A European patent application provides a means of obtaining patent protection in some or all of the 31 contracting states of the European Patent Organisation by filing a single application. Countries are designated in each application and can currently include:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Hellenic Republic (Greece), Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia and Turkey.

When granted, a European patent affords the same rights in the designated contracting states as a national patent granted in any of these states.

Protection can also be obtained in several Extension States, which recognise European patents. These states are currently:

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia.

European patents are granted for inventions that are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application. You must therefore be certain to keep your invention confidential until a patent application is filed.

Albright Patents will prepare a draft patent specification for your approval based on your disclosure to us. Once you have approved the specification, a patent application is filed. The application will include a description, claims, drawings and an abstract. As with other patent applications, a European patent application can claim the priority benefit of a patent application filed up to 12 months earlier.

We also have to provide the European Patent Office with information regarding your entitlement to the invention and the states which you would like to designate. Please note that this information can be provided after filing, and we will keep you informed of the requirements.

The European Patent Office carry out a search of published patent specifications and some other materials, if deemed relevant, and issue a Search Report, usually within 4 months of the application date. We will forward the Search Report to you and comment on its relevance.

After 18 months from the date of filing, or from the priority date if priority is claimed, your application is published, together with a copy of the search report (if established). Once a European patent application has been published, files relating to it are available for public inspection and bibliographic data is available to the public in the European Patent Register.

Examination must be requested and the official fees paid within 6 months of publication. Payment of 7 designation fees allows you to designate all states. Some time later, the Examination report is issued, and we will forward this to you with an explanatory letter. Sometimes it is necessary to meet at this stage to discuss the content of the Examination Report and to decide how to limit the claims of your application, if necessary. We enter into a written dialogue with the Patent Office and try to resolve any objections to the application made in the Examination Report. Failure to resolve objections may result in the application being refused.

Once the Patent Office is satisfied that any objections raised have been overcome, we are informed that a European Patent will be granted. You are then required to file translations of the claims into French and German, and to pay the grant and printing fees. The application is granted and published, once these requirements have been met.

In most designated states, it is necessary to file a full translation of the application in the local language. This is because the European patent is effectively a bundle of similar national patents, once granted. Once we have had the necessary translations prepared, these are forwarded to local attorneys for filing with national patent offices.

Up to 9 months from the date of grant, the granted patent may be opposed by anyone at the European Patent Office. It is possible to defend against opposition, and we can advise you on a case by case basis.

Renewal fees are payable annually from the end of the second year after filing to keep the application pending. Once granted, renewal fees are payable in each of the states where the patent has been validated.

Patent applications are drafted at our hourly rate of £180 + VAT per hour and general European patent service charges and official fees are set out below. For other service charges, please contact us through our contact page.

	Service Charges (£)	Official Fees (€)
Filing	348	170
Inventor form	60	-
Requesting search	240	1,000
Requesting Substantive Examination	225	1,335
Designation fees (max 7)	55 (385)	80 (560)
Excess Claims fees	20	45
Reporting official Actions (without comment)	60	-

Please note that all service charges are subject to VAT. The approximate cost of filing a European application with a search request (not including drafting costs) and up to 10 claims is £1340 + VAT (includes search and filing fees). For other service charges, please contact us through our contact page.