Fees are set to increase under newly outlined changes.
The UK Government and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) have announced a selection of patent fee changes, to come into effect on the 6th of April 2018.
The application fee will treble, rising from £30 for paper applications and £20 for an e-filing to £90 and £60 respectively. Also announced was the introduction of 25% surcharge if the application fee is not paid upon filing.
The search fee for UK applications will rise to £150 for electronically-filed requests, and £180 for those on paper; for the UK National phase of international applications, the fee rises to £120 electronically and £150 on paper.
Examination fees will go up from £80 to £100 (e-filing) and from £100 to £130 (paper.) Meanwhile, there will be a new excess claim fee of £20 per claim for claim 26 and above. Similarly, a new grant fee will apply if the number of excess claims increases above the threshold of 26 claims, with a charge of £20 per new claim.
Furthermore, there will be a new page fee of £10 per page over 35, and a £10 increase to renewal fees for years 12 and onwards.
AA Thornton & Co. report that the objective of the fee rises, which came after a period of consultation, is to maintain an internationally-competitive structure – as well as achieving a modest shift towards prompt recovery of costs (whilst continuing to meet the bulk of UKIPO costs from renewal fees.) The UKIPO also aim to maintain a ‘sustainable income stream on reasonable assumptions’ and to encourage the practice of good filing by applicants.