NEWS ANALYSIS
Unitary patent: the cost of renewal
the renewal fees for the new patent. WIPR
A
ll eyes have been on the European Patent Offi ce (EPO), the organisation that will grant the unitary patents, to
provide some indication of what the costs for renewal will be. T e EPO’s president, Benoît Battistelli, has
explained his thinking on renewal fees before. “First and foremost it is necessary for the
patent to be attractive, which means the fees should not to be too high,” he told WIPR in a September 2013 interview.
Two models In March this year, 18 months aſt er that interview, two fee models produced by Battistelli and his organisation were fi nally revealed. T e proposals were
sent to the select
committee of the EPO’s supervisory body, the Administrative Council (AC), and Battistelli has asked for the AC’s opinion on them. T ey are called ‘Top 4’ and ‘Top 5’. T e names Top 4 and Top 5 refer to fees aſt er ten years equalling the current combined renewal prices set in the four or fi ve most popular EPO jurisdictions for fi ling European patents. Both proposals would require patentees to
start paying renewal fees in the second year of the patent. Under Top 4, the renewal price would start at €350 ($371) and increase each year until the 20th year, when it would be €4,855. If adopted, Top 4 would cost patentees
€37,995 aſt er 20 years, with €43,625 being spent under Top 5 in the same period. Top 5, under which renewals would also start at €350, would make the fees more expensive as they continued, reaching €5,500 in the 20th year. However, Top 5 provides an incentive for
small and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), non-profi t organisations and universities in the form of a 25% fee reduction between the second and tenth year, at which point it would end. At the moment, the EPO starts charging patentees renewal fees from the third year
aſt er their European patent was fi led until it is granted. T e fees start at €465 and reach €1,560 in the tenth year, aſt er which they remain the same. But once the EPO grants a patent, it must then be validated in the chosen member states, which charge varying levels of renewal fees. T e top fi ve EPO states for fi lings, according
to the EPO’s most recent statistics, are: Germany (31,647), France (12,873), the Netherlands (8,104), Switzerland (7,890), and the UK (6,823). Kay Rupprecht, an attorney at German
intellectual property boutique fi rm Meissner Bolte, says “the costs are too high” and would, if enacted, “perhaps be counter-productive”. Rupprecht predicts that people may be
tempted to stay with the old system based on consideration of the costs. “T e equation is quite easy,” he tells WIPR.
“If a European patent portfolio holder has to decide whether to choose a unitary patent or a European patent and whether to expose it to the Unifi ed Patent Court or to remain within the old system, there are three things to consider: vulnerabilty, enforceabilty and costs.” He adds that even if the fi rst two aspects are
not an issue, then the costs would be. “If the portfolio holder cannot realise cost
savings, he will stay within the old system as long as possible,” he says.
16
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