Information concerning EPO fee increases from

1 April 2008

The changes

The European Patent Office (EPO) is increasing its official fees from 1 April 2008. Generally the fee increases are modest, however, this is not the case for excess claims fees. Consideration should now be given to the number of claims in a European patent application.

Currently a fee of 45 Euros is payable in respect of the 11th and each subsequent claim. From 1 April 2008 a fee of 200 Euros will be payable in respect of the 16th and each subsequent claim. Furthermore from 1 April 2009 a fee of 500 Euros will be payable in respect of any claims beyond 50. These fee changes will make lengthy sets of claims prohibitively expensive.

What to do now

International (PCT) patent applications could enter the European regional phase now, in advance of the usual deadlines for doing so, to take advantage of the current EPO fees. This should especially be considered if an application currently contains a lengthy set of claims, or if it is anticipated that a lengthy set of claims would be required at grant.

What to do after 1 April 2008

Shorter sets of claims will be advantageous! We will continue our practice to reduce the number of claims in an application in the window of opportunity provided for making claim amendments just after entry into the European regional phase. Additionally, we should appreciate your input on whether there are any claims which are no longer considered important and so could be removed. We may also be able to suggest other ways to reduce the number of claims on a case-by-case basis.

Further advice

Please contact your attorney at Venner Shipley LLP for further advice on this issue and on how to deal with specific applications in a cost effective manner.