EPO Fee Increases Coming Into Effect 1st April 2010

Added on : 28 January 2010
Filed under : Patents, Designs & Copyright

The European Patent Office (EPO) generally updates its fee schedule in April each year. This year there are two fee changes particularly worthy of note.

• The fee reduction for filing new patent applications electronically has been increased and now stands at around 55% of the equivalent filing fee when an application is filed by hand / mail / fax. This fee reduction represents a saving of €85. Our offices are set up to take advantage of this saving; we file all new patent applications and all other documents filed with the EPO electronically.

• The fee structure for excess claims is to change once again. From April 2010 a third tier of claim fees will be introduced. For each claim over 50, a fee of €525 per claim is payable.

The fee structure for excess claims is now as follows:

Claims 15 claims no fee payable

Claims 16 to 50 €210 payable per claim

Claims 51 upwards €525 payable per claim

In view of the significant financial burden EPO patent applications will attract when they include a large number of claims, we recommend that claim sets be reviewed regularly both prior to a new application being filed with the EPO and to ensure that no claims in excess of the original number as filed are added during the prosecution of existing patent applications.