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)
REFERENCES:
Major changes/consideration in official EPO Fee
Also read:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be an Inventor? EPO says NO!!!
For further information please contact at S.S Rana & Co. email: info@ssrana.in or call at (+91- 11 4012 3000). Our website can be accessed at www.ssrana.in
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
