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EPO renewal fees increase while JPO fees decrease

3 March 2016

The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced increases in its renewal fees from 1 April 2016. The fees will increase by approximately 1%. For example, the 6th year renewal will increase from €1040 to €1050.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) has also announced changes in renewal fees effective from 1 April 2016, a reduction in both patent and trade mark renewals fees by approximately 10% and 20% respectively. The JPO hopes the cuts, including to filing fees, will encourage the filing of more applications. Please see below for examples of the revised fees verses the current fees:

Japanese Patent Renewals

basic fee for 1st – 3rd year renewal:     2,300 yen (current) vs 2,100 yen (new). Additional fees per claim remain at + 200 yen
basic fee for 7th – 9th year renewal:    21,400 yen (current) vs 19,300 yen (new). Additional fees per claim have reduced from 1,700 yen to 1,500 yen

Japanese Trade Mark Renewal Fees:

renewal fee for 10 years:    48,500 yen per class (current) vs 38,800 yen per class (new)
renewal fee for 5 years:        28,300 yen per class (current) vs 22,600 yen per class (new)

Recommended Action:
Naturally, we advise that EPO renewal fees which fall due in April and May should be paid in March to make a, relatively small, saving. We expect the EPO to accept June renewal fees in March too. More importantly, we recommend delaying payment of Japanese renewal fees until after 1 April 2016, so long as it doesn’t result in missing the deadline.  Should you wish to instruct W&R Renewals, or you require any further information on the services we offer please contact Joseph Mackey on 01926 310 734  or via email jmackey@withersrogers.com.