The European Patent Office (EPO) increase their fees on 1 April every two years. The revised fees which will take effect from 1 April 2016 have just been announced and can be found here.
We were all set to write an urgent blog post, imploring urgent action to avoid the urgent price hikes of the rip-off EPO! However, while it’s true that most official fees will be increasing, the increases are relatively small and are evenly applied across the fee structure.
Of course, to minimise official fee payments you should make sure that any filings or other fee-bearing activities are completed before 1 April. Remember that the EPO’s annual application maintenance fees can be paid up to three months in advance.
If you are watching your Euro-cents, do get in touch to see what the benefits will be to beating the fee increases. But don’t be holding your breath!
Scintilla is a European Patent Attorney firm based in Glasgow, Scotland. We specialise in patents for electronics, software, photonics, fintech, telecoms, and semiconductors and we serve clients in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, England and beyond.