Business News

January 2011

European Patent Fees Reduced

Thousands of innovative UK businesses will reduce the cost of protecting their bright ideas in Europe under new arrangements.

From 1 January 2011, applicants filing patents in Europe will need to supply the European Patent Office (EPO) with fewer documents than before, which will cut the cost of the fees they pay agents for making applications.

The EPO enables companies to make one application for patent protection in up to 40 European countries rather than making separate applications in each country.

But individuals cannot make their own applications to the EPO so companies must engage a patent attorney to do it for them.

The new arrangements mean applicants will no longer have to supply the EPO with the results of searches already done by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Instead the IPO will automatically supply the information from its records and around 5,000 applications a year will benefit from this change.

LINK: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills press release