2010/01 > Modifications of the fees for community trademarks and european patent

Substantial cut in costs for the protection of Community trademarks

The year 2009 is going to be marked by a reduction of almost 40% of the costs for obtaining Community trademarks. This reduction results not only in a global cut in fees, but also in a modification of the structure of the fees.The new amount of the application fee will thus be brought to 900 Euros instead of the global cost of 1600 Euros (up to 3 classes of goods and services), the registration fee being purely and simply cancelled.

This modification should become effective during the month of May, once the Regulation regarding the new taxes has been published.The cancellation of the registration fee will apply to all Community Trademark applications for which the request for payment of the registration fee has not yet been notified by the OHIM, on the effective date of these new provisions.

Moreover, all the applications filed up to this date will still be submitted to the current application fee of 750 Euros, whereby for these applications, the economic savings will apply not only to the registration fee but also to the application fee.

Apart from the financial interest of this reform for applicants of Community Trademarks, the cancellation of the registration fee will also result in accelerating the registration process.

Modification of the fees for European Patents

For European Patent applications filed as from April 1st, 2009, a flat designation fee, of 500 Euros, is now due to designate each of the 35 Member States of the European Patent Convention (*). This system presents the advantage of simplicity but, although it is advantageous for the applicants opting for numerous countries, it represents an additional cost of 245 Euros for those who are interested in designating only the three principal European countries.

Besides, a new fee of 12 Euros is due for each page filed as from the 36th, while a fee of 200 Euros, increased to 500 Euros as from the 51st claim, is applied per claim beyond the 15th. The European Patent Office thus seeks of penalizing the applicants of long and complex patent applications.

(*) Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Island, Italy, Ex-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Turkey.