European Union Invention patent

General pricingServices are billed by stage; this filing-stage charge excludes application drafting and translation. It includes the filing fee, novelty-search fee and the default substantive-examination request fee for designated states.

General pricingFees vary according to the technical field and drafting-quality requirements.

General pricingCalculated by the word count in the Word document.

General pricingUnder the EPC, excess-claim fees are payable for claims over the applicable limit. The EPO permits multiple dependent claims and does not charge a separate claim-splitting fee. For PCT applications entering the EPO, reducing the claims to no more than 15 during the PCT phase is generally recommended to avoid high excess-claim fees.

General pricingUnder the EPC, excess-claim fees are payable for claims over the applicable limit. The EPO permits multiple dependent claims and does not charge a separate claim-splitting fee. For PCT applications entering the EPO, reducing the claims to no more than 15 during the PCT phase is generally recommended to avoid high excess-claim fees.

General pricingUnder the EPC, excess-claim fees are payable for claims over the applicable limit. The EPO permits multiple dependent claims and does not charge a separate claim-splitting fee. For PCT applications entering the EPO, reducing the claims to no more than 15 during the PCT phase is generally recommended to avoid high excess-claim fees.

General pricingThe Paris Convention priority period is 12 months and the PCT national-phase period is 31 months. Entry after 31 but no later than 33 months incurs a restoration fee. No additional service fee is normally charged for DAS, but if the priority data cannot be retrieved, an electronic priority document must be supplied and translated by us for filing.

General pricingAcceleration generally saves 1–2 months. The current average European patent search period is approximately five months.

General pricingAn office action is generally issued within six months after substantive examination begins. For complex applications, requesting PACE acceleration is recommended to shorten the examination period.

General pricingCalculated according to the number of office actions issued by the authority.

General pricingSubstantive-examination responses are charged according to complexity and the number of office actions.

General pricingGrant formalities are mandatory. The grant fee and French/German translations of the claims must be filed within three months of the date specified in the notice.

General pricingFor a European patent application filed in English, grant formalities require French and German translations of the claims only, not the full text. Translation fees depend on the claim word count.

General pricingFor a European patent application filed in English, grant formalities require French and German translations of the claims only, not the full text. Translation fees depend on the claim word count.

General pricingSeventeen EU member states currently participate in the Unitary Patent system: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden. Unitary effect must be requested within one month after publication of grant.

General pricingAdvantage: the patent owner may bring a single infringement action before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) for these traditional European patents, and the judgment will take effect across all participating states.
Disadvantage: any third party may also seek revocation of a traditional European patent before the UPC, and the decision will take uniform effect across all participating states. Unlike separate national-court proceedings, one successful revocation action can therefore invalidate the patent in every participating UPC state.

General pricingFor a European Unitary Patent, a full translation into one other official language of an EU member state is sufficient. Spanish is recommended because the same translation can also support separate validation in Spain, although another EU official language may be used. The Spanish translation fee can be confirmed only after reviewing the full B1 publication text and selected language.

General pricingEuropean patent validation states fall into three categories. Category 1 comprises automatic-validation states such as Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. After grant formalities, the European patent automatically takes effect there without separate validation. No EPO fee applies, but local counsel must be appointed to handle and monitor the national part, so local service fees apply. Other national validations must be completed within three months after publication of grant and may be handled at different times within that period.

General pricingThe other two validation categories are: Category 2, payment of the validation fee and translation of the claims only, including Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Latvia, Norway, Croatia, Hungary, Finland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Albania, Moldova, Iceland and North Macedonia (claims and drawings); and Category 3, payment of the validation fee and translation of the full specification, including Türkiye, Slovakia, Spain, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Romania. Traditional national validations must be completed within three months after publication of grant and may be handled at different times within that period.

General pricingAn official fee applies to assignment of patent rights after filing.

General pricingCharged per amendment item; two amendments are charged at twice this fee.