What does a European patent actually cost?

The EPO official fees, phase by phase

European patent costs accrue across three procedural phases: filing and search, examination and grant, and the annual renewal fees that maintain the application and, after grant, the patent.

Filing and search

At filing, the filing fee (, online) and the European search fee () are payable. For a standard application of up to 15 claims and 35 pages, the filing phase therefore amounts to approximately .

Under Art. 78(2) EPC, the filing fee and the search fee fall due within one month of filing.

Examination and designation

On entry into examination, the examination fee () and the designation fee () are payable. The designation fee covers the contracting states designated in the application; both are flat fees, independent of the number of claims or pages.

The examination fee, together with the request for examination, is due within six months of the mention of the publication of the search report (Rule 70(1) EPC); the designation fee runs on the same six-month period (Rule 39(1) EPC). In practice this falls around 18 to 24 months after the filing date.

Grant

On grant, the fee for grant and publication () is payable under Art. 97(1) EPC, alongside the renewal fee for the year in which the mention of grant is published.

The fee for grant and publishing is due within four months of the communication that the patent will be granted (Rule 71(3) EPC), commonly three to five years, that is roughly 36 to 60 months, after the filing date.

Official EPO fees at a glance

The table summarises the one-off official fees the EPO charges across the procedure; the amounts are checked and updated regularly. Attorney fees and post-grant validation are not included; they are covered in the dedicated guides.

The procedural fees above are fixed by the EPO and apply regardless of the route chosen after grant. Renewal fees rise each year, which is why the maintenance phase dominates the lifetime cost of a European patent.

Renewal fees: the largest share of the lifecycle cost

Renewal fees are payable from the third year onward (Art. 86(1) EPC) and, across a full term, form the single largest component of the cost. While the application is pending they are paid to the EPO; after grant they are replaced by a national renewal fee in each validated state, or a single Unitary Patent fee. The year-by-year schedule and the exact due dates are set out in the dedicated guide.

EPO renewal fees, year by year

Claims and page surcharges

Excess claims and pages attract surcharges: a per-claim fee from the 16th claim (Rule 45 EPC) and a per-page fee from the 36th page (Rule 38(2) EPC). Keeping an application within 15 claims and 35 pages avoids them. The exact rates and thresholds are set out in the dedicated guide.

EPO claims, page and examination fees

What the official fees do not include

The amounts above are EPO procedural fees only. They do not include the fees of the professional representative (typically to over the lifetime of an application), translation costs for national validation, country-specific validation fees, or any opposition and appeal fees. These are addressed separately and are not reflected in the figures on this page. Costs can run higher where a third party intervenes, for instance by filing a third party observation, or an opposition.

Classic validation or Unitary Patent

After grant, two routes are available. A classic European patent is validated and maintained state by state, with a renewal fee due in each country. A Unitary Patent provides unitary effect across the participating member states for a single renewal fee. Which route is more economical depends on the number of states sought; the calculator shows the crossover point for a given selection.

Frequently asked questions