European Patent Validation
Renewal ( Maintenance ) fees in the Contracting States
The proprietor of validated European patent shall be obliged to pay yearly fees for the maintaining the European patent in the Contracting States. The National Offices stipulates the amount of maintenance fees by decree.
The obligation to pay the maintenance fees shall arise by the announcement of the grant of the European patent in the European Patent Bulletin.
The maintenance fees shall be paid to the National Office according to the national legislation and shall be payable in advance:
- on the anniversary of the date of filing the application or
- last day of the month in which the date of filing occurred
Specific requirements of each national state can be found here:
http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/natlaw/en/vi/index.htm
If there is a period shorter than 2 months between the announcement of the grant of the European patent and the date corresponding to the date of filing the application, the proprietor of the European patent shall be obliged to pay the first maintenance fee within 2 months from the date of announcement. If the maintenance fee is not paid within the prescribed time limit, it can still be validly paid within an additional period of 6 months in the double amount (surcharge).
The rights of third persons, which after the expiry of the period for payment of the maintenance fee without such fee being paid, in good faith have begun to make a use of the subject-matter of the invention or have realised serious and effective preparations to such use, are not affected by the additional payment of the maintenance fee.
Payments by the Contracting States in respect of renewal fees for European patents
Each Contracting State shall pay to the EPO in respect of each renewal fee received for a European patent in that State an amount equal to a proportion of that fee, to be fixed by the Administrative Council; the proportion shall not exceed 75% and shall be the same for all Contracting States.
However, if the said proportion corresponds to an amount which is less than a uniform minimum amount fixed by the Administrative Council, the Contracting State shall pay that minimum to the Organisation.
