UKIPO confirm changes to fees

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Further to our announcement that the UKIPO were considering introducing some new fees and altering some existing fees, it has recently been confirmed that the proposed patent fee changes will go ahead on 6 April 2018.

Pre-grant and Grant Fees

	Fee		before 6 Apr 2018 (£)	from 6 Apr 2018 (£)
	Application fee	E-filing	20	60
		Paper filing	30	90
NEW:	25% surcharge for paying the application fee after filing	E-filing	n/a	15
		Paper filing		22.50
	Search Fee	E-filing	130	150*
		Paper filing	150	180*
	Search Fee for an international application (UK)**	E-filing	100	120*
		Paper filing	120	150*
	Substantive examination fee	E-filing	80	100***
		Paper filing	100	130***
NEW:	Excess claims fee	E-filing	n/a	£20 for each claim over 25
		Paper filing
NEW:	Excess pages fee	E-filing	n/a	£10 for each page of description over 35
		Paper filing
NEW:	Grant fee	E-filing	n/a	Fees for any further excess claim or pages (see below)
		Paper filing

*plus excess claims fee

**where the international application has already been searched in the international phase

***plus excess pages fee

Renewal Fees

Renewal fees have been increased by £10 for years 12 onwards.

Transitional arrangements for renewal fees	If a renewal due date is before 6 April 2018 and payment is validly made either before 6 April or after 6 April 2018, then the fee is that which applied before 6 April 2018.
	If a renewal due date is on or after 6 April 2018 and payment is validly made before 6 April 2018, then the fee is that which applied before 6 April 2018.
	If a renewal due date is on or after 6 April 2018 and payment is validly made after 6 April 2018, then the fee is that which applied after 6 April 2018.

Grant Fees

At the time the application is found to be in order for grant, a further check will be made to determine:

1. whether there were 25 or fewer claims when the search was requested and there are now more than 25 claims,
2. whether there were 35 or fewer pages of description when the substantive examination was requested and there are now more than 35 pages of description, and
3. whether the number of excess claims or excess pages present in the application has increased above the number paid for earlier in prosecution.

The grant fee will be the sum of £20 for any additional excess claims (claims over 25) and £10 for any additional excess pages of description (pages over 35).

No excess claims fees will be payable if a search fee was paid before 6 April 2018, and no excess pages fee will be payable if the fee for substantive examination was paid before 6 April 2018.

Transitional arrangements for grant fees	Where both the search fee and fee for substantive examination were paid before 6 April 2018, no grant fee will be required.
	Where the search fee was paid before 6 April 2018 but the fee for substantive examination was paid on or after 6 April 2018 then if a grant fee is required it will only be composed of any fees required for additional excess pages. No excess claims fee will be payable.
	Where both the search fee and fee for substantive examination were paid on or after 6 April 2018, then any increase in both excess claims and excess pages must be paid for before grant.

PCT fees

Also, on the 1 January 2018, the PCT fee structure changed.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-january-2018-update-to-the-patent-cooperation-treaty-pct-fees

Fee	(£)
Transmittal fee	75
Search fee	1,660
International fee	£1,029 for the first 30 sheets £12 for each sheet over 30
Restoration of priority	150
Reductions for e-filing	155 (not being in character coded format) 232 (in character coded format)
Preparation of priority document	20

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If you would like further detail on any of the above, or would like to discuss patent fees with one of our experienced attorneys, then please do not hesitate to be in touch.

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Category: News | Published: January 2018 | Read more