EPO Fee Changes

The EPO will soon be publishing a substantive notice concerning fee changes which will come into force on 1 April 2009. These changes relate to the claims fee, excess page fee, and designation fee.

Claims fee
The biggest change will be for applications with a large number of claims. A new three tier system relating to the claims fee is being introduced. This will apply as follows:

For claim 51 onwards this is a significant increase over the 200 Euros currently payable.

Excess Page Fee
At present the fee for grant, including a fee for publication of the European patent specification is 790 Euros plus 12 Euros for the 36th and each subsequent page. From 1 April 2009, this will be replaced by a flat fee of 790 Euros i.e. there will be no excess page fee component.

However, a new component to the filing fee is being introduced. An additional fee of 12 Euros will be payable for a European patent application comprising more than 35 pages, for the 36th and each subsequent page. This does not count pages forming part of a sequence listing.

This additional fee will be payable the later of: (i) one month from the filing date; (ii) one month from filing the first set of claims; or (iii) if the application is filed by reference to a previously filed application, one month from filing the certified copy of the previously filed application..

Designation fee
A single designation fee of 500 Euros is replacing the existing 85 Euros per State fee. For applicants who currently pay the maximum 7 designation fees this will represent a small saving.

How the changes will apply
The new fees will apply only to European patent applications filed on or after 1 April 2009 and International applications entering the regional phase on or after that date. For a divisional application lodged at the EPO on or after 1 April 2009, the new fees will apply regardless of the effective filing date taken from the parent. 

If you are planning to enter the European Regional Phase or file a divisional and your application has a large number of claims (over 50), we would suggest filing before 1 April 2009 in order to avoid the increase in claims fee. Further, if you are planning to enter the European Regional Phase or file a divisional and your application has significantly more than 35 pages, you may wish to file before 1 April 2009 in order to delay payment of the excess page fee until grant.

Further guidance on how to proceed in the light of these changes can be obtained from your usual Mathys & Squire contact.