More generous refund of examination fees at the EPO

In a move which may be designed to provide applicants with a financial incentive to withdraw patent applications at an earlier stage, where prospects of success appear slim, the European Patent Office (EPO) has decided to relax the rules which govern the refund of examination fees.   

The examination fee for European patent applications currently stands at €1635 (or €1825 for international applications for which no supplementary European search report needs to be drawn up).

Under the previous rules, only 75% of the examination fee was available for refund after responsibility for an application had been transferred to the examining division.  This 75% refund was only available if the application was withdrawn prior to the substantive examination beginning, after which point no refund of the examination fee was available.

From 1 July 2016, a refund of 100% of the examination fee will be available if the application is withdrawn before the substantive examination begins.  In order to allow applicants to take better advantage of this refund, the EPO will aim to notify applicants at least two months beforehand of the date on which it intends to start the substantive examination of an application.

Additionally, for any applications for which the substantive examination starts on or after 1 November 2016, the EPO is introducing the further possibility of obtaining a 50% refund of the examination fee even after the substantive examination has begun.  This 50% refund will be available provided that the application is withdrawn either: (a) by the deadline for responding to the first examination report; or (b) where the application proceeds straight to grant, before the date on which the notification of the intention to grant the application is issued (although it seems unlikely that applicants will wish to withdraw their applications in this latter case).

For additional details, please see the "further information" link on this page or contact us.