European Patent Office fee reduction scheme has saved micro-entities 1 million euros in 3 months
Over 1900 European Patent applications have benefited from the fee reduction scheme for micro-entities launched on 1 April 2024; Italy is the first country of origin of the scheme’s users.
A reduction scheme concerning European Patent fees, aimed at micro-entities such as universities, public bodies, non-profit organisations, natural persons and micro-enterprises has been effective since 1 April 2024 (read more here).
The scheme offers eligible micro-entities a 30% discount on fees for filing, research, examination, designation, grant and annuities for pending European patent applications. If eligible, the applicant may also combine the scheme with the language-related reduction offered by the European Patent Office (EPO), thus reducing some fees by about 50%.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has just released figures about the uptake of the new scheme in the first 3 months since launching.
So far, according to the EPO, the reduction has benefited over 1900 European Patent applications, reducing approximately 4000 fees and saving applicants more than 1 million euros.
Although the scheme is open to micro-entities of all nationalities, most its users are based in EPO member states: Italy leads the top 10, followed by Germany, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Spain, Finland, Poland, Sweden and Austria.
The fee reduction is part of a range of measures aimed at making the European Patent system more accessible: as well as the language-related fee reduction that can be applied jointly with the reduction for micro-entities (see above), there is Deep Tech Finder, a digital tool that helps users find investment-ready European startups holding European Patent applications.
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