US IP Owners: Are you ready to pay up in Q4?
The US Dollar has been declining in value against several currencies, and with 4th quarter maintenance invoices coming at the end of August, we thought we’d look to see the likely impacts on patent and trademark owners.
Is It time to increase the budget?
The Euro to Dollar rate is a good indicator of what’s to come, with the bank rate for Euro purchases moving from 1.07183 at the end of May (when most 3rd quarter invoices are generated) to 1.11359 today.
So – what does that mean for your Q4 budget?
Patent and trademark portfolio mix matters
If your portfolio is heavily weighted towards Asia, you’re in luck. CNY (China) and JPY (Japan) to US Dollar rates haven’t moved much since Q3.
Have a lot of European or United Kingdom assets due for renewal in Q4? Get ready to pay more for currency.
How much more?
First, we have to stress that there are no guarantees with currency – so this is purely an estimate based on currently available data, but if things continue as they are, you can expect to pay 4% more in Q4 than in Q3, all things being equal.
Making it real for patent and trademark owners
If your vendor charges you 5% for currency costs for the Euro, you paid roughly 1.125M US Dollars for 1M Euros at the end of May for Q3 payments.
Assuming today’s rates hold, and your vendor charges you the same for currency, you’ll pay 1.169M for the same 1M Euros—44k or roughly 4% more.
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