, in US terms), and has industrial application or utility. An idea without technical detail doesn’t meet that bar.

What are the main patent requirements?

Novelty, inventive step (non-obviousness in the US), and industrial application (utility in the US), plus falling outside each country’s excluded subject matter – things like discoveries, abstract ideas, business methods “as such,” and, in the UK and at the EPO, methods of medical treatment.

How do I get a patent for an idea?

Document the invention in detail, search prior art, check it against the patentability criteria, choose where and how to file (national office, EPO, or via the PCT), prepare a full specification with claims and drawings, then file and respond to the examiner’s objections through to grant.

How long does it take to get a patent?

Roughly 2-4.5 years in the UK, about 26–28 months on average in the US, and 1–2 years for a Lithuanian national filing that only goes through formal examination. Filing via the EPO and validating in Lithuania or the UK takes longer – closer to the UK’s typical range – because it includes full substantive examination.

What are the steps to getting a patent?

Document your invention, search prior art, check patentability, choose a filing strategy, prepare the application, then file and prosecute it through to grant.

Does a granted patent in Lithuania mean it’s been checked for novelty?

Not necessarily. The State Patent Bureau checks formal requirements but doesn’t substantively examine novelty or inventive step for national applications – the patent is granted at the applicant’s own risk and can be challenged in court. If you want examined protection through the same filing, validating a European patent is the more common route.

How much does a patent cost?

Official fees to grant are €138 in Lithuania (€69 for individual inventors), £405 in the UK, and $2000 in the US for a standard entity (as low as $664 for a micro entity). Total cost including an attorney typically runs about €6,000-€6,500 in Lithuania (based on Metida’s fees for search, drafting, and filing, plus official fees), £5,000-£10,000+ in the UK, and $3,000-$17,000+ in the US, depending on complexity and how many rounds of office actions the application goes through.

Conclusion

The mechanics are similar everywhere: document, search, check, file, prosecute. What changes by country is what “granted” means. A UK or US patent has been tested against prior art by an examiner before you get it. A Lithuanian national patent, on its own, hasn’t – a real trade-off between speed and cost on one side and certainty on the other, worth deciding on purpose rather than by default.

At Metida, we work with inventors across all three systems, and most of the costly mistakes we see come down to two things: filing before the application is complete and choosing a filing route without weighing what kind of protection it gives. If you’re deciding between a Lithuanian national filing, a UK application, a US application, or the EPO/PCT route for your invention, we can help you work out which combination matches your market and budget.