About IPFees

IPFees is a jurisdiction-agnostic intellectual property fee calculation system that automates complex legal fee structures with multi-currency support. The platform provides automated fee calculations across 118 global IP jurisdictions using a Domain-Specific Language approach.

Context and Motivation

IP practitioners allocate substantial resources to fee calculations across diverse patent offices globally. Each jurisdiction implements unique fee structures with complex dependencies on entity size, claim counts, page numbers, filing types, and temporal factors. Current approaches present several limitations:

  • Fragmented calculation tools: Government-provided calculators operate independently without programmatic interfaces or integration capabilities
  • Limited commercial solutions: Existing IP management platforms typically hardcode fee structures in proprietary systems, requiring vendor updates for fee schedule changes
  • Currency conversion complexity: International portfolios require accurate multi-currency calculations with historical exchange rates for budget planning
  • Multi-jurisdiction calculation complexity: Fee structures vary substantially across 118+ jurisdictions with different entity classifications and pricing models
  • Integration barriers: Limited connectivity between calculation tools and practice management systems

The absence of a unified, extensible, open-source solution creates inefficiencies in IP practice and limits research opportunities in computational law and regulatory automation.

System Capabilities

Domain-Specific Language Approach

The system implements a custom Domain-Specific Language parser that expresses complex fee structures in human-readable format rather than embedded business logic. This design separates jurisdiction-specific rules from software implementation, allowing legal professionals to define and modify fee calculation rules without programming expertise. The interpreter evaluates these rules at runtime, supporting multi-layered calculations including base fees, service fees, and conditional logic dependent on application parameters such as claim counts, page numbers, and filing types.

Multi-Jurisdiction Architecture

The jurisdiction-agnostic calculation engine processes multi-variable fee structures across major patent offices including USPTO, EPO, WIPO, and 118 national offices. Each jurisdiction implements distinct entity classifications, claim-based pricing models, and temporal fee obligations.

The modular architecture enables new countries or regions to be incorporated through configuration files alone, without modifications to core software logic. The platform provides comprehensive REST API endpoints that facilitate integration with existing IP management systems.

Multi-Currency System

The system implements precision currency management with real-time conversion capabilities, historical rate tracking for audit compliance, and rate-lock functionality to address temporal accounting requirements.

A three-tier fallback mechanism (real-time API, historical database cache, manual override) ensures continuous operation when external rate services become unavailable. The currency handling system maintains 6-8 decimal precision and supports automatic conversion across 150+ currencies, with transparent status indicators for data freshness.

Data Architecture

The system employs MongoDB document storage for jurisdiction configurations, fee structures, and calculation history, with GridFS for versioned DSL file management. Background services maintain exchange rates at configurable intervals, while graceful degradation protocols enable continued operation using cached data during external service disruptions. This architecture maintains high availability and comprehensive audit trails for all transactions.

User Interface

The web-based interface implements a structured calculation workflow guiding users through jurisdiction selection, parameter specification, and result review. Real-time validation provides immediate feedback on parameter constraints as values are modified. The responsive design maintains functionality across desktop and mobile devices, while status indicators communicate exchange rate data currency and reliability.

Administrative Capabilities

Runtime configuration enables fee structure modifications without deployment cycles or system interruption. The administrative interface provides comprehensive module management for creating, editing, and organizing jurisdiction-specific fee definitions. Centralized configuration manages currency providers, API credentials, and system parameters, while complete audit trails document all calculations and modifications for compliance verification.

Application Domains

The system addresses requirements across multiple contexts within the intellectual property ecosystem:

  • IP law firms and corporate legal departments: Portfolio budget planning and multi-jurisdiction cost estimation capabilities
  • Independent practitioners: Access to comprehensive fee calculation capabilities through open-source licensing
  • Patent prosecution workflows: Real-time fee estimation during application preparation phases
  • Academic technology transfer offices: Cost analysis for institutional patent programs and research commercialization
  • IP management platform developers: REST API integration for automated calculations within existing systems
  • International IP service providers: Multi-currency portfolio management and cross-border compliance tracking

Comparative Characteristics

The system exhibits several distinguishing properties relative to government-provided calculators and commercial IP management platforms:

  • Open-source transparency: MIT-licensed codebase with publicly accessible DSL rule definitions enabling independent verification
  • Programmatic interfaces: Comprehensive REST APIs with OpenAPI documentation for system integration
  • Portfolio processing: Bulk calculation capabilities for large-scale IP holdings across multiple jurisdictions
  • Currency precision: Multi-tier exchange rate management with configurable decimal precision and historical rate tracking
  • Rule maintenance: DSL-based fee definitions enabling updates without software deployment cycles
  • Audit capabilities: Complete transaction logging with parameter preservation for regulatory compliance verification

Measured Performance Characteristics

Response Time

Multi-jurisdiction calculations execute in under 500 milliseconds (95th percentile)

Currency Precision

Supports 150+ currencies with 6-8 decimal place precision for high-value calculations

Concurrent Operations

Architecture supports simultaneous calculations across multiple user sessions

Extensibility

New jurisdictions incorporated through configuration without software modifications

API Architecture

REST endpoints with OpenAPI specification for platform integration

Validation and Verification

The system has undergone independent validation by IP legal practitioners at Jet IP, confirming calculation accuracy across implemented jurisdictions. The validation methodology included:

  • Cross-verification against official patent office fee schedules for major jurisdictions
  • Comparison with commercial IP management platform calculations
  • Edge case testing including maximum claim counts and unusual entity classifications
  • Currency conversion accuracy verification against established financial data sources

The Domain-Specific Language approach facilitates verification by enabling legal professionals to review fee calculation rules directly without interpreting software source code.

Development and Licensing

IPFees is developed as an open-source project under the MIT License, enabling unrestricted use, modification, and distribution. The project is maintained by Dr. Valer Bocan at Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara, Romania, with validation support from Jet IP legal practitioners.

The platform is built on .NET 9.0 with MongoDB document storage and Docker containerization for deployment portability. The codebase includes comprehensive unit tests, integration tests, and API documentation through OpenAPI/Swagger specifications.

Community contributions are facilitated through GitHub repository access, where jurisdiction definitions and DSL files can be submitted via pull requests. This collaborative model distributes maintenance responsibilities across the global IP community rather than centralizing them with a single organization.