There haven’t been a lot of Patent fee updates this year, but that is going to be changing soon. A large number of PCT fees are being adjusted in March, and several EP fees are getting a healthy increase in April.
Let’s see what’s coming!
EP Fee highlights - Effective April 1
We’ll publish a dedicated post on the upcoming EP patent fee increases, but we thought it would be helpful this week to highlight the big fee increases – annuity years 3 and 4. You might want to check with your annuity vendor to see if it makes sense to make annuity payments earlier to beat the increase.
- 3rd-year annuities will increase from 530 EUR to 690 EUR
- 4th-year annuities will increase from 660 EUR to 845 EUR
- 5th to 9th-year annuities will be increasing a nominal amount, 10th and above aren’t changing.
There are also changes coming for granting, examination, and search fees. We’ll cover those and updates for small entities in detail later this month!
Updated PCT Patent Fees
In the following countries:
Armenia Bahrain Belize Ghana Honduras Cambodia Kazakhstan | Liberia Malawi Papua New Guinea Seychelles Turkmenistan Ukraine Zimbabwe |
In Annex C: Receiving Office
- The International Filing Fee will increase from USD 1454 to USD 1562.
- The fee per sheet in excess of 30 will increase from USD 16 to USD 18.
In the following countries:
ARIPO Azerbaijan Chile Costa Rica Djibouti Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Georgia Israel India Iraq Jamaica Jordan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Zambia | Republic of Moldova Mexico Nicaragua Oman Panama Peru Philippines Qatar Russian Federation Saudi Arabia El Salvador Syrian Arab Republic Tajikistan Trinidad and Tobago Uganda Uzbekistan Samoa |
In Annex C: Receiving Office
- The International Filing Fee will increase from USD 1454 to USD 1562.
- The fee per sheet in excess of 30 will increase from USD 16 to USD 18.
- The fee for Electronic Filing (the request) will increase from USD 219 to USD 235.
- The fee for Electronic Filing (the request not being in character-coded format) will increase from USD 328 to USD 352.
EAPO |
WIPO |
In Annex C: Receiving Office
- The International Filing Fee will increase from USD 1381 to USD 1562.
- The fee per sheet in excess of 30 will increase from USD 16 to USD 18.
- The fee for Electronic Filing (the request) will increase from USD 208 to USD 235.
- The fee for Electronic Filing (the request not being in character-coded format) will increase from USD 311 to USD 352.
The fee update for the following countries in Annex D: International Searching Authorities:
Countries | Handling Fee | Search Fee |
Chile | The Handling Fee will increase from USD 219 to USD 235. | The Search Fee will decrease from 1829 CHF to 1703 CHF for Chile. |
EAPO | – | |
Egypt | The Search Fee will increase from 110 CHF to 118 CHF for Egypt. | |
India | The Search Fee will decrease from 110 CHF to 102 CHF for India. | |
Philippines | The Search Fee will decrease from 549 CHF to 511 CHF for the Philippines. | |
Russian Federation | – |
In the following country:
United States of America |
In Annex C: Receiving Office
- The International Filing Fee will increase from USD 1454 to USD 1562.
- The fee per sheet in excess of 30 will increase from USD 16 to USD 18.
- The Electronic Filing (EFS-Web/ Patent Center without ePCT or PCT-EASY.zip file) will increase from USD 109 to USD 117.
- The Electronic Filing (EFS-Web/ Patent Center with ePCT or PCT-EASY.zip file) will increase from USD 219 to USD 235.
In Annex D – International Searching Authorities
- The Handling Fee will increase from USD 219 to USD 235.
- The Search Fee will decrease from 1994 CHF to 1856 CHF.