Our low costs are set out below, but please feel free to contact us here or by our Enquiry Form with any questions or queries.

A European patent application provides a means of obtaining patent protection in some or all of the more than 30 contracting states of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) by filing a single application.

The countries that can be designated are stipulated at the time of filing either the international PCT application or the directly filed European patent application.

The present countries of the EPO can be seen by clicking here, and a map is available here.

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. Again, these can be seen by clicking here.

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 a single designation fee 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.

We have contacts with cost-effective associates in all of the EPO member states, allowing us to keep the translation costs (if required) down during the validation process following grant of your European patent.

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 £195 + VAT per hour and general European patent service charges and official fees (click here for present exchange rates), as of April 2010, are set out below. For other service charges, please contact us through our contact page.

	Service Charges (£)	Official Fees (€)
Filing	348	105
Inventor form	60	-
Requesting search	240	1105
Requesting Substantive Examination	225	1485
Designation fee	250	525
Excess Claims fees (16th +)	20	210
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 15 claims is around £2100 + VAT (includes search and filing fees). For other service charges, please contact us through our contact page.