Renewal fees

To maintain a Unitary Patent, the patent proprietor will have to pay annual renewal fees. Whereas, for conventional European patents, several renewal fees, which may vary in amount, have to be paid to different national patent offices operating under different legal requirements, in particular in terms of their deadlines, a Unitary Patent proprietor pays one single renewal fee direct to the EPO, in one currency and under a single legal regime as regards deadlines and admissible means of payment. This greatly simplifies matters for users. Unitary Patent proprietors who file a statement to the effect that they are prepared to allow any person to use their invention (licence of right) will additionally benefit from a 15% reduction in renewal fees which fall due after receipt of their statement.  

Fees are payable to the EPO - in euros - via any of the accepted payment methods, i.e. credit card, transfer to the EPO bank account or debit from a deposit account held with the EPO. All of these accepted payment methods can be accessed via Central Fee Payment. Any person is able to pay fees; there is no need to use a representative. 

The renewal fees have been set at a very business-friendly level, corresponding to the combined renewal fees due in the four countries where European patents were most often validated in 2015, when the fee level was agreed by the Select Committee. 

The fee level is particularly attractive in the early years, with annual fees for maintaining a Unitary Patent until year ten amounting to less than EUR 5 000.