By Renu Bala and Johny Soloman Raj
Changes in Official EPO Fees effective from April 1, 2022
The European Patent Office (EPO) has very recently announced an increase to its official fees by approximately 3%, which shall come into effect on April 1, 2022.
The last fee increase of EPO occurred in April, 2020 and in the present hike, most of the official fees have increased by about 3%. The changes in fee payments in EPO happen biennially – for instance in 2018, there was a reduction in fees in 2018.
For innovators/ companies who are considering filing patent applications with the EPO at present, should definitely keep the below salient points in mind, in light of this recent development:
- Cost savings can be made by filing the patent application with EPO prior to April 01, 2022.
- If any procedure such as paying grant fee, renewal fee is due, then the patentee may wish to pay the fees prior to the abovementioned date, so as to avoid incurring additional official fee due to the hike.
- If a party is considering to file an appeal against an issued decision, they may wish to do so before the fee increases on April 01, 2022.
Comparative analysis on different segments of Fee payments (In the year 2020 & 2022)
| Different Segments of fee payment | Fee in 2020 | Fee in 2022 |
| Filing fee | 125 EUR | 130 EUR |
| Search fee | 1350 EUR | 1390 EUR |
| Designation fee | 610 EUR | 630 EUR |
| Examination fee | 1700 EUR | 1750 EUR |
| Granting fee | 960 EUR | 990 EUR |
| Renewal fee
– For 3rd year – For 4th year – For 5th year – For 6th year – For 7th year – For 8th year – For 9th year For 10th and each subsequent year |
490 EUR
610 EUR 855 EUR 1090 EUR 1210 EUR 1330 EUR 1450 EUR 1640 EUR |
505 EUR
630 EUR 880 EUR 1125 EUR 1245 EUR 1370 EUR 1495 EUR 1690 EUR |
REFERENCES:
Major changes/consideration in official EPO Fee
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