Boult Wade Tennant
Bulletins » Increases in the European Patent Office’s Official Fees.

The EPO are increasing their official fees on 1 April 2023.

This fee increase is unusual in that the EPO has historically raised its fees every two years. However, this latest increase comes one year after the last rise on 1 April 2022. The last fee increase saw fees rise by around 2.5%, whereas the new fee schedule sees most fees rise by around 5%.

The increases apply to fees paid on or after 1 April, so clients can take steps to avoid the latest fee rises by instructing us to bring some work forward and ensure it is filed on or before 31 March 2023.

For example, direct European patent application filings may be brought forward from the 1 year priority deadline to avoid the fee increase. Similarly, PCT regional phase entries may be brought forward from the 31-month deadline to avoid the additional expense.

Renewals also provide another opportunity to save expense. Renewal fees covering years 4 to 20 can be paid up to 3 months in advance, while the renewal fee covering year 3 can be paid up to 6 months in advance. This means we can pay renewal fees before the end of March to avoid the higher fees for applications with a filing date of April, May and June (as well as those with a filing date of July, August and September 2021).

Further information can be obtained through your usual contact at Boult Wade Tennant or from Nigel Tucker.

Relevant sectors
Aerospace
  • Commercial aviation
  • Defence and security
  • Space and satellites
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Automotive
  • Autonomous vehicles
  • Electric vehicles
  • Engines
Biotechnology
  • Antibody engineering
  • Antibody manufacture and formulation
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biosimilars
  • Drug delivery
  • Gene editing (e.g. CRISPR)
  • Genomic and molecular tools and methods
  • GM crops
  • Immuno-oncology (e.g. checkpoint inhibitors; modified T cells)
  • Next generation sequencing
  • Nucleic acid synthesis
  • Personalised medicine/disease biomarkers
  • Recombinant protein production and purification
  • Stem cell therapies
  • Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)
  • Synthetic biology
  • Therapeutic antibodies
  • Vaccinology (e.g. viral vectors; mRNA vaccines)
  • Women’s health products
Chemicals
  • Agrochemicals
  • Catalysts
  • Dispersions and colloids
  • Lubricants
  • Polymers and plastics
Communications and Networks
  • Cloud computing
  • Internet of things (IOT)
  • Oceanography, marine
  • Wired and wireless networks
Computing and Software
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Bioinformatics
  • Blockchain and distributed ledgers
  • Communications and networks
  • Computer games
  • Data and software security, cryptography and digital rights management (DRM)
  • Data management and storage, databases and data compression
  • Digital assistants, virtual assistants and software agents
  • Fintech and adtech
  • Machine vision
  • Metaverse, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
  • Motor capture
  • Multimedia, audio/video processing and animation
  • Natural language processing
  • Quantum computing
  • Robotic process automation
  • Search engines
  • Signal processing
  • Software applications and systems, mobile applications, user interfaces
Consumer Goods and Retail
  • Anti-counterfeit devices
  • Beauty
  • Fashion
  • Health, fitness and sport
  • Household goods
  • Luxury goods
  • Moda
  • Retail
Electronics and Electrical Devices
  • Computer and IT architecture and system design
  • Medical devices
  • Optics
  • Restaurants and bars
  • Robotics
  • Scientific instruments
  • Semiconductor devices
  • Testing systems, control systems, signal processing
  • Travel and leisure
  • Wearable tech and human interfaces
Energy and Green Technologies
  • Biofuels
  • Clean air
  • Fuel cells and battery technology
  • Renewables and recycling
  • Solar power
  • Water, oil and gas, nuclear, fusion, fission
  • Wind turbines
Food and Beverage
  • Beverages
  • Nutrition
  • Retail
Industrial Manufacturing and Processing
  • Packaging
  • Polymers and plastics
  • Printing tech
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Coatings
  • Construction
Materials
  • Advanced materials
  • Composite materials
  • Metallurgy and alloys
  • Nanotechnology
Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Devices
  • Diagnostic instruments
  • Digital health
  • Drug delivery
  • Immuno-oncology
  • In vitro diagnostics
  • Medtech
Pharmaceuticals
  • Diagnostics
  • Drug delivery
  • Generic market entry
  • Medicinal chemistry
  • Methods of production and synthesis
  • Personalised medicine/disease biomarkers
  • Pharmaceutical formulations
  • Pharmaceuticalsceutical formulations
  • Polymorphs
  • Small molecule pharmaceuticals
  • Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)
Trade Marks
  • Consumer goods
  • Cosmetics and perfumery
  • Financial services
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Mechanical products
  • Services
  • Telecommunications