EPO launches new, simplified fee system supporting small companies   Fees for European patent applications are changing from 1 April 2024. These include reductions for small companies, and some fees have been eradicated. ​​The changes introduce dedicated fee reductions for micro-entities, simplify the fee system, create incentives for further digitalisation, and secure the Organisation’s financial […]

A reminder to all Clients – The Administrative Council of the EPO has decided to abolish the “10-day rule” from 1 November, 2023. At present, communications from the EPO are deemed to be delivered to the recipient ten days after the date of mailing – effectively providing an additional ten days to respond to EPO […]

The Unitary Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) start to have effect from the 1st June 2023, which marks a major change in the landscape of European Patents. In essence, it is an agreement between (at present) 17 Member States of the European Union to provide a single European Patent covering those 17 Member […]

  The IPO has confirmed that a new Minister has been announced for Enterprise and Markets with responsibility for IP. IP has a central role to play in making the UK’s economy one of the most innovative and creative in the world. The IP portfolio sits within Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Information about […]

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has recently cleared its patents, trade marks and designs examination backlog – cases that take longer than IPO’s agreed service standards. The backlog in all three examination areas has been cleared to zero from queues of, 13,000 patent applications, 32,185 trade mark applications and 9,507 design applications. In order to process […]