EPO Fleas to Increase April 2014 - Kats are concerned
Newsflash: The EPO plans to increase fleas from 1 April 2014; panic has beset the IPKat office.
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| "No, I said increase in FEES" |
The new schedule of fees announced in decision CA/D 14/13 (found here) is a mixed bag of results this year with most fees seeing a 4-5% increase. The fee for a European search gets a 10% bump from €1165 to €1285, but the headline news is a change to appeal fees.
A recent talk by Alexander Clelland (ex-head of a Board of Appeal) at the CIPA Life Sciences Conference on 14 November 2013 provided some interesting insight into appeal cases, suggesting that the backlog of appeals is increasing by about 600 per year (in 2012, a total of 2,659 appeals were filed and 2,071 were settled) with each appeal costing the EPO an estimated €40,000.
Therefore it will come as little surprise to learn that the EPO is seeking to recover some of these costs and deter potential appellants. The fee for requesting an appeal will rise by 50% from €1,240 to €1,860.
The EPO is providing further incentive to avoid cases going far on appeal by amending Rule 103 EPC announced in decision CA/D 16/13 (found here). Currently, appeal fees are refunded only when there has been a substantial procedural violation or the appeal is withdrawn before the filing of the statement of grounds. Rule 103 EPC will be amended to include:
(2) The appeal fee shall be reimbursed at 50% if the appeal is withdrawn after expiry of the period under paragraph 1(b), provided withdrawal occurs:
(a) if a date for oral proceedings has been set, at least four weeks before that date;
(b) if no date for oral proceedings has been set, and the Board of Appeal has issued a communication inviting the appellant to file observations, before expiry of the period set by the Board for filing observations;
(c) in all other cases, before the decision is issued.
Due to the delays between filing an appeal and decisive Oral Proceedings, in some cases the appellant may well have decided that the case is no longer worth pursuing. This refund offers a chance for applicants to recover some money and not have to go through with appeal fun for an unwanted patent.
Following the change of heart to the change of heart regarding divisional applications (reported by the IPKat here); the EPO has set new additional filing fees for second and later divisional applications as follows:
Second generation divisional: €210
Third generation divisional: €420
Fourth generation divisional: €630
Fifth generation divisional: €840
These fees are supplemental to the regular filing fee and are relatively modest in comparison to the hefty renewal fees payable on such divisional applications. It is difficult to imagine that they will actually change applicant behaviour.
This kat has a few tips for saving those pennies:
1. As these fees are coming into effect from 1 April, cases within the current two year window for which the applicant wishes to file a divisional application should consider filing before the supplemental divisional fees are introduced.
2. Consider paying renewal fees for April, May and June at the start of the renewal fee window prior to the price increase.
3. Don’t buy a dog. They are expensive to look after and really smell.
A hearty Katpat to Anna Hatt (BeckGreener) for the prompting this Kat into action, and to Paul Beynon (EIP) for co-authorship.
