The German Patent and Trademark Office GPTO increases renewal fees for patent applications and patents on July 1, 2022.
The new fee amounts valid from July 1, 2022, are as follows (in Euros):
Year – Fee
3 – 70
4 – 70
5 – 100
6 – 150
7 – 210
8 – 280
9 – 350
10 – 430
11 – 540
12 – 680
13 – 830
14 – 980
15 – 1130
16 – 1310
17 – 1490
18 – 1670
19 – 1840
20 – 2030
Information without any guarantee for correctness
The European Patent Office (EPO) has decided about changes of the amounts of official fees. The new fee schedule will be valid from April 1, 2022, and the official fees of the EPO will then amount as follows (in Euros):
Filing fee (electronic filing) 130
Filing fee (paper filing) 270
Additional fee for each page of an application in excess of 35 pages 16
Search fee (application filed on or after July 1, 2005) 1390
Designation fee for one or more Contracting states 630
Renewal fee for 3rd year 505
Renewal fee for 4th year 630
Renewal fee for 5th year 880
Renewal fee for 6th year 1125
Renewal fee for 7th year 1245
Renewal fee for 8th year 1370
Renewal fee for 9th year 1495
Renewal fee for 10th and each further year 1690
Surcharge for late payment of renewal fee 50% of the belated renewal fee
Examination fee (application filed on or after July 1, 2005) 1750
Examination fee (international application filed on or after July 1, 2005, where no supplementary European search report is drawn up) 1955
Grant fee 990
Opposition fee 840
Claims fee for the 16th to the 50th claim (for each claim) 250
Claims fee for the 51th and each subsequent claim 630
Appeal fee 2785
The actual schedule of fees of the European Patent Office can be found here: https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/2022/etc/se2/p1.html
A recent amendment of the legal provisions regarding international patent applications according to the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) in Germany extends the time limit for PCT applications to enter the national phase before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office as designated Office or elected Office from 30 months to 31 months. The amended provisions enter into force on 1 May 2022.
The German Patent and Trade Mark Office intends to apply the amended provisions to all PCT applications for which the previously applicable 30-month time limit has not yet expired or does not expire on 30 April 2022. Another requirement is that the applicant has not made an effective request for entry into the national phase under PCT Articles 23(2) and 40(2) before 1 May 2022.
This means that Applicants of PCT applications will from 1 May 2022 have one month more time to decide whether it makes sense to enter the national phase in Germany.
Since entering the national phase in Germany requires the filing of a German translation of a foreign language PCT application, the extended time limit gives Applicants more time to prepare a required translation. Besides the requirement of a German translation, only the applications fees have to paid when entering the national phase in Germany, which amount to 60€ inclunding 10 claims and 30€ for each further claim (the claims fees are calculated on basis of the originally filed claims, and no reduction can be ovtained by filing a reduced set of claims with the entry into the German national phase. Depending on the filing date, the renewal fee for the 3rd year has also to be paid with the entry, which amounts to 70€. A request for examination can be deferred until 7 years from the filing date.
For important inventions, it may make sense to enter the German national phase even if the regional European phase of a PCT application is entered, which also comprises Germany as designated state, since the German national phase appication may be prosecuted if the the European regional phase application is iwthdrawn or rejected. Thus, the likelihood of obtaining patent protection at least in Germany may be increased.
German law also allows to enter the German national phase for a PCT application as German utility model application. This option may be useful to quickly obtain protection of an invention in Germany since utility model applications are only formally examined and usually registered some months after having entered the German national phase.
The official announcement of the extension of the time limit in Germany can be found under the following link: https://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/publications/notices_of_the_president/no_03_2022.html
Since 23 March, the new name of the “Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM)” is “European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)”.
The name of the Community trade mark administered by the Office has changed to the European Union trade mark.
These changes took effect upon the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2015/2424.
The Leahy-Smith America invents Act (AIA) entered into force on September 16, 2012.
Due to the AIA, it is no longer required to name inventors as Applicants of a PCT application solely for the purpose of the designation of the United States.
For more detailed information, refer to the FAQs regarding the AIA offered by the WIPO, which can be found here: http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/faqs/aia.html
From September 3, 2012, a copy of a previous application is automatically included in the file of a European patent application, which claims the priority the previous application, if the previous application is
The European Patent Office informs the Applicant of the later filed European patent application if a copy of the previous application was included in the file.
Thus, if a priority of a previous application as listed above is claimed in a European patent application, it is no longer necessary to file a certified priority document with the Eropean Patent Office.
The respective decision of the President of the European Patent Office can be found here: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/president-notices/archive/20120822.html
Ireland acceded the London agreement and dispensed the translation requirement of European patents granted in German or French. Thus, Applicants of European patents do no longer have to file an English translation with the Irish Patents Office in order to validate European patents for Ireland, which were granted on or after September 3, 2012 (also, European patents, for which the mentions of grant were published in the 6 months prior to September 3, 2012, are no longer treated as void) .
The official information from the EPO can be found here. The official information from the Irish Patents Office is available on the official website http://www.patentsoffice.ie
In 2011, the application numbers of patents, trademarks, design patents, and utility models were overall stable, but differed for the single IP rights, as briefly outlined below:
– patent applications in 2011 nearly stable compared to 2010,
– trademark applications in 2011 decreased by about 7% compared to 2010,
– applications for design patents in 2011 increased by about 7% compared to 2010,
– applications for utility models decreased in 2011 by about 9% compared to 2010.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has increased its fees for search and examination, which are valid from April 1, 2012. The official information from the EPO on the new fees can be found under the following links: http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj012/03_12/03_2122.pdf and http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj012/03_12/03_2192.pdf
On 1 April 2012, an amended Rule 71 and a new Rule 71a EPC enter into force. These EPC Rules are related to the procedure to be followed after the Examining Division has informed the applicant of the text in which it intends to grant an European patent and are applied to all European patent applications in respect of which a communication under existing Rule 71(3) EPC has not yet been despatched by the date of entry into force of these provisions.
The decision of the administrative counsel of the European Patent Organisation with regard to the amendment of Rule 71 EPC and to the introduction of new Rule 71a EPC can be found here: http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj010/12_10/12_6370.pdf
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