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New fee structure at the EPO entering into force on April 1st 2009
Posted by Anonymous . updated on 2/26/2009
To whom it may concern...
A new fee structure will enter into force on April 1, 2009 at the EPO.
Details can be found here:
http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legal-texts/InformationEPO/archiveinfo/20090126.html
In my opinion, these are the most important changes:
The claim fees are raised once again. At present the EPO charges EUR 200 for the 16th claim and each subsequent claim.
Starting from April 1, 2009 an enhanced fee of EUR 500 for the 51st and each subsequent claim is charged. (The fees for the claims 16 to 50 are not changed).
The EPO charges a "new" fee for applications having more than 35 pages. For the 36th page and each subsequent page a fee of EUR 12 is due.
This fee is not really a new fee. What has changed is the point of time at which this fee has to be paid. At present this page fee only becomes due when a patent is granted for the application.
After April 1, 2009 the page fee must be paid already when filing the European application (or when entering European regional phase from a PCT application).
The designation fee is changed. At present the designation fee amounts to EUR 85 per each designated contracting state but has a maximum of 7 x 85 EUR = 595 EUR. This means upon payment of EUR 595 all 35 contracting states are designated.
On April 1, 2009 a flat designation fee of EUR 500 is introduced, and all contracting states are automatically designated.
Depending on the number of claims in your application and on the number of states you want to designate it might be cheaper to file your application (or entering European regional phase) before or after April 1, 2009.
Answers (1)
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Fuki Fuki
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Thanks for the update. Very informative.
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