The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced an increase in the official fees charged for European patent applications from 1 April 2014.
The majority of fees are increasing by approximately 3-4%, although the excess page fee due on filing is increasing by 1 Euro per page to 15 Euros, an increase of over 7%. This increase in the excess page fee will have a significant impact on the total filing fee for lengthy specifications.
Another significant increase is that of 50% in the fee for filing an appeal. To partially compensate appellants, at the same time additional opportunities for a partial refund of the appeal fee in the event that the appeal is later withdrawn are being introduced.
The rules regarding the time limits for filing divisional applications are relaxing from 1 April 2014, and after this date it will be possible to file a divisional application from any pending application. From this date, new additional filing fees are however being introduced for the filing of a divisional application derived from an application which is itself a divisional application.
Changes to the provisions governing the reduction of various official fees for applicants who are nationals or residents of an EPC contracting state which has an official language other than English, French or German also come into force on 1 April 2014. Further details of these changes may be found on our website by following the link below:
EPO Fee Changes From April 2014
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